Mercury Avator electric outboard

Lazy Daze said:
It is a solid product, but you're dead-on regarding the price. To date, there really hasn't been any realistic competition to Torqeedo. Hopefully that will change. Currently their 10HP portable version (which they say actually has more grunt than a gasser) is about $1,000-ish more than a gas 9.9. Not terrible, but I don't think it makes much sense for anyone that leaves their engine on a tender that stays on the platform. If you're constantly taking the engine off it starts to make more sense since it's so much lighter (and storage, of course). There are more companies starting to pop up that are making electric outboards, but most of them are really just in the beginning stages. Torqeedo has been around for about 10 years now (something like that, anways).
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Torqeedo's 10hp equivalent Cruise propulsion unit is $5K. The battery is sold separately for another $5K. And I would never do an electric outboard without a spare battery. So the outboard is effectively $15K. That buys you five or six Mercury 9.9 hp gas outboards. And of course Brunswick already knows that. Seems like a recipe for price competition. The question in my mind is how much the Brunswick bean counters are going to screw up the design and build quality of the marine product.
 
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id consider it if cost is within reason and the HP ratings get up into the 15-20 range and the battery has a reasonable runtime. Most of the time our dinghy is up and down the river or to shore when anchored out, so being quiet is an advantage and I don't need super long runtimes on plane

probably a few years out though, I expect to go with a nice EFI 20hp as the next one
 
lawndoctor said:
Torqeedo's 10hp equivalent Cruise propulsion unit is $5K. The battery is sold separately for another $5K.
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Yup. I responded with the pricing for the 10HP but had the smaller, 3HP on my mind which has a built-in battery - lapsing on the fact that the 10HP needs a separate battery.
 
Any chance you do trade-ins? I have a 2.5 Suzuki that I would like to replace.
 
What’s the range with one battery in a 10’ dinghy?
 
jmauld said:
What’s the range with one battery in a 10’ dinghy?
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No to be flip, but I'd say it's highly dependent on how fast you're going. If you're trying to pull kid on a tube, not so much. Puttering around, a lot longer.
 
b_arrington said:
No to be flip, but I'd say it's highly dependent on how fast you're going. If you're trying to pull kid on a tube, not so much. Puttering around, a lot longer.
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Yes, I know. Their website shows a chart where the range is 2km at 100% throttle. But if this thing is anything like my Suzuki, then their is no reason to ever go 100% throttle since the dinghy doesn’t actually respond with more speed.

Im more just looking for feedback on if you can actually use it to sand bar hop and explore with a dinghy or if it’s only good for going to shore and back.
 
jmauld said:
Yes, I know. Their website shows a chart where the range is 2km at 100% throttle. But if this thing is anything like my Suzuki, then their is no reason to ever go 100% throttle since the dinghy doesn’t actually respond with more speed.

Im more just looking for feedback on if you can actually use it to sand bar hop and explore with a dinghy or if it’s only good for going to shore and back.
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I'd say you are on target regarding use. I have a 9.9 Merc on the dinghy; it sips gasoline. In the islands the dinghy is used every day multiple times a day and we travel 5, 8, or even 15 miles from where the boat is anchored to get to the snorkeling, lobstering, conch hunting and spearfishing locations. Plus, and more importantly the currents can rip both coming and going. Sometimes we drift snorkel for almost another mile out. Also, the dinghy is usually loaded up with cooler, gear and up to four people. I'm not yet comfortable with the electric supporting our usage. Too many variables.
 
I might give it a shot. We aren’t set up to travel with our 8hp outboard, so we travel with the 2.5. I think this would be a good option, but maybe the money is better spent on a davit system that would let us travel with the 8hp motor.
 
I have an older portable Torqeedo and I think the newer ones are probably better with battery usage and we didn't use it for "long" excursions, but I'd venture a guess that we could probably get an hour or two out of it. I do know that it seemed like we about doubled our run time if backed down from full to about 3/4. Speed didn't change much by doing that, either.

I'm not sure if they still make it, but Torqeedo used to make a portable solar charger that they "claimed" would provide enough juice to keep going at slow speeds. 'Course, that doesn't help coming back from the tiki bar at night...
 
Strecker25 said:
id consider it if cost is within reason and the HP ratings get up into the 15-20 range and the battery has a reasonable runtime.
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LOL….That’s the nicest way I have seen “No way in hell am I buying one” :)
 
jmauld said:
Any chance you do trade-ins? I have a 2.5 Suzuki that I would like to replace.
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We cant take yours on trade, but I could display it and sell it for you. As far as specs, I would go to the web site for that info.
 
I've had the Avator 7.5 for about a month now. Hold onto your gas OB like grim death !!!!
 
Phil S said:
I've had the Avator 7.5 for about a month now. Hold onto your gas OB like grim death !!!!
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oh please tell more.

Since my post in this thread I upgraded to a suzuki 20hp EFI and it might be my favorite small engine i've ever owned. Hopefully it lasts forever...
 
Strecker25 said:
oh please tell more.

Since my post in this thread I upgraded to a suzuki 20hp EFI and it might be my favorite small engine i've ever owned. Hopefully it lasts forever...
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Ok, well let's start with the good ....

As a product -- it's great. If you're using a portable inflatable or skiff, the engine itself is only 40 lbs and the battery is another 20 lbs. So if you need to carry the OB back and forth, you pop out the battery from the cowling and it's only 40 lbs to carry. Plus there's none of the usual gas OB things to deal with (plugs, wires, thermostat, impeller, ethanol issues, timing, "this side up", oil, lower unit fluid, won't start etc). And it's super quiet. There is a big readout so you know exactly how much battery is left.

There are a couple cool features that I would like on any portable OB. For one, you can change the horizontal AND vertical angle of the tiller so it's right where you need it. Also, if you routinely take the OB off your transom, you can leave the trim/tilt mechanism attached to the transom and pop off the rest of the OB. And F-N-R is integrated into the tiller like on the 9.9 (not a separate lever). And you can change the direction of that if you need to.

Then there's the reality .....

I am using it on a 100 lb boat, and it will do 5 mph WOT for an hour. They publish ranges for less, but 5 mph is max so you are definitely running it at WOT. Full rip shred. I need at least 11 mph to plane the boat so that's not happening.

With this same boat, I can get 14 mph on a 6 hp Merc 4-stroke and 19 mph on a 9.9 (which is my favorite but it's too heavy for the boat).

5-mile range on the battery, and to get another battery as a backup, they are about 1 boat buck o_O You can't add extra batteries or external ones like on the newer Avator 20 and 35.

Also it's white but not painted. If you've ever cut Azek, the surface is like the cut edge of Azek so it's hard to keep clean.

So ....

My verdict: it's a glorified trolling motor. It's nice to head out at sunrise and just cruise with no noise. But when you have the need for speed -- you're SOL.
 
If nobody wants them they won't sell and they wouldn't make them if they sit on the shelf
 
For the price point ... and the features ... I'm starting to wonder if it's a dud on purpose. It misses on so many levels.
 
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