Prop change

08/21/213

I have decided to pull the electric outboard motor off and clean it up before we take anymore trips. I am going to pull the prop off and have the pitch increased.

I calculated that my motor is doing 1533 RPM’s and pulling up to 30 AMPS @ 24 volts currently. With the 1680 WH of solar power I can sacrifice to gain more power and still keep below the max output of my solar panels. The current prop is a 10.5” x 11.5 or 12”. It can only give me 3 mph as is, so to enable me to be able to go faster and still have steerage I will need at least a couple more miles per hour.

My new motor bank is now fully charged since I finally got a clue and programmed the solar controller properly. I am still messing with the house bank in hopes of reviving them. I am currently running direct power from the solar array at 120 volts DC to equalize them. If it works great, and if it doesn't I will just replace them before we take out trip.

I have been monitoring the night time temperatures of Crystal River and Homosassa river area. Once it starts to average around 60-70 degrees at night we will head on up there. If we can get there before the end of September I think we may still have a couple of days left of scallop season.

Many years ago when our kids were young we kept our 32’ houseboat a Homosassa’s springs. We would go out scalloping and fishing for a week at a time in the summer when the kids were out of school. Often we would spend spring breaks or Christmas breaks out on the boat too. The kids always loved seeing the dolphins swim next to the boat, and occasionally when we would stop they would come up where we could get in the water with them and pet them. Oooh, those were the days!