Update: Torqeedo 1003L on a Catalina 22 Sailboat

Immediately after acquiring the Torqeedo 1003L (long shaft version), we discovered Problem Number One:  the lengthy tiller on the Torqeedo 1003L does not clear the transom of the boat when mounted on our standard C22 motor mount.  Considering that the the Torqeedo marketing specifically recommends it for "daysailers up to 1.5 tons,"  it was extremely disappointing to find that the motor, itself, wasn't designed to fit on the world's most popular 1-ton daysailer--the Catalina 22.  While I love the idea of the Torqeedo for boats of this size, the failure to consider an appropriate form-factor for the C22 is a major oversight for the Torqeedo design team.  After much cursing (like sailors) and gnashing of teeth, we decided upon the following courses of action:

• 1) Begin work on extending the motor mount board by about 6 inches.  We've contracted a local metalsmith/welding shop (Olympia locals:  it's Ziegler's) to fabricate a 6-inch hollow stainless steel box with appropriate holes drilled to accommodate the extension.  Expected cost:  $100.
• 2) We built a transom bracket on the back of our 12-foot aluminum jon-boat appropriate for the long shaft, to test the motor out on that hull.  Our initial impressions are mixed.  We weren't expecting the Torqeedo to push us to a plane (especially with my weight in the back), but the battery did seem to drain rather quickly--down to 87% after only a few minutes of motoring, only a few of which were are full speed, which gave us about 8.5 km/hr.   We'll see how things go with the sailboat, once we get a fix for the motor mount.

And this brings us to The Saga of the Catalina 22 Motor Mount, to be recounted in the next post.  In short, our motor mount was on the verge of failure, and fail, it did--just as we were about to test the Torqeedo.  So, the latest news is that we still haven't been able to test the Torqeedo with our sailboat, and this entire venture has set into motion a "series of (un)fortunate events," which includes a rebuild of our motor mount.  More on that in the next post....