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Which Torqeedo to buy?

Bolo

Contributing Partner
I just sold a hard shell wooden Eastport "Pram-like" wood dinghy that was great to row but a hassle to move from the dinghy rack, launch (solo) and store on the fore deck of my E32. Plus I didn't need a dinghy all that much but when I did, like at anchor, I was stranded aboard. So the next best solution was to buy an inflatable dinghy which I just did. Purchased a new West Marine PRU-3 Roll-Up that was on sale. To power it I want to buy a Torqeedo which is where my question lies. There are two models that would work for me. Both in the "Travel" series, the 603s (2 HP) or the 1103 (3 HP). The main difference is the horse power that is the gasoline outboards equivalent. Mainly it would be my "first mate" and I in the boat and a little cargo to just go ashore when at anchor. Once, long ago I owned a Honda 2 HP which did seem to me to do the job.

I saw the video that Christian Williams made bay in 2015 in which he had a 1103 (I think) but would one less HP make that much of a difference? The price difference between the two is $700. Does anyone use a 603s for their dinghy? I'd like to hear how it works out for you.
 

JPS27

Member III
I have the torqeedo 1103 and the west marine roll up. the combination works fine for me. Although I wished a had a dinghy that planed. :) One is never satisified. Sorry, no experience with the 603. I took my chance and bought the 1103 off of sailboat swap shop or similar.
 

Afrakes

Sustaining Member
I have the Travel 1103 for my 8ft. Defender RIB. I interchange that with my 2002 Nissan 8 depending on what I'm planning to do. Prefer the 1103, much lighter, quieter and just more convenient. Use the Nissan with a 3 gallon tank for ranging further from the 28 and getting there faster.
 
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Teranodon

Member III
This is not exactly an answer to your question, but you might want to consider an ePropulsion outboard instead. It bills itself as the "Torqeedo beater". When I purchased one about a year ago, it had a bigger battery (which floats!!), a quieter motor, and a lower price. It has no GPS. So far, it has worked flawlessly. Have a look.
 

Bolo

Contributing Partner
This is not exactly an answer to your question, but you might want to consider an ePropulsion outboard instead. It bills itself as the "Torqeedo beater". When I purchased one about a year ago, it had a bigger battery (which floats!!), a quieter motor, and a lower price. It has no GPS. So far, it has worked flawlessly. Have a look.
Interesting product, especially the Hydrogeneration feature but they seem to be more expensive then Torqeedo and a lot fewer dealers.
 

paul culver

Member III
I'm happy with the Newport 55 electric on my WM roll-up. It doesn't have an internal battery like the Torqueedo -- I use a type U-1 sealed battery to power it. At $200 for the motor and $100 for the battery its a sweet deal.
 

Afrakes

Sustaining Member
To answer your original question, if you're just making short trips then the Travel 603 will probably do just fine. All depends on the wind and water conditions.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
I like my Torquedo after six years or so, but it wouldn't work for everyone. A typical trip of a couple of miles, at maybe 80 percent power, uses half the battery life. You can theoretically recharge with the boat batteries, but it's very slow. If in Catalina for a few days, I take the battery ashore with me and plug it into a wall. outlet. Even there a full charge takes 8-10 hours.

The benefit is no fluids, light, toss it in the quarterberth for storage, and no outboard hanging on the stern rail like a dead deer on the hood of a car. You have to hate outboards and gas. You have to give up planing or getting anywhere fast, and not plan to use the dinghy as an all-day taxi service..

Video review here.
 

Bolo

Contributing Partner
Gave this all a lot of thought and purchased the Traveler 603. Years ago I would use an inflatable dinghy with a Honda 2hp which worked fine except for the considerable effort of moving the outboard from the rail to the dinghy even with help from my first mate. I even did it solo a few times too. But as was mentioned there was the issue of keeping gasoline onboard and hanging the outboard off the rail. The biggest thing I noticed was the infrequent use of the dinghy. We anchored about 20% of the time when we were not in our home port so the need to dinghy ashore wasn’t there because we stayed at transient slips.
Eventually the dinghy literally came apart at the seams and was unrepairable. Then we decided to also sell the Honda 2hp.

Then came a big life change. I retired…sort of...but that’s another story because like writers, musicians and artists, photographers never really retire. Now retired we didn’t need to be someplace the next day so we had more time to anchor and take our time getting back home. I know this might not make sense to most of you now but wait till you retire and then you’ll understand. So I decided that we need another dinghy since we’d have more time for anchoring. I purchased a used wooden dinghy (not built by me) that looked almost like a Eastport pram but wasn’t. It was called a Koot and it was a pleasure to row and that was the point, no motor to deal with which worked out fine because I figured that most of our trips ashore were less then a half mile and the longer ones where we just did some exploring or going for a joy ride we’re less then 2 miles. Perfect solution right? Not quite. We stored the boat in a dinghy rack on shore at our marina or towed it behind us sometimes. I never tried putting it on the foredeck of our 32-3 (like Christian Williams use to do with his Eastport pram on the 32 he owned) because I thought it was just a bit too crowded and got in the way when docking. So with a sad heart, because I loved that dinghy, I sold it.

Now the third and hopefully final solution to our dinghy dilemma was to buy a West Marine PRU-3 roll up inflatable dinghy that is small enough to stow (deflated of course) in the quarter berth of my E32-3 but big enough to take me, my first mate and some gear ashore when needed. To push us along I‘ve ordered the Torqeedo Traveler 603s outboard which is equivalent to my previous owner Honda 2hp that worked well In pushing our first inflatable dinghy. So, no gas or oil to worry about. A dinghy that can easily be inflated (it took me 6 minutes the first time) with the foot pump that comes with it and it’s all storable below deck for long time storage. I’ll post my review on the Torqeedo Travler 603s after I get it and put it to use.
 
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