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Gear Review - June 2010
By Christopher Cunningham, Editor |
 It’s hard to separate paddling from kayaking, but kayaks, like a lot of boats, have options for propulsion. Sails, pedal-powered drives and motors all have their advocates. If your kayaking pursuits involve pastimes like fishing and photography or if you are unable apply much power to a paddle, a motor might broaden and brighten your kayaking horizons. Motors, whether electric or gas-powered, can be quite heavy and an awkward match for a boat as small as a touring kayak, but the Torqeedo Ultralight 402, an electric motor and battery designed specifically for kayaks, weighs in at only 15 pounds, and that includes its lithium-manganese rechargeable battery, a featherweight at only 5 1/2 pounds. That’s a far cry from the 48-pound lead-acid battery and 14-pound motor that I installed on a kayak a few years ago. The mount for the Ultralight requires drilling four holes in the aft deck for the bolts that anchor the ball end of a ball-and-socket joint. The socket end has an aluminum tube that leads over the stern, or off to the side, and supports the motor. The motor can be used fixed (and dependent on the kayak’s rudder for steering), pivoting (to steer a rudderless kayak), or working in tandem with a kayak’s rudder.
 It took me only about 45 minutes to figure out where best to mount the motor and install it. I didn’t put in on the centerline directly aft of the stern, because I didn’t want it to keep the kayak’s over-the-stern rudder from fully retracting. With the motor fixed on the port side I initially linked the rudder yoke directly with the yoke on the motor, as you would if the motor were directly aft of the rudder, but that interfered with allowing the motor to kick up. I routed the lines through a pulley mounted forward of the motor and that worked well.
I stowed the battery in the aft hatch and led the cable for the control unit though the bulkhead to the cockpit. The control unit has a magnetic dead man’s switch with a tether to clip to my PFD. With the switch in place and the unit turned on, I pushed the control lever all the way forward. There was a delay of about a second before the prop kicked in. That lag time between the control and the prop, according to the user manual, is designed in to reduce wear and tear on the drive machinery. The delay also gives the paddler time to prepare for the thrust. As the prop came up to speed, the kayak took off. The acceleration was surprising and impressive. When the kayak was up to speed I pulled the control lever all the way back to full astern. The motor paused briefly and eased into reverse. The kayak quickly came to a stop and took off like a shot backward. I soon got used to the lag between the control and the response, and figured out how to turn around with quick three-point turns. When making turns moving forward at full throttle, the motor causes the kayak to edge into the turn, so it feels very much like a powerboat. For a kayaker used to edging the opposite direction for a paddle-sweep turn it may seem a bit odd, but the inward lean helps you keep your balance in the turn and has a very racy feel.
The Ultralight has plenty of power to drive a kayak at a good clip, but approaching 4 knots the cylindrical motor shaft drags a furrow in the water that pulls air into the prop. I could hear the sound of the prop hitting the air pocket and feel the acceleration drop off. The speed at full throttle was 4 1/4 knots. All of the other Torqeedo motors have shafts with foil-shaped cross sections. I happened to have the sheet-metal fairing for the last electric motor I installed on a kayak so I adapted it for the Ultralight. It made quite a difference. The tapered trailing edge kept air from getting to the prop and the top speed increased to a steady 5 1/2 knots, an excellent turn of speed. Torqeedo does not currently have a fairing to add to the Ultralight shaft, but a do-it-yourselfer should be able to come up with a homemade sheet-metal fairing without too much trouble. The payoff in top-end speed is well worth it. With the fairing in place, the motor is also quieter when at full throttle. It sounds a bit like an electric toothbrush.
At top speed of course, the motor draws more power and depletes the battery faster. The control unit displays the percent of battery charge remaining, power draw in watts, speed over the bottom (the battery has a built-in GPS receiver) and best of all, the distance remaining at the current level of power applied. At full speed the control unit showed a range of about 4 nautical miles. At 4 1/4 knots that’s a running time of just under an hour. At a leisurely 2 1/2 knots the range was over 15 nautical miles with a running time of nearly 6 hours.
On one trial I had my son pilot the Ultralight-powered kayak and I paddled a second kayak. He had no trouble keeping up with me; on the contrary I had to work to keep pace with him. We rafted up and with the motor at about 3/4 throttle the motor would push the both of us along at over 3 1/4 knots.
The Ultralight has two safety features. The dead man’s switch, as long as you have its tether attached to you, will cut the power off if you get separated from the kayak. The motor will also shut itself off in the event of a capsize. An internal switch flips when the motor shaft reaches horizontal and the motor will stay off until the kayak is righted and after the throttle is returned to neutral. The control unit and the battery are waterproof and survived several dunkings.
The only thing hefty about the Torqeedo Ultralight is its price tag, but if you’re looking for quiet and powerful propulsion at the touch of your fingertips the Ultralight is compact, easily portable and will keep you moving at a good clip while you enjoy the ride.
Torqeedo Ultralight kayak motor
$1,799.00
Torqeedo Inc.
usa@torqeedo.com
www.torqeedo.com
www.paddlingpartner.com
866-391-3838
Christopher Cunningham is the editor of Sea Kayaker magazine.
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