© Templar Marine via Torqeedo

I do not really understand the day boat thing, sort of a floating party platform that only goes 5 knots (9 km/hr or 5.7 mph) but there's a market for it:

© Templar Marine via Torqeedo

© Torqeedo Cruise 10

The boat is powered by a Cruise 10.0 motor, which is equivalent to a 20 horsepower gas motor, and a six-pack of LI batteries, and will run for seven hours. It also has a bow thruster for maneuvering and docking. To get 20 Hp in a gas engine, it would have to hang over the stern; this little thing just fastens to the hull, out of sight and out of mind. It makes it much easier to have a ladder and swim platform.

© Torqeedo battery pack

There have been electric motors in boats forever, but Torqeedo puts them into a really smart, water-safe package with sealed batteries that are so much lighter than the old lead-acid, plus modern controls, even an integrated on-board computer with GPS-based range calculation. They are absolutely the future of powered boating.

Lloyd Alter/ Torqeedo engine/CC BY 2.0

I have wanted one since I drove a Goboat around Copenhagen harbour a few years ago, but they are still a luxury item; with batteries, they far more expensive than a comparable gas engines for equivalent horsepower. That's why we have mainly seen them in expensive boats like the Beau Lakes. I do hope that as battery prices come down that will change.

In a few weeks I have to spend a big chunk of money to get my 15 HP Evinrude picked up, drained and stored for the winter; I suspect that you don't have to do any of that with a Torqeedo. I should be building that into my cost calculations. It's definitely my next outboard.