We set off for a few days on the Gippsland Lakes leaving the petrol outboard motor behind and instead taking our 80lb thrust trolling motor (Pelican EMP80). I had a second LiFePO4 (Lithium) battery dedicated to the electric motor.
We launched at Johnsonville quite late as I was waiting for the wind to drop. My concern was that I had never powered the boat with the electric motor and wasn't sure how much wind it could fight to dock. It turned out to be quite zippy and we had no problem docking with the 90° capable steering. We stayed the night, and next morning had a slow but pleasant sail down the Tambo river then across Lake King to Paynesville.
We using the motor every now and then on the river to "power tack".
Once across Lake King, I tacked as much as possible to get into the straight at Paynesville but finally motored (slowly, around 2.5 knots) most of the way down to the Yacht club.
We found some power there to charge the propulsion battery and next morning I was surprised that the battery had only required 15AH to fully charge. It's a 100AH battery. I can clearly use a lot more throttle without worrying too much about range.
We only stayed the one night at Paynesville (no problems, just a long story to do with folk at home) then back across Lake King and up the Tambo next day. We came home that night.
