I got a $1,000 electric boat from China two years ago. Here’s what it looks like now
My regular readers may remember that two years ago, I was winning so hard at life that I bought myself a brand-spankin’ new boat as a treat. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still on an independent journalist’s salary here though, so when I say that I had “boat money”, I mean I scraped together enough to buy a $1,000 electric boat directly from China. It’s now been two years since that Alibaba delivery, so let’s see how it’s held up and what it looks like now.
As a bit of a refresher first though, here’s what I got at the time. Inside of a surprisingly well-made steel frame and plywood-lined crate (that probably would have cost $1k by itself to have made in the US), my five-seater fiberglass boat awaited me.
It was powered by a cute little 500W inboard motor with a belt and pulley drive connecting it to a rudimentary prop fashioned out of 1/8″ (3mm thick) steel plate bent and welded onto a section of pipe.
The boat didn’t have batteries, so I added my own pair of 12V 200Ah LiFePO4 batteries to create a 5 kWh battery pack that was likely way bigger than I needed.
You can check out my unboxing and testing video here, which went viral with nearly four million people having now joined me at the beginning of this crazy adventure.
The boat seemed to work, in that it stayed above the waterline of our local lake and could move both fore and aft under its own power, fulfilling the major requirements of what it takes to be a motorboat.
However, its performance left a lot to be desired. The prop was only around 75% submerged, meaning there was a lot of cavitation and wasted power churning air through the water. Not only did that make it inefficient, but also slow.
It was hard to travel over a single knot, though I did briefly hit 2 knots on my GPS speedometer app (and I’m counting that, even if I can’t be sure it wasn’t a fluke).
In other words, the boat was surprisingly decent, yet the performance was underwhelming.
For a while now, I’ve been chipping away at a few upgrades to the boat each time I visit my parent’s house, where I keep it. It’s been a fine little boat for my dad to take the grandkids out on and teach them about boating, but it has been due for some deferred love, maintenance, and upgrades.
First of all, here’s how it has aged. Without regular cleaning, there was some serious marine grime building up, but the fiberglass has actually held up surprisingly well in two years of harsh Florida sun and UV.
After two years, the chrome railings had a decent amount of corrosion and what looked like pitting, though it pretty much all buffed right out when I disassembled the canopy to clean everything really well.
After buffing the shine back into the rails, I applied a clear coat so that the rails will hopefully keep their shimmer and I won’t have to re-scrub the life back into them next year. The rest of the boat’s hull and canopy got a simple soapy scrub down.
As I put the canopy back together, I finally made a big addition I’ve been planning ever since I got the boat: solar panels. I put a pair of 100W solar panels on the canopy and wired them into an MPPT solar charge controller that feeds back into the batteries. The panels don’t charge quite as quickly as the boat drains, but it has meant that I never need to pull the boat out to charge it anymore since it just slowly charges up all day while it’s floating around at the dock.
Solar panels on electric boats are a game changer, especially those used for only a few hours a week, such as a Sunday cruise. You can run your battery nearly empty on the water in a day, then let it charge itself up over the next few days.
The next big upgrade I’ve been planning is more power. To get there, I had a slick idea that would let me replace the old rudder and motor in one fell swoop.
The rudder was horribly rusted out at this point, though amazingly that terribly inefficient propellor looked nearly as good as new, so I suspect they actually used stainless steel to fabricate it.
Since the design of the propellor shaft meant that its angle forced the propellor to be too high, I decided to simply replace that entire system with an alternative. Instead of yanking out the propellor shaft and needing to seal the stuffing box, I left the existing seals in place and just cut off the propellor. It ain’t pretty, but it’s below the waterline. It was also a rare case of the easiest solution and the safest solution converging on the same answer, since the shaft is already perfectly sealed against water ingress.
I found an 80 lb thrust Minn Kota trolling motor used online and snagged it for around $200 (it cost over $1,400 new for this American-made motor). It has what Minn Kota refers to as an indestructible shaft, which I believe since it was hard as hell to cut it down to length using a pipe cutter, which was necessary to preserve the wires that run down the shaft.
I removed the rudder and replaced it with the entire trolling motor, now with its shortened shaft, and welded up some new linkage to connect it to the old rudder controls. After yanking out the Minn Kota’s control board and wiring it into my batteries, I had a Frankenstein setup that I figured would give me much more power and also some effective thrust vectoring since I could control the direction of the motor from the wheel, like a real outboard.
I hadn’t yet run the wires up to the helm, so the boat temporarily required a crew of two when I put it back into the water. My dad took the wheel while I stayed in the ‘engine room’ in the back to control the throttle.
It was immediately apparent how much more powerful the boat was now, actually leaving a wake. Unfortunately, it was also immediately apparent why boats have rudders, since this flat bottom boat now had the worst case of oversteer I’ve ever seen.
With the powerful thrust, the boat basically shoved its ass-end all over the place with just a bit of nudging. The cool thing was that it could literally turn in its own length, though we were basically always turning until we could find neutral on the wheel.
My dad described what we had done as “like putting an outboard motor on a pie tin”, and I have to say that felt pretty accurate. It made for some great laughs (see the testing video here, highly recommended!) but was barely controllable. It felt like a bumper car on water.
To fix it, I added a simple bolt-on rudder on the motor shaft. Putting the boat back in proved that there was more control, but it still tends to oversteer a bit. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun as hell, but it’s still doesn’t have the precision control I was hoping for. Oh well, it’s good enough for a $1,000 Chinese boat with nearly half as much added into it as part of the upgrades!
Now, the boat is solar-powered, so it never needs charging, and the power is much better to allow for some actually fun cruising at speeds of up to approximately 5 knots. I don’t think we’ll be pulling a water skier anytime soon, but we’re definitely leaving a wake now.
The last thing I need to do is add a pair of bilge pumps (it’s got two sponsons that create low points on either side, so I need two pumps). I had been putting off that project because I never thought I’d really need them, and it was more of a precaution in case of some type of freak accident where I rammed something submerged that holed the hull. I was also dreading putting a hole in a perfectly good fiberglass boat for the pump outlet, even if it was going to be well above the water line.
However, what I didn’t account for was Hurricane Milton, which put so much rain into the boat at such a steep angle that it actually started working its way under the rear bench and filling up the “engine room” area below deck. The boat is self-bailing, at least in normal rain, and has a central scupper that funnels rainwater down through the hull. With around a foot (30 cm) of freeboard, it’s never been an issue, even in hard Florida rains. But a Cat 3 hurricane is a different animal, and once enough water worked its way under the rear bench and the sideways wind/rain duo started tipping the boat, physics took the wheel and the below picture is how things looked after the storm passed.
Fortunately, this was pretty much the only damage my parents’ place took. The boat had probably 100 gallons 380 liters) of water below deck and so my dad couldn’t right it by himself. It sat that way for around six weeks until my next visit, when we pumped the water out. The hull was still secure and she floated right back to her former self.
Having survived two years of use and a Category 3 hurricane, it was time to finally give the old girl’ a name. I asked my subscribers for their recommendations and received hundreds of great ideas (including dozens of Boaty McBoatface) but finally decided on what I felt was the best name of all.
As you read this, the Sunny Side Up still floats, basking in the battery-charging sun and cruising the local private waterways at speeds fast enough to get a fist shaken at you in a no-wake zone.
She ain’t the prettiest boat out there. Nor the fastest. But she’s mine, and she’s beautiful to me.
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For the last few weeks, we’ve been running a sidebar survey about how much Electrek readers think it would cost to add EV charging systems to their homes. After receiving over twenty-four hundred responses, here’s what you told us.
In our previous survey, we asked readers why they chose to install solar panels at home. In the recap, many of our commenters mentioned having their systems systems pull double duty — charging home backup batteries and topping off their electric cars. That got us thinking: as more and more first-time EV owners look into the many benefits of home charging, how much do they expect to pay for home charging?
Based on over 2,400 responses, this is what you told us.
What do you expect to pay for home charging?
The most positive surprise was that more than a third of Electrek readers who responded to the poll already had 240V outlets in their garage, so they expected to pay effectively $0 – their homes are EV ready now!
Of the remaining 64%, 44% were fairly evenly split between a relatively straightforward ~$500-1,000 wiring job with a few wiring or panel upgrades while only about 18% expected to spend over $1,000 due to having an older home, a detached garage, or for some other (apparently pricey and/or inconvenient) reason.
Navigating the questions
Just like you would for home solar, we’d recommend getting a quote from several installers before making a decision. One of our trusted partners, Qmerit, offers a quote-sourcing service called PowerHouse. The service scans pricing from thousands of completed electrification installations across North America to provide the best quotes that take regional variability into account and work with homeowners to “bundle” chargers, installation, and even batteries.
America has arrived at an inflection point in which all of the technical, policy and financial elements are in place to support a societal shift toward whole-home electrification. Now what’s needed is a comprehensive way to assemble these complex elements into a simple, financeable, home-energy retrofit that makes it easier to implement.
QMERIT FOUNDER TRACY PRICE
Qmerit says its new bundling program can flag the potential for federal, state, and local utility incentives like the ones we’ve covered from Illinois utility ComEd and others that can reduce or even eliminate the upfront costs of home installations for many.
Original content from Electrek.
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Following a lawsuit brought against the California Air Resources Board (CARB) by major heavy truck manufacturers over California’s emissions requirements, CARB has struck back with fresh lawsuit of its own alleging that the manufacturers violated the terms of the 2023 Clean Truck Partnership agreement to sell cleaner vehicles.
Daimler Truck North America, International Motors, Paccar and Volvo Group North America sued the California Air Resources Board in federal court this past August, seeking to invalidate the Clean Truck Partnership emissions reduction deal they signed with the state in 2023 to move away from traditional trucks and toward zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs). The main point of the lawsuit was that, because the incoming Trump Administration rolled back Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) policies that had previously given individual states the right to set their own environmental and emissions laws, the truck makers shouldn’t have to honor the deals signed with individual states.
“Plaintiffs are caught in the crossfire: California demands that OEMs follow preempted laws; the United States maintains such laws are illegal and orders OEMs to disregard them,” the lawsuit reads. “Accordingly, Plaintiff OEMs file this lawsuit to clarify their legal obligations under federal and state law and to enjoin California from enforcing standards preempted by federal law.”
After several weeks of waiting for a response, we finally have one: CARB is suing the OEMs right back, claiming that the initial suit proves the signing manufacturers, “(have) unambiguously stated that they do not intend to comply.”
They want to sell Americans more diesel
In its lawsuit, CARB argues that monetary damages alone would not make the people of the State of California whole as far as damages are concerned, citing that the stated goal of the 2023 Clean Truck Partnership was, “to achieve emissions reductions that cannot be measured strictly in financial terms,” according to ACT-News.
The agency is asking the court to compel the truck companies to perform on their 2023 obligations or, failing that, to allow CARB to rescind the contract and recover its costs. A hearing on the truck makers’ request for a preliminary injunction was held Friday, with another court date set for November 21, when CARB will seek to dismiss the case brought forth by the truck brands. The outcome of these cases could shape how state and federal government agencies cooperation on emissions rules in the future.
You can read the full 22-page lawsuit, below, then let us know what you think of CARB’s response (and their chances of succeeding) in the comments.
SOURCES: CARB; via ACT-News, Trucking Dive.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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Starting this month, parking lots in South Korea with more than 80 spaces will be required to install solar canopies and carports. But, unlike similar laws that have been proposed in the US, this new law doesn’t just apply to new construction – existing lots will have to comply as well!
South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced in August that it has prepared an amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Promotion of the Development, Use, and Diffusion of New and Renewable Energy to the effect that all publicly- and privately-owned parking lots in the Asian country with room for more than 80 vehicles will be compelled to add solar panels to their lots in a move designed to proactively expand renewable energy and create more solar and construction jobs.
In addition to creating jobs and working to stabilize the local grid with more renewable energy, the proposed solar canopies will offer a number of practical, day-to-day benefits for Korean drivers, as well.
The shaded structures will protect vehicles from heavy rain, snow, and the blistering summer sun — keeping interiors cooler, extending the life of plastics and upholstery, and even helping to preserve battery range in EVs and PHEVs by reducing their AC loads (and, of course, provide charging while the cars are parked).
To their credit, Ministry officials absolutely get it. “Through this mandatory installation,” one unnamed official told Asia Business Daily, “we expect to expand the distribution of eco-friendly renewable energy generation facilities while providing tangible benefits to the public. By utilizing idle land such as parking lots, we can maximize land use efficiency. In addition, installing canopy-type solar panels can provide shade underneath, offering noticeable comfort to people using parking lots during hot weather.”
The new rule was approved in late September, and is expected to go into effect later this month, with new installation projects set to begin immediately.
It could work here
South Korea is proving that an idea like is practical. Here in the US, we’re proving that out, too – the Northwest Fire District in Arizona partnered with Standard Solar to build a conceptually similar, 657 kW solar carport system across 12 parking lots (shown, above) that delivers more than 1.23 million kWh of clean, emissions-free power annually and offsets the equivalent of 185,000 vehicles’ worth of harmful carbon emissions.
That’s just Arizona. In New York, a new initiative to help expand solar into parking lots has more than doubled commercially zoned land where EV charging stations can be sited, “freeing up” an additional 400 million square feet of space throughout the city.
Sun-rich states like Texas, New Mexico, and Florida could also benefit, and even if we’re “just” adding fresh energy sources to municipal parking, dealer lots, and public schools, we could do a lot to reduce the cost of energy generation for the entire community. And, for what it’s worth, that seems to be right in line with the big reasons why people are choosing to add solar to their homes today.
What do you guys think – would something like this work in the US, or are we too far gone down the sophomoric, pseudo-libertarian rabbit hole to ever dig our way out? Let us know your take in the comments.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Asia Business Daily, via LinkedIn; Standard Solar.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
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