TOPIC: 1962 Dorsett Catalina Electric Conversion

Greetings all. New to the site. I had been looking for small runabout to put an electric motor on and found this gorgeous restored 1962 Dorsett Catalina. I tried to keep everything stock or at least classic appearing except for electric motor of course. I used some fancy new solid state marine battery technology which are extremely light weight (two 48v 210Ah solid state lithium packs weigh just 90lbs each). I chose to fit the boat with an Elco EP-50 motor in part because it has a traditional outboard look (although I may have to change the decals to better fit the Dorsett color scheme). The Elco won't look as beautiful as the real deal 650 Merc two stroke (which I still have btw) but I like the fact that the electric motor is quiet, generates no fumes (my daughter has asthma) and I can charge batteries overnight and never pay for fuel. The boat is now probably not quite as fast as with the Merc but it will go up onto plane with a couple passengers if I need to. Thats enough for me. But mostly I have been just cruising around the Chesapeake Bay at around 5-6 knots to conserve "fuel". At that speed I can pretty much putt around all day with my batteries. I shot a video below. Let me know what you all think. Someday, in a few years I would like to electrify a 30-35' trawler with more of a displacement hull but the cost will be significantly higher to do a bigger project like this properly so it will need to be put on hold. That being said, I will be married next year and maybe the Mrs won't let me fiddle with a big project like that for a while so maybe I should do it quick.

What an awsome boat! I watched the video and was very impressed with your setup. I recently sold a 1967 110 mercury tower of power to a guy in Minnesota. He removed the power head and replaced it with an electric motor for use on a pontoon boat.

Very nice! Love the boat and nice that you are doing the research on electrifying a classic plastic boat.

Very interesting, thanks for the details.