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After a presentation about electric boating at the first skippers' evening of the 2023 Varend Corso, we got to chat with a few water scouts from the Souting Wessel Group in Vlaardingen . It was a real feeling. I was a member of the water scouts from the ages of 10 to 22. It was thanks to water scouting that I finally started sailing.
The water scouts were incredibly interested, perhaps even the most interested of all those present, in the possibilities of electric boating. It led to some of the evening's most engaging conversations, from anecdotes about sailing on De Kaag and scouting Boterhuiseiland to the genuine question of how such a steel, somewhat clumsy, scouting Lelievlet would sail with a modest electric motor like the ePropulsion Spirit 1.0 Plus .
We decided to test this as soon as possible, and on Saturday, April 1st, the time had come. It was cold, raining, windy, incredibly muddy, and dirty—the perfect conditions for a day out with the scouts.
The Scouting Wesselgroep have been slightly modified. The port aft transom has been lowered a few centimeters so that an outboard motor can be mounted without an engine mount. This made installing the ePropulsion Spirit 1.0 Plus even easier. However, we would recommend a long shaft to the scouts if they decide to purchase one. The short shaft we had with us worked perfectly, but still had some cavitation. A long shaft would run even smoother.
Straight out of the box with three adults and three children on board, it was striking how this plump steel bathtub (as we used to call them: "Be wiser, we're made of iron") shot out of the starting blocks like a rocket. The torque of the electric motor was perfectly suited to this situation. The acceleration and the ability to make an emergency stop were particularly impressive. This exceeded my expectations and those of the scouts. I myself had never seen a Lelievlet sail like this.
By the way, I was still on shore, and Nils was out sailing with the scouts. I'd stayed behind to talk to the board about the possibilities of our engines for this scouting group.
After fifteen minutes, Nils returned, and we boarded the boat. The Sea Scouts were thrilled and thrilled to be able to sail these ultra-modern and innovative engines ourselves. Using Navionics on the phone, we discovered that the boat (now with seven people aboard, mostly overweight) was doing just under 3 knots at 300 watts and a strong headwind. Remarkably, we were sailing with a tailwind and with 1000 watts, reaching a maximum speed of 3.4 knots or 6.3 km/h. I didn't even know a Lelievlet could sail that fast, but apparently, 300 watts was enough to bring a 700kg steel boat with seven people aboard to hull speed. All the extra power mainly generated waves, not speed.
Team leader Erik Scheurkogel was very pleased with this first test of electric sailing with a Lelievlet.
With a 1276Wh battery, the ePropulsion Spirit 1.0 Plus capable of moving an overloaded Lelievlet at hull speed for 4 hours and 15 minutes; longer than the average boat launch. Even we never expected that. This motor is designed for a Lelievlet and should really become standard equipment for water scouts. Clean, quiet, safe, maintenance-free, robust, and setting a good example for the rest of the Dutch water sports community.
Looking back on my own time in the Scouts, it was mostly rowing and sculling, but later also screeching and leaking two-stroke engines. Thankfully, that's no longer necessary in 2023.
