In my opinion it stills a new technology that the delivery doesn't worth the costs. Maybe in a couple years we will have a much more efficient version of this with one third of the price tag.
Great video mate. 1 horse power is 735 watts so at 24 volts that's 30 amps. I doubt this is possible with such a small motor. But it still looks great.
Well, the battery is only 324Wh and lasts for 70 minutes on full power. So the motor must be a 277 Watt motor. Looks like Epropulsion did a bit of an overestimation on their product page, LOL
Will give that a test soon 🙂 I think it won't make a big difference on a pedal kayak, but it would make life a lot easier on a standard fishing kayak. The main benefit would be hands free fishing and trolling.
I don't think that's a weed gaurd on the back of the motor. It's on the wrong side for that. I suspect that it's a stator to help convert the wasted swirling energy from the prop to forward propulsion for greater efficiency.
I connect my solar panel to the Vaquita USING the Elejoy MPPT step up 400w solar charge controller EL-MU400SP set to 25.2V and cannot get a charge flowing. Can you share how you set up your solar charger to work?
Hey Shaun. I feed my solar power into a separate LifePo battery with an MPPT (the house battery in our motorhome) and then I charge the ePropulsion battery via a 350 watt inverter and with original charger. That way it keeps on charging even if there are a few clouds around. It should be possible to charge it directly though. Not so sure how those 3 pins on the connector work. There's probably some kind of circuit built in to activate the battery from the charger.
The battery is 24 volt. Without inverter you'd need to boost the voltage and find a way to charge the battery with a custom li-ion charger. Using an inverter is much easier
Thank you for sharing the video! I was debating on adding a motor to my SUP for fishing. I was looking at the Bixby J-2 or this one. I heard the Bixby was a bit loud. Is the Vaquita loud?
Hi William, glad the video was helpful. I don't think the Vaquita is loud. Can barely hear it. But I have no comparison to the Bixby as I haven't tried it. If money is not an issue then I still think the Bixby is a better choice though as you get less issues with weed getting into the propeller and it has reverse.
When you say it pulled to the left that is the torque the trust of the prop causing that the faster you go the more it would pull ,you get the same effect when you build a boat with a prop & shaft underneath most shafts are offset to counteract the torque so you don't have to have your rudder trimmed to stay strait as that slows you down so the mounting bracket underneath would really need to adjustable so you could offset the motor slightly it would only need to be offset by 1/4 or 1/2 an inch even to stay in a strait line under full power .is the bracket non adjustable ?
Hi Jon, good point. Unfortunately, it's not possible to adjust the bracket. Maybe it's already been taken into account. I tried another day without any wind and current and it's going pretty straight. Still have to adjust the course frequently. The problem with a paddleboard is that even the slightest bit of breeze will steer you off course. I'll keep what you said in mind and pay some closer attention to it next time when I'm out.
@@FishingreminderNot a SUP, but a Kayak and also a float tube. It helps greatly in my experience, especially when moving as the front fin exerts a force to move inline with itself. :)
@@2musiclover534 I find the idea intriguing. I have seen that on inflatable kayaks but not on any sups so far. It could hinder the turning capabilities. Perhaps it would work best if the second fin was placed more in the center rather than the front. I'd be keen to give that a try.
Liked. I appreciate an independent review. I wonder if you are willing to install a free speedometer app on your phone and actually give us GPS speed at each of the 8 throttle settings. I actually need to go about 2 km/h for trolling speed and am not sure if setting 1 would go that slow.... Thanks again.
thanks for the feedback. I did try with the GPS the other day and got a max speed of about 9 km/h as opposed to the advertised 11km/h. I haven't tried the lowest setting. I usually troll at a speed of about 4km/h and that was at a little less than half throttle. So I think 2km/h at the lowest setting is probably just about right.
@@Fishingreminder Thanks. 9 km/h is impressive. My #2 wish for them is that they would allow use of 3rd party batteries rather than locking us into their proprietary battery - OR provide an option for a higher capacity battery, say about 500 watts for longer runtime. Otherwise, looks like a wonderful setup.
@@2musiclover534 yeah I agree. I think the problem is that the battery is also the control center. It contains the charge controller, the wifi and the motor controller all in one. The motor itself could probably be wired to any 24 Volt battery. You'd just have to add the means to control the power output. A bigger battery option would be great. Although I honestly haven't run out of power so far. You can buy a spare or replacement battery. But the wifi wrist controller is linked to one battery as far as I know - so either one would also need a wifi controller for each battery or would have to reset the wifi connection between the controller and the battery when swapping batteries.
@@jplee3 it depends a lot on wind and current. But I got up to about 9 km/h on a calm day and big aqua marina drift. Slowest speed is around 2km/h in calm water
@@jplee3 Yeah certainly not very good in weedy water. The Bixpy motor would be better for that. Even if there's a bit of seaweed floating around and you happen to go over it, it will most likely get stuck in the prop. And then you have to crawl around on the paddleboard and try to reach the prop to pull it out again. That's a big downside. It's mainly an issue with free-floating weed on the surface.
I think it's better in terms of performance. You get better speed and longer battery life. A problem with the epropulsion motor is that weed can easily get stuck in the propeller and jam it. The blue drive is more like a jet motor and it's less likely for weed to get stuck in it. I think the best of all, but also the most expensive motor would be a Bixby.
@@Fishingreminder Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I also think Bixpy is the best but apparently they don't ship to Europe, or at least not to Romania where I live ✌
Hi i just bought the vaquita for my sup and it went perfect the first 10 min and after stop …i tried everything reconnecting the control but nothing …the battery flash the 3-4 led .. i tried almost anything…do you have any idea what to do ?
Is the wrist remote control waterproof? Is there drag from the prop if you choose to paddle with the motor switched off. Does owning one of these take away from the natural experience of paddleboarding? Thanks.
Yes it's waterproof and it has a water sensor. If you fall in with the wristband, the motor stops. You can paddle with the motor. The drag is no big problem, but rather the fact that you don't have a fin for tracking. It's great for paddle assistance. When you switch it to a low speed and paddle at the same time you get great tracking and can paddle all day. For me it definitely enhanced the paddle boarding experience 🙂 It's similar to having an electric bicycle.
Yeah, apparently trolling motors max out at a speed of about 7km/h, no matter how much power they have. More power in a trolling motor just means it has more torque and can move bigger boats. But it doesn't mean that it goes faster. The epropulsion motor is not a trolling motor per se, so (as per my understanding) the propeller rotates faster at the high setting and that's why it goes faster than a trolling motor.
@@borky1987 there are three things I don't particularly like about this motor. 1 - if there is lots of weed in the water, the propeller gets tangled up often and stops until you clear out the weed. 2 - no reverse, often you get blown to shore when fishing and it would be easier to slowly reverse back out. 3. the armband controller is quite sensitive to water, if it gets wet/damp then it can be a struggle to switch the motor on. It's okay for the price of the motor, but if you have a slightly bigger budget I would go for the Bixpy motor.
Hi Phillip. They sell for about $800 USD. Not too bad compared to a Bixpy motor, which costs twice as much. But you get what you pay for. The Bixpy has more features such as reverse and also a weed-free design.
@@phillipnorthrup7562 yeah true, problem with trolling motor is that they are not quite as fast and convenient. I'd use one on a kayak but not so much on a paddle board.
Thanks 👍 good question. I'm not so sure, I haven't tested if it floats. But it's not mentioned on their product page so I guess not. I'll give it a try when I head out the next time.
haha, I doubt it. But proof me wrong and make a video on how you build it. You could use a simple 12 volt trolling motor or better a kontiki motor, a lithum battery and some arduino magic for the remote control. But it's likely gonna look crap, will probably not be waterproof, much less powerful (the epropulsion is running on 24 volt), more cumbersome and in the end cost more than the epropulsion. I was thinking of building one myself for a while. Remember the price for the unit is less than $800USD. But since you claim you can do it, I'd really love to see it. Talk the talk and walk the walk, haha 😜
@@thatonebeone Fantastic, then please do make one and show us how you do it. Can't wait to see the result. I think it's easer said than done despite a 3D printer. The battery is included in the price for the vaquita motor. A better motor is the Bixpy kayak motor. But that's almost twice as much. That would also be a good one to replicate - if you can do it.
