Ditching my outboard for Trolling Motor + WattCycle Lithium Battery (March 2026)

WattCycle Discount link:https://www.wattcycle.com/?ref=wwkkyjfk Code:keeldragger I purchased a brand new 4-stroke Yamaha 2.5 HP motor about 5 years ago. While I have had it professionally serviced, I have had nothing but problems with it. It has stalled and forced me to break out the oars at Catalina Island, La Cruz De Huanacaxtle (Mexico), French Polynesia, and Hawaii. I've considered buying a different gas outboard engine, but it's hard to stomach the cost as well as deal with the inconvenience of being dependent on gas all of the time. I decided to get a Newport 55 lb salt water trolling motor and pair it up with a 100A WattCycle LifePO4 Trolling Motor battery. Now, I'm not the first person to try this and locally, my friend Andy on @sailingsole was one of the first sailors that I saw using trolling motors with lithium batteries on a dinghy. He did a great episode on his sea trials but what as missing at the time was a good solution to show charge state of the battery while the trolling motor was in use. WattCycle has solved that with their BMS and BlueTooth mobile app integration. I can use the WattCycle app to monitor the battery state in real-time--and I can see both how much charge is remaining as well as how much run-time is remaining at different throttle settings. This information was the missing link for me - and it's solved the range anxiety issue. If you are interested in picking up a Wattcycle, I've put a link and a discount code at the top. The code is 'keeldragger' and is good for 6% off! --- Keeldragger Substack Blog https://keeldragger.substack.com Keeldragger Great Pacific Adventure T-shirts! https://maritimetees.net/products/keeldragger-great-pacific-adventure-t-shirt?utm_source=copyToPasteBoard&utm_medium=product-links&utm_content=web Tracker: https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SV_Keeldragger/ Supporting the Channel: We appreciate your Likes, Channel Subscription, and Comments! If you are Inclined to provide financial support for our adventure, YouTube Memberships, Patreon, and donations on PayPal are humbly accepted :-) YouTube Memberships: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHbGnGuwDWdjitpVf7npNAA/join Patreon: https://patreon.com/keeldragger?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=R3JCDW4RGKS7N WattCycle Lithium Battery Discount link:https://www.wattcycle.com/?ref=wwkkyjfk Code:keeldragger