Another One Bites the Dust

[Dermot M]

We have a Sailcraft Iroquois 31.5ft Catamaran. We ordered two 2000
motors in Sept 07, had the usual delays with delivery and they arrived
in March 08. The motors were fitted over the 08/09 Winter. Apart from
the bad design of the dual helm control and the large size of the
control boxes, everything went fine during the 09 season. We still had
the outboard on the cat, but the manoeuvrability of the pods was great
for marinas etc. The cat was lifted out for the winter and was re-
launched in April this year. We used the motors on 5 occasions to
bring the cat from our mooring into the Club's small harbour - about 3
minutes travelling.
On Sat 1st, having run for the 3 minutes approx, as we approached the
harbour the port motor stopped. As I was near the narrow entrance, I
just flicked off the switch and on again. I'm not sure if the motor
started again - we were in the entrance of the harbour, and I did not
notice. About 30secs later we were alongside another boat, so I turned
off both motors and started tying up. My wife went below and
immediately shouted that there was a problem and there was smoke
everywhere. I went below and switched off the main power switch. The
smoke was coming from the port hull, above the motor. I did not see
flames, only thick acrid smoke. On two of the four wires (1 red & 1
black), from the anderson connector to the motor, the plastic coating
was burned completely off the wires - just bits of black charcoal
left. I am assuming that water or damp got into the motors and shorted
the cables.
After we got over the shock, I emailed Kevin and told him that this
could have been very serious and asked for his comments - no answer (I
used the new email address on his new site, as well as the old address
that I had). I gave him a few days to get back to me, but nothing. I
then phoned his number and left a message asking him to contact me,
leaving my number in case he had lost it - no answer.
As well as a growing number of others, I paid out over $6000 and the
least I can do is to post here and try to save others from making the
same mistake. There are other larger companies now on the market
selling electric pods, saildrives and outboards. I am now going to the
extra expense of having to buy something I though that I already had
for my boat.
My choice this time is two Torqeedo Cruise 4R outboards.
Dermot Mangan
Cheetah