AN AFTERNOON ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER ON AN ELECTRIC SCOW

Well, it's New Years Eve and I'm looking back on some of the years highlights on the water past year. April found me in the Pacific Northwest spending a few days in Portland Oregon. While there I contacted a fellow named Myles Twete who is very involved in Electric Vehicle area and the Electric Boats group on Yahoo. When I converted BIANKA back in 2008  he and others in the group were very helpful with advice and expertise that was not commonly available elsewhere.  I was eager to spend a little time on the water and Myles graciously agreed to show me his twenty six foot Columbia River Scow Reach of Tide built by Sam McKinney . To start things off Myles picked me up in his THINK electric car.  Here's a quick video of some of that day spent on the Columbia River back in April:


It was not a total pleasure cruise. Even though Myles had converted the Tohatsu outboard back in 2006. Being an engineer he was still keeping data it's operation, modifications and charging:

Myles had a movable inductive speed control for the motor that allowed him to operate the motor at the helm position or in the cockpit:

The toggle switch was to put the motor in reverse. BLOG UPDATE: Myles has informed me that the switch actually is the on/off control  for the main power to the controller. Forward and reverse of the outboard is done by the original mechanical shifting of the outboard.

Despite the rain and overcast conditions it was a fine day on the water.