Atomic 4 Engine for sale

[edsantoleri]

We just pulled our vintage Atomic 4 out of our Catalina 30 to switch to electric drive.
The head is cracked as water was leaking out the top of it when operating. Otherwise it appears to be in decent shape.
We have the original carb, ( had changed it over to electric fuel pump two years ago) starter, wiring harness,
The motor is available near Wilmington, DE. Any fair offer will be accepted. I do hope someone will restore the motor for future use.
Please let me know if you wish to see photos or if you have any questions.
Best regards,
Dave

[sastanley]

Please post pictures. There are many folks looking for a motor. In my personal world, I have a good head and manifold..my block is rusting away into the bilge. Thanks. Good luck with your electric. Interested to see where you plan to put all the batteries to run that sucker!!

[Al Schober]

Change an A4 plus a full tank of gas out for an electric motor plus batteries? Will be interesting to see what range you get for the same weight.
Well, when the batteries go flat you still have the sails.

[ndutton]

I've noticed a couple of trends regarding electric propulsion:

1. Skippers who made the decision either by careful reasoning or buying into the claims are usually bombarded by dock expert naysayers. We, of all people, should sympathize with them because we get the same thing regarding our gasoline fueled engines. Because of the negative dock tripe we proceed to observation #2.
2. Skippers who are disappointed by the end result - and I'm certain there are some - seldom admit it. That's too bad because an honest discussion of the pros and cons would be valuable information.

[joematrix1013]

I am converting to electric as well. I'm using a Thunder struck kit and 4 100ah batteries.

[sastanley]

What do you expect the reasonable range of 400Ah to be, and how do you recharge it?

[Peter]

The Thunderstruck motor is a 48 volt motor. I assume that joematrix1013 will be using four 12 volt, 100 Ah batteries in series to run the motor. That means they will have theoretically 100 Ah at their disposal. If they are lead acid you do not want to go below about 50% charge so you really have 50 Ah to use.

Power = I*V

5 hp ~ 3700 watts - Therefore I=3700 Watts/48 volts = 77 amps.

50 Ah/77 A = 39 minutes

If we say that will drive the boat at 5 knots (maybe optimistic depending upon the boat and conditions?), you get a range of 3 nm.

Switch to lithium battery technology and you can discharge much more deeply and probably almost double that. Add four more batteries in parallel and double it again. Etc.

For some, the range will be a deal breaker. For others it will not be.

Best,

Peter

[tritonyawl2]

The range isn't there yet

Given unlimited resources, I'd love to go electric. Been very happy with my Torqeedo outboard for the dinghy. But for range and speed, hard to beat gas.

We love to go to Newport every year for the Newport Jazz Festival. 16 miles one way. Charging in Newport would be an issue. Solar takes a long time, I think a wind bugger also takes a while.

But I finally did say goodbye to the rear mounted Oberdorfer which was misery to maintain - lousy access. The new pedestal water pump and Moyer's PTO kit installed easily. Had to reconfigure some plumbing and minor carpentry. But it is all looking good.

[joe_db]

Given unlimited resources, I'd love to go electric. Been very happy with my Torqeedo outboard for the dinghy. But for range and speed, hard to beat gas.

We love to go to Newport every year for the Newport Jazz Festival. 16 miles one way. Charging in Newport would be an issue. Solar takes a long time, I think a wind bugger also takes a while.

But I finally did say goodbye to the rear mounted Oberdorfer which was misery to maintain - lousy access. The new pedestal water pump and Moyer's PTO kit installed easily. Had to reconfigure some plumbing and minor carpentry. But it is all looking good.

Using the "FWC" pump as the raw water pump - genius!
As for electric power, it has its niche applications, but in general I find that the proponents of it vastly overestimate speed and range. If all I ever did was day sails out of my marina, 1 mile range would be plenty to clear the breakwater going out and coming in. Getting to Long Island Sound when the Bermuda High has settled in with no wind for days..........well maybe not so much.