Workboats
Electric motors also power restored boats. Wanda III, a 1915 Lake Muskoka, Canada steamship, couldn’t carry passengers today with her original engine. Muskoka Discovery Centre museum opted, instead, for Elco’s EP-200 inboard system and a pair of diesel generators. At Evermore Bay Resort, outside of Orlando, Elco’s EP-20 model inboard retrofitted into a 1956 Chris Craft Capri allows smooth, quiet operation during weddings and eliminates gas engine noise and pollution on the resort’s 8-acre private lagoon. A 1970 Boston Whaler 13 Super Sport reaches 28 mph and travels more than 30 miles at cruising speed from an Elco outboard. Hybrid configurations even allow Elco motors to tuck out of the way, unseen, to augment historically accurate main propulsion.
Elco motors’ performance and dependability make them ideal to power commercial vessels as well. When Wendy Kitchell founded Monterey Bay Eco Tours, which showcases that critical natural resource during 1.5-hour nature cruises, she chose twin Elco EP-20 outboards for the 37’ catamaran to minimize impact on the area’s abundant seabirds, marine mammals and other wildlife, but Elco’s outboards proved friendly to more than just the fragile ecosystem.
“Having an electric vessel is what sets us apart from other tour operators,” Kitchell says. “Passengers constantly remark on how quiet and vibration-free the trip is, especially when we idle and observe wildlife. Plus, we don’t have to constantly position the boat to keep exhaust fumes downwind from our guests.”
