Thanks, Josh! What a great setup! And I'm going to put road trips on my winter calendar from here on out! I need the mental health recharge.
I've got the Torqeedo 1003. I like it a lot - one of the reasons I got it was originally I sailed the boat on Lake Michigan and I was afraid of being a few miles out and have the wind die. That happened to me on Chesapeake Bay on my H17 and I had a multi hour paddle back to port.
If you get the Torqeedo, you're going to say "I spent 2 grand for a plastic motor?!" But it is water-proof, it's got a lot of power, and a long range. It'll push my Getaway at 10 knots when it's wide open. It's actually uncomfortably fast. I find 6 knots feels good, and will give me miles of range if I need it.
The plugs are a little fiddly - you have to be careful with them, lineing them up well before screwing them down.
The magnetic kill switch is a bit of a pain - you're supposed to lanyard it to yourself as a deadman. I wrap the cord around the motor tiller and tie it off. I've thought about glueing it down. I carry a spare in case I lose it out on the lake.
When tipped up, the motor flops to the side since the battery is so heavy. I made a strap with a fasteze buckle to hold it in place. I found I have to have the Cheeta arm down and the motor tipped up when sailing to keep the motor skeg from bouncing up from waves.
The built in GPS is cool - it doesn't tell you your position, but it tells you your speed and remaining range at whatever speed you are currently running at.
If you try to reverse direction with the motor, sometimes the controller kicks out and gives you an error message. It can happen at inconvenient times, but all you have to do is turn it off and on again, takes a few seconds, and it'll run ok.
I did break a prop on some rocks (blew a tack and tried to emergency motor off!); a new prop is $90.
Here's a link to the strap setup for my motor:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/100085529@ ... 011469021/Thanks again for the ideas!