NorCal Kayak Anglers
Kayak Zone => Kayaks => Ocean Kayaks => Topic started by: Mienboy on February 17, 2016, 07:19:29 PM
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I've been trying to find info on the torque and for some reason I can't find it.ive been looking for reviews on it but I couldn't find a reason on why ocean kayaks discontinued it.trying to find out the pros and cons of it.there is a shop in sc that has one I'm considering buying it
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Guy had one on here a few years ago. I just remember because he had a badass Lipo set up for it.
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Did Yester have one?
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Torqeedo make kits that fit into Hobie kayaks & adapt to most other brands where the rudder would be.
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Not sure if this is the info that you are looking for but here it goes. I purchased my OK Torque in 2011. I bought the Torque because it can be configured with or without the motor. It seems like a very convenient and flexible solution at the time. The kayak was always on sale at one place or another back then, and I was able to purchase mine for $1200. For a brand new kayak with a rudder and a motor, it seemed like a bargain. Since then I have logged many hours of fishing on it and I can tell you how I feel about the yak now.
Pros:
Of course, motoring with hands and legs free. It's good when I plan to cover a wide area or a long distance, and especially good when the wind picks up in the afternoon.
Without the motor and with the skeg plug in place, Torque behaves very much like a regular kayak, i.e., OK Trident 13 - More on this topic later.
Infinitely variable speed control is good for slow trolling or drifting when there is no wind or current.
With a Size 24 deep-cycle or AGM battery, you can cover 10+ miles at full speed, and you can go much further at reduced speed, depending on how slowly you want to go. OK claims that the motor consumes about 25amps at full speed, and it seems about right based on my past experience.
Cons:
The motor can only be put on after the boat floats on the water with some clearance for the prop not to touch the ocean floor.
The whole kayak can get real heavy quickly with the motor and a battery. Torque itself weighs about 85lbs with the motor, and the Size 24 battery weighs about 50lbs. Including your fishing/crabbing gear the total weight quickly approaches 150lbs if not more. You can buy a comparable Lithium-ion battery instead to reduce weight, but those batteries are very expensive right now - I'm using a Valence LiFeMgPO4 (whatever that means) battery which weighs about 14lbs, rated for 40amps - It covers roughly about 5miles at full speed.
For these reasons, with the motor option, not only I need a well protected place to launch the kayak, but I also need to have a good access to the launch point, preferably a paved road or a short beach with firm sand - This is why when I'm using the motor, I usually launch from HMB, Moss landing or SC harbor.
When the battery dies, the motor and the battery become a liability - It's like paddling with a drift sock. LOL
When I'm not using the motor, I can put the skeg plug instead and use the yak like a regular kayak. However, even without the motor, the skeg plug sort of sticks out, like a fin, not flush with the hull, so that the boat still needs to be on the water to put the skeg plug in. If I do put the skeg plug in while the yak is still on the ground, the back weight of the boat will be supported only by the skeg plug, and thus it will not sit right with the skeg plug pushing the plug holding strap up forcefully.
I had to remove the motor once while fishing in the ocean because the prop got tangled up with my fishing line. It was painful but was not impossible.
Torque weighs about 75lbs without the motor and with the skeg plug in place. My previous kayak was OK Trident 13, and I can make a quick comparison between the two, since T13 and Torque are very similar in size and shape. Since T13 weighs 67lbs, it is lighter than Torque, but for some reason T13 felt a lot lighter than Torque. Also, even with the skeg plug and with the huge rudder, Torque felt as if it did not track as well as T13, although they were very close. This could be the reason why Torque needed such a huge rudder at the first place.
Other considerations:
OK claims that Torque's max speed is 5.5mph. I measured the top speed of my Torque against my GPS device and to my surprise I was only getting about 4.5mph max. I replaced the stock weedless prop MKP-6 with the power prop MKP-2, which supposed to give me additional 0.5mph - So with the power prop the yak should be able to travel at up to 6.0mph. With the new power prop, I have checked its speed again against my GPS many times/days in the HMB harbor (calm water) and this time I got about 4.8mph. With these speed numbers I concluded that the 6.0mph speed listed by OK must have been achieved without anyone on the boat. It sort of makes sense since with a light person on the yak, it will travel faster and the other way around with a heavier person - They have to have a standard way of measuring the speed. Either that I just have a defective motor! LOL. By the way I weigh about 160lbs.
My Torque had an annoying problem that could only be with this particular yak - With the stock weedless prop MKP-6, the prop touches the bottom of the boat hull when cutting thru rough chops. The prop diameter of the faster prop MKP-2 is actually smaller than the weedless MKP-6 so after replacing the prop, the problem was reduced but did not go away completely. After using the yak many times on the water, I noticed that motor holding strap expands a bit when it gets wet. So when I strap the motor on, I started to wet the strap first and the problem has gone away since then.
Well, it looks like I listed more cons than pros. But with all the cons, I still go out with the motor more often than without. However, that could also be because my closest launch points from my house are HMB, Moss Landing and SC harbor, which make launching with the motor that much easier.
Hope this info helps. Please do let me know if you have any questions.
David
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Take a good look at the Torqeedo... Motor & Battery weigh a mere 15 lbs. I've never run the battery past 40% capacity after fishing 6+ hours. Top end speed on my Raptor is 5.7 mph. That's loaded with gear.
With the modifications shown, I can install / remove in under a minute. Expensive, but in the long run well worth it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBSuolm6LcU
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Thanks for the info guys,and thanks for the detailed review davefish.
I know about the torqueedo baitman,the reson I never got one is they go for I think 2200,2500 around that ball park area.
I'm asking cause I was considering it on the fact that I like chasing stripers and lmb so I figure I can motor out to the spots and just use the paddle while I fish.also a shop out in sc has one new for 1450 on cl.
I'm saving for a revo but with clicking knees and a bummed shoulder I thought this might be a alternative.
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You might have been looking at one of the other models. Torqeedo Ultra light. $1,899. @ West Marine even. I'd give some of them a phone call, pretty sure you could get a better deal if you talk direct with one of the dealers.
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You might have been looking at one of the other models. Torqeedo Ultra light. $1,899. @ West Marine even. I'd give some of them a phone call, pretty sure you could get a better deal if you talk direct with one of the dealers.
Thanks I'll look into it
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With the Torqeedo mounted to a Raptor, it's so light, you can load all your gear + motor/ battery. wheel it to the launch point and go. The motor tilts up easily for beach landings, or in the event kelp / weeds get wrapped around the prop.
The internal computer is not only a great battery monitor, it's also a GPS unit that shows speed as well as your estimated range, which is constantly updated based on wattage consumed. Good stuff to be aware of when the wind picks up and you're a few miles from launch point. Even if you ran out of juice,,, you still can paddle back.
They estimate a 10 year life for the battery, I purchased mine in 09. Never had any problems with it.