Ever since I helped my dad upgrade his electric fishing kayak, I’ve been looking for my own electric boat. After some serious searching online, deep breaths, and a leap of faith, I sent $1,000 to China for an electric boat I found on Alibaba. A few months later, this is what happened.
I just bought a funny electric mini truck and I’ve been looking for even more weird little electric cars on Alibaba for my weekly column about strange electric cars from China, ever since I made a big purchase, I’m worried about the explanation. I gave it to my wife.
After finding a boat manufacturer on Alibaba that looked good, I contacted the company and owner Frank showed me all the models they make.
There were a few good options, but in the end I settled on a cute little 14-foot electric boat with five seats and a nice entrance.
The only problem is the shipping is a fortune. I have to deal with LCL shipments (less than container shipping) because I don’t plan to fill 40′ containers with these ships. I don’t even need one, let alone a dozen. LCL shipping means that I share a container with other people and each of us pays for our share of the container. It’s just that sea shipping was still ridiculously expensive last year, and my share should have been over $3,000.
Frank advised me to wait a bit, and over the next few months we will see a slow decline in prices. When the price reached $2200, I decided to pull the trigger. It still costs twice as much as a boat, but a five-passenger electric boat easily costs $10,000 in the US, so I’m still ahead.
I took a deep breath, sent Frank a bank transfer, and waited a few weeks until my boat was ready. Frank and I had a video call to show me the boat and he crated it and put it on a big boat bound for the Port of Miami.
Along the way, the customs broker processed all my import documents. I’ll show you how the process works, but to be honest, I don’t fully understand the specifics. That’s what customs brokers are for. They do everything legally so that international trade runs smoothly.
I ran into Trump Tariffs and a few other fees that increased the cost of the ship by about 30% before it even arrived at the Port of Miami. In addition, there is an arrival fee of around $500 or so (essentially a ransom you have to pay when your ship arrives), plus warehouse fees to release the ship from the warehouse where the shared container has been unloaded.
One last little hitch before I actually pick up my new electric boat from the warehouse is that someone in China mixed up one of the many tracking numbers on their side of the import documents, which means something does not match. It was quite complicated (internal bill of lading, main bill of lading, AMS number, IT home number, ISF, other abbreviations I can’t even remember) but my customs broker told me exactly what to tell the shipping company, one suggestion Resolved the issue with the shipper in China. After a few more stressful days, something reappeared and my boat cleared.
Again, this is very complex, and I don’t claim to understand all the complex stuff, so it’s usually done by professionals. You can save some money by doing it yourself, but you’d better do your homework first and make sure all your “i’s” are ticked and all “t’s” are crossed out.
Then I had to hire someone to move the boxes across Florida, which cost hundreds of dollars. With customs fees, my $1,000 boat cost almost $5,000. Considering US made electric boats are closer to this size class and cost between $40,000 and $60,000, I think I’m still in pretty good shape. Sure, it’s not as exotic as the $300,000 electric boats I’ve ridden, but they’re not quite in the same league.
Sure, you can get a modest empty-hull electric pontoon boat for about $10,000 in the US (plus your own seat, and everything else), but this small five-seat Chinese electric boat is more or less full.
I sent the boat to my parents’ ranch with the intention of testing it out in their 1 acre pond to make sure it was sailable before eventually launching it into the local river.
I even found a surprise inside, Frank gave away 10 life jackets for free. The five pieces are actually pretty good and could easily cost $50 in the US. The other five are matching life jackets, and you can probably get all five for as little as $50.
There was probably a $200-$300 piece of hard half-inch plywood screwed into the cage, all of which I was able to salvage and will definitely come in handy in the future. The cage itself is welded from 2-inch square-section galvanized steel pipe. Everything is amazingly done. You won’t be able to build this box, let alone the entire electric boat it carries, for less than $1,000 USD.
Pulling the boat out of the box was not easy, especially since it was loaded from above at the factory using a gantry crane. The boat weighs between 400 and 500 pounds (180-230 kg), so this is a one-time planing situation.
As soon as the boat was out of the box, I finally had the opportunity to control the hull. As it turns out, a 14-foot boat is more like a 13-foot-1. It must have been a pretty chill ride. Okay, I’ll just make up.
I then had to raise the boat to trailer height, one more case of lifting one end at a time, while I slipped wooden blocks under it to raise it to about hip height. From this height, I was able to drive the trailer under my nose, and my father and I pushed the boat all the way into the trailer.
Once a trailer had to install a canopy and a battery. I decided to buy an electric boat without a factory lead-acid battery in order to install my own lithium iron phosphate battery. The boat needs a 24V 100Ah battery but I decided to double that to get a solid 200Ah and a capacity of around 5000Wh. I don’t think I’ll ever be in a situation where I need less battery, so more is better. I use EnjoyBot batteries and they seem to be reliable, good quality and have good reviews.
Two 12V 200Ah batteries weigh about 50lbs (23kg) each and provide good stern ballast.
My parents’ pond doesn’t have a dock or boat ramp yet because we only used it for kayaking. So I bought a cool inflatable jetty from BOTE. Their Dock 10 is a 100-square-foot (10-square-meter) floating dock that can be inflated by hand in about 10 minutes. It is very hard and the faux teak surface feels like real wood. There is a bit of a stretch, but it’s weird. I know it looks like an air mattress, but as you walk on it, you wonder if there is a wood or aluminum frame hiding inside.
Since there is no boat ramp, we just tossed the trailer onto the grassy bank in the hope that the van wouldn’t follow.
As planned, my bright yellow electric boat glides smoothly out of the trailer and into the water. I don’t know why I’m shocked that it works so well, but I’m working.
I tied it to an inflatable dock and did a quick water test by removing the back seat to look inside the hull. Everything is dry. Again, I don’t know why I was surprised, but it’s a good feeling.
From that moment on, it was time for her first voyage. I took it solo at first and found myself with a pretty good list to starboard, although that didn’t seem to stop me from sailing. However, my father soon joined me to balance the weight.
The most obvious thing about this electric boat is that it is not very powerful. Didn’t expect a 500W (0.67hp) motor to deliver a lot of water, and it doesn’t. The GPS speedometer showed that we were running from coast to coast at a speed of 2 knots (closer to 2.5 miles per hour or 4 km/h!).
It definitely looks more like a cruise ship than a speedboat, but everything seems to be working just fine!
Inspection of the propellers made me realize that part of the speed problem was due to inefficient propeller design. Not only is it a cheap prop, but it pops up about 20% of the time. This meant that I sucked in a lot of air and had severe cavitation. This can be seen even in photographs.
Putting a passenger in the back helps provide more support in the water, but he’s still not completely submerged. Maybe electric boats are designed for heavy lead acid batteries and my lighter lithium batteries don’t provide enough weight in the back. I could try moving the battery further back and maybe consider ballasting, but that’s not a perfect solution.
I can also completely replace the drive. Many people suggested that I put the engine on a jet ski, that would be fun. I would probably install a couple of thrusters as it would probably be easier and not make me worry about hull leaks.
Some recommend installing the trolling motor at the stern of the boat. This would be the simplest solution, but it looks interesting and I’d rather put a little more effort into developing a slightly more elegant solution.
I would definitely refrain from throwing it into the river. At the current power level, I don’t think this is a safe place. I’m not sure it will handle a decent current. So I waited until I upgraded the engines before heading out to any moving bodies of water. But as a lake boat it is perfect. It’s not fast, but it’s convenient and easy to use. This would be ideal for all those who live on clean electric lakes where boats with internal combustion engines are not allowed.
In terms of fit and finish, this boat is actually surprisingly good. There are a few places where the fiberglass is inexplicably thicker and thinner, and in one place there are traces of paint on the transom rail, someone obviously didn’t bother to stick it on. But overall, a surprisingly good $1,000 boat.
I know some people will say, “It’s not a $1,000 boat because you paid $5,000 for it!” Hold me in your arms Well, the price of the electric boat is $1080, which is what I paid the factory. The rest is spent on container ships, customs brokers, taxes, trucking to the US, and other related expenses. The factory built and delivered the boat for $1080 and I am genuinely amazed at what they can do for that price. Maybe the free life jackets blinded me too, but I’m already happy.
Unfortunately, during the import process, you have to spend a lot on top of the price of the product itself. But I still think I got a lot. The boat is designed for five people and it would be fun to play with the family on the pond. Once I get a more powerful motor installed, I’ll be thrilled to take it down river and maybe fish from the bow. The front entry area is a great place to stand outside of the canopy.
Yes, and speaking of the canopy, you can be sure that solar panels will be installed on it soon. As far as I know, I have done this with my other electric vehicles too!
Mika Toll is a personal electric vehicle enthusiast, battery lover, and #1 Amazon bestselling author of DIY Lithium Batteries, DIY Solar Powered, The Complete DIY Electric Bicycle Guide, and The Electric Bicycle Manifesto.
Mika’s current daily e-bikes include the $999 Lectric XP 2.0, $1,095 Ride1Up Roadster V2, $1,199 Rad Power Bikes RadMission, and $3,299 Priority Current. But these days it’s a constantly changing list.
Post time: Aug-15-2023