Conversion to Lithium Ion battery power...

[MetroMan]

It will probably be fine. These batteries can handle anything you throw at them. I used to use a regular battery charger, but when that crapped out, I went ahead and purchased a lifepo charger

[sparky1423]

I am a licensed master electrician. Batteries are not my specialty, I work with higher voltages. I can help with wire sizing and methods

No matter the voltages, your amperage will always determine conductor sizing...basic ohms law. Here is a good rule of thumb:

15amp or less = 14 gauge wire
15 - 20 amps = 12 gauge wire
20 - 30 amps = 10 gauge wire

Any batteries wired in series will incresase you voltage output
Any batteries wired in parallel will increase hours, voltage will remain a constant

[tufnik]

I've raced mytmouse paddling his OK Big Game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AL7FjWbB3k

Paddle as fast as you can, and you can easily get a kayak to go faster than the torque. Especially since it takes a few seconds to get up to full speed due to plain ole physics. But what comes into play is endurance. The battery never gets tired.

Peddling is the same thing. I remember 2 yrs ago I raced YakFish on the susky. The mirage drive gives instant thrust, so he beat me easily. Besides, he's on all sorts of steriods & HGH, so I'm sure he could beat me in a 30 mile race in his Hobie lol.

But on a serious note, unless you're going somewhere miles away, the differences in speed hasn't mattered THAT much to me. It's very rare that we launch from somewhere and need to go multiple miles as fast as we can to get to the fishing spot. With that, it has kinda made the comparison null and void in my experiences. When I'm out with others, I end up adjusting my speed to stay with the group and chit chat...thats the joy of being out there with others. Other times, I just hook up the tow rope and put my yak to work.

If you wanna see speed, you haven't seen fast until you've seen Ryan (Shady) with his torqueedo at full speed combined with his peddling!

It doesn't involve electric, but wonder if you and MYTM seen this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0rvFdLdplA

[MetroMan]

ha! yeah I've seen that