Lloyd Sumpter wrote:

For the Operator's Card requirement, does an electric trolling-motor
count as a "motor"? The reason I ask is that Near Cove (8ft Walker Bay) is
often fitted with a Minn Kota 30-lb electric, but never a gas outboard.
Does my Lady have to have an Operator's Card to run it? ( I have a card,
but she doesn't) I've looked at the CG website, even the actual
regulations, but can't find a definition of "motor".

It does if you live in Connecticut. And you have to have the boat
registered to boot.

As to definition:

Engine: A machine that converts energy into mechanical force or
motion. Such a machine distinguished from an electric, spring-driven,
or hydraulic motor by its use of a fuel.

Motor: Something, such as a machine or an engine, that produces or
imparts motion.

A device that converts any form of energy into mechanical energy,
especially an internal-combustion engine or an arrangement of coils
and magnets that converts electric current into mechanical power.

A motor vehicle, especially an automobile: "It was a night of lovers.
All along the highway... motors were parked and dim figures were
clasped in revery" (Sinclair Lewis).

So, an engine is defined as exclusive from a motor by it's use of
energy transfer, but a motor is defined as encompassing all methods of
emparting energy into mechanical power for motion.

And to tell the truth, I have been misusing those terms for years.

I'll be damned.

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
----------
"My rod and my reel - they comfort me."

St. Pete, 12 Lb. Test