Thread: Trolling Motor Question?

Hey buddy. I live in Possum Trot & have a good used 71# thrust foot control motor guide I might part with. I keep it for a spare. I have a buddy that has a used 40# minn kota. Also check echo electronics in paducad. he repairs trolling motos & he might have a good used one laying around.

I use a 40# thrust on my 14' alluminum boat, it's not to big by a long shot.
I wish I had more.
It's all it can do to hold me on a windy day.
I think that will be way underpowered for a boat like yours.

First, on the power/size issue, I have a 16-ft aluminum boat with a transom mounted 50 pound Minn Kota. It has ample power for trolling or holding the boat in position, but when I want to move more than a short distance (say 100 yards), I usually end up starting the gas outboard.

Second, I thought the hand-controlled motor would be fine for trolling or "cruising" (working along the bank slowly casting), but it is actually a bit of a pain. Even set on the slowest speed, it makes the boat move too fast to fish. It's surprising because it seems like the boat moves really slowly on speed "1," but then I stand there with the rod in hand and I'm just flying by all the spots that I want to fish.

I got a $15 "Big Foot" from Bass Pro. This is just a foot switch that turns the motor on and off. You still need to do the steering by hand, but it is really great. It's not as maximally convenient as having all the bells and whistles of the $500+ motors, but it's totally worth the price and effort to install it.

I have also been thinking about putting my "backup" 30 pound Minn Kota on the front. I'm a hard-core do-it-yourselfer, and I haven't yet done this. But it seems like it's not too hard to build a bracket (perhaps from 2x6's) that could hold a transom mount on the front. Most motors you can actually turn the head around (respective to the motor unit), so that the motor unit is pointing in the right direction and the tiller handle is pointing back in the boat. I know you can do this on the MK's that I have, there is a single bolt on the underside of the head at the top of the shaft (in fact, it might even say that you can do this in the manufacturer's instructions). Again, it's not as supremely convenient as the high end motors, and you lose some style points from the fashion police, but the fish don't care and your wife can spend the money you saved.

Dont think you"ll be happy with a 40. I took a 55 off my 18 ft. BumbleBee and went to a 71. Plenty of power now and I can still use lower speeds . You have to consider wind,boat wakes,ect.-Better to have to much then not enough!!

Originally Posted by TeqSheriff

First, on the power/size issue, I have a 16-ft aluminum boat with a transom mounted 50 pound Minn Kota. It has ample power for trolling or holding the boat in position, but when I want to move more than a short distance (say 100 yards), I usually end up starting the gas outboard.

Second, I thought the hand-controlled motor would be fine for trolling or "cruising" (working along the bank slowly casting), but it is actually a bit of a pain. Even set on the slowest speed, it makes the boat move too fast to fish. It's surprising because it seems like the boat moves really slowly on speed "1," but then I stand there with the rod in hand and I'm just flying by all the spots that I want to fish.

I got a $15 "Big Foot" from Bass Pro. This is just a foot switch that turns the motor on and off. You still need to do the steering by hand, but it is really great. It's not as maximally convenient as having all the bells and whistles of the $500+ motors, but it's totally worth the price and effort to install it.

I have also been thinking about putting my "backup" 30 pound Minn Kota on the front. I'm a hard-core do-it-yourselfer, and I haven't yet done this. But it seems like it's not too hard to build a bracket (perhaps from 2x6's) that could hold a transom mount on the front. Most motors you can actually turn the head around (respective to the motor unit), so that the motor unit is pointing in the right direction and the tiller handle is pointing back in the boat. I know you can do this on the MK's that I have, there is a single bolt on the underside of the head at the top of the shaft (in fact, it might even say that you can do this in the manufacturer's instructions). Again, it's not as supremely convenient as the high end motors, and you lose some style points from the fashion police, but the fish don't care and your wife can spend the money you saved.

That's good to know. But can you take off the transom mounting bracket and just by a bow mount bracket?

Originally Posted by DENNIS BOWERS

Dont think you"ll be happy with a 40. I took a 55 off my 18 ft. BumbleBee and went to a 71. Plenty of power now and I can still use lower speeds . You have to consider wind,boat wakes,ect.-Better to have to much then not enough!!

I'm definitely looking for something larger, because I continue to read that more is better. My boat is an 180CC, which is fiberglass, and my total gross weight is about 2600 lbs including gas and tackle. My farther in law gave me an old Motor Guide 730 but it only has 30lbs of thrust. Before mounting it I started doing my research and discovered that it would not work for me. That's when I started looking into larger motors and was just blown away at the price difference between bow and transom mounts. It’s already bad enough that I have to have someone fabricate a special aluminum bracket to mount it too because I don’t want to loose access to my anchor locker and I don’t want to remove my bow rails. My bow doesn’t have enough space for a traditional mount and I don’t want to loose valuable storage.

The other problem I have is with a foot pedal, I don’t want to secure it to the deck because when I take the family out, I insert my cushions in the bow for seating. I have to secure it to the deck, because if not, then I would have a foot pedal bouncing around when I’m cruising and it could damage the fiberglass.

Originally Posted by Wiskers

Hey buddy. I live in Possum Trot & have a good used 71# thrust foot control motor guide I might part with. I keep it for a spare. I have a buddy that has a used 40# minn kota. Also check echo electronics in paducad. he repairs trolling motos & he might have a good used one laying around.

What street is echo electronics on?

Bmdiz, that's a good question about taking off the transom mount bracket. I imagine that this can be done by taking off the head of the motor, and somehow disconnecting the wires that run down the shaft. I haven't ever done this, and it would be my guess that you probably wouldn't really want to unless you're really savvy with electrical bits and pieces. You could also cut it off carefully with a hacksaw; the bracket is just made from plastic. Also, I haven't even seen a bow mount bracket for sale as an aftermarket addition. Could be out there, but I don't know.

I see what you mean about the logistics of putting a bow mount on your boat as quite challenging. That's a tough problem. I imagine having someone custom make an aluminum mount could add quite a bit more expense to the project. I'm not familiar enough with bow mounts to be able to help further.

The "Big Foot" switch that I mentioned weighs about 4 ounces and is the size of a sausage biscuit. I have seen foot controllers that are bigger than a loaf of bread, but the Big Foot is pretty unobtrusive.