Engine Mount Trolling Motors?

[Jemc02]

We have a 21 foot bowrider with no real way to put a traditional trolling motor on it and maintain its sleek lines. Has anyone out there tried one of the Engine Mount Trolling Motors? If so, how did it work out. We are not thinking of hard core bass fishing, just to be able to creep along the coastline and avoid having to drop the anchor and then raise it to move to a new spot down the way where the fish probably are. <br /><br />Would the 52# of thrust be able to move my 3,000 # boat around for a few hours on one battery? <br /><br />We would not be fishing on rough water or in bad weather, just trying to keep the 5 year old amused by looking at different scenery....

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: Engine Mount Trolling Motors?

Hi there John Mc. Welcome to iboats. The engine mounted motors are not "ideal", but they will work. What kind of motor do you have on your boat? Hydraulic or cable actuated steering? This could make a difference if you have a hydraulic assist steering system. When the engine isn't running, no power steering. In my opinion 52#'s of thrust is a little weak for that size boat. It should be ok for moving the boat around in calm water, but a little wind could be trouble. At full power that motor will drain a group 31 battery to 50% in under 2 hours. Have a backup to start your engine. Hope this helps John. Welcome and keep posting!

 

[Jemc02]

Re: Engine Mount Trolling Motors?

Thanks for the welcome Rat. Our boat has a 5.0 L, 220 hp V8 with an Alpha Gen 2 lower unit. According to the website for our boat it has "Steering: Power assisted, rack-and-pinion", would that make it difficult to steer without the engine running? It's too cold here in Ohio to take the boat out and see how hard it is to turn the steering wheel while the engine is off... <br /><br />If it ran down a group 31 battery to 50% in 2 hours would that mean that it would take it 4 hours to do the same at half power. <br /><br />I doubt that we would use it to actually troll very much, just piddle around and move to another cove a few hundred yards away or to move along a wall instead of anchoring. <br /><br />I can't figure out a reasonable way to attach any other kind of electric motor to the boat that lets us retain the "bowriderness" of our boat...<br /><br />Thanks again

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: Engine Mount Trolling Motors?

It depends on what kind of motor you get as to how long it will last at anything less than full power. If you get a model with a pulse modulator, they are very efficient at lower speeds and you may get near to that 4 hours at half speed. Older technology motors don't do as well. It sounds like your idea should suit your need just fine. Have fun and keep posting.

 

[Mikevn1500]

Re: Engine Mount Trolling Motors?

I was going to put the same set-up on my 18'BR.Except with the motor trimmed all the way down I am pretty sure the motor/blades were going to stick out of the water some. You have to have X amount of room between the cavitation plate and the water surface. I think it is somthing like 13". On my boat it seemed like any wave action at all and it would have been out of the water as much as in.

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: Engine Mount Trolling Motors?

These will get you going:<br /><br /> web page

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Engine Mount Trolling Motors?

Originally posted by John Mc:<br /><br />If it ran down a group 31 battery to 50% in 2 hours would that mean that it would take it 4 hours to do the same at half power. <br />

You don't want to regularly run down a lead acid battery more than 50%. Doing so will GREATLY effect the life of the battery.

 

[Jemc02]

Re: Engine Mount Trolling Motors?

Rat,<br /><br />The electric motor we are looking at does have the pulse modulation so it should be nice to the battery (hopefully).<br /><br />Mike,<br /><br />We are in Ohio so with the snow/freezing rain this am I doubt that we will be putting in the boat today but I did read somewhere that it needed 10" of water above the cavitation plate to be effective. When we do take it out I will take a tape measure with me and see how much water we do have above the lower unit before buying it.<br /><br />Rick,<br /><br />Thanks for the web page...both Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops has them for sale, Bass Pro is a little cheaper but Cabela's has free shipping (and 6 months no interest).<br /><br />Zm,<br /><br />I highly doubt that we would use the motor for more than an hour or two at any one stretch, mainly due to the 5 year old on the boat wanting to either go swimming or running around instead of fishing...we would probably keep track of how long we run it and then see how much we run down the battery to come up with an idea of how long we can go without having to worry about the battery. <br /><br />We will probably start with taking the battery out each time to take it home and charge fully because we store the boat at a place that does not have electric to plug in a charger. I don't know how much we would be able to charge the battery up in the boat using the engine if we hard wired it into the boat as a second battery.

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: Engine Mount Trolling Motors?

I would think if you get good deep cycle batterys and you are running around a 50* thrust motor, you would get more than a couple hours out of it. You will probably be doing this anyway, as the 55 pound thrust runs on 24 volts. This will give you twice the capacity. 24 volt motors will run longer than the 12 volt models, anyway.

 

[tprice]

Re: Engine Mount Trolling Motors?

If you have the room go with the 24 volt setup and you will not be disappointed.<br /><br />I have a 24 volt bow mount on a 210cc Sea Pro and I can slow troll all day long and still have plent of batteries left.<br /><br />Of course this will depend on how the current, wind and etc is.<br /><br />Try ebay I see these on there all the time but be sure and go with the 110lb set(it has 2 heads) some of the guys a fish with use these and they work pretty well. You do not have as much control or as quick of a response as with a bow mount but the do work fine as long as you are not in shallow water and have to trim the motor up.