Re: Trol-A-Matic
They work well, but stay away from the type that lock. The first time you hit the throttle hard with it down,( aka, forgetting its down. It will happen at some point) it will be bent up, and mostly destroyed. I have one I dont use anymore called a louv-a-troll. It is spring loaded. When you punch the throttle it lifts up and acts like a stabilizer. Low speeds it stays down. It has vents that open up to allow unrestricted reverse capability. I used it for Kokanee fishing in Colorado. With the right prop, you can get as low as .2 mph. Crucial when the Kokanee are finicky. Its for sale if you want it. No longer have a use for it in San Diego. Here is what i could dig up about it:
"A few years back I found a guy's site who was an engineer. He designed and made a plate called louv-a-troll, all aluminum and SS. It attached to your anti-vent plate like the others but that's where the similarity ended. There were two large hinge bolt's/pins that held a frame to the mounting plate. The frame had several louvers that worked like venetian blinds or shutters on a whole-house attic fan. The frame/louver assembly hung down over the prop like other plates on the market. At idle or slow trolling speed prop thrust would close the overlapping louvers and put you at trolling speed. When you throttled up, the whole frame and louver assembly would hinge up out of the way, parallel to the waters surface. The amount of force/thrust it took to move the frame up was adjustable by spring tension. After adjusting it the way you wanted it, operation was fully automatic. The real beauty of the design was that when you kicked your engine in reverse the louvers would open, allowing full control and maneuverability when backing up. It was such a slick and well engineered design I don't see why they never really caught on. Maybe they did and are now marketed under another name or brand? I just tried the old book marked link I had for his site but it is dead."
