Electric Trolling Motor

[Aurelia]

Thanks for the numbers. I need to measure my motor at home and get an angle or two.

The way

Greg

[bridma]

[thataway]

There is (or was) a trolling motor type of bow thruster. A standard trolling motor would probably not be a good mix because of the issues getting up and down along side the boat's fore deck (you have to go up forward and manually lower the motor--I am not aware of any mount which would allow electric deployment, because of the railings etc--but there may be.

There is the "side shift" which bolts to the bow above the water and prop is near surface--maybe below water when at slow speeds, and out of the water when on a plane. There is also the bolt on the bottom bow thruster, contained in one package. But both of these could be problems putting the boat on a trailer. There was one which bolted on the side to the deck, but I cannot find it currently on the internet--it didn't look like a good design...so may have survived.

There are several which retract into the bottom of the hull $$$! I have owned one boat with a bow thruster (although a couple of others I would have put one in if I had the money at the time, especially in retrospect particularly the 62 foot ketch we took to Europe and back--with a lot of maneuvering in tight places. But we got by. The boat I owned was a single engine trawler with a lot of windage, and it was very helpful. It would push the boat off a dock with 30 knot beam wind.

As for the C Dory--they are so light and small --even the 25--that you can maneuver them with an outboard--or a paddle if necessary!...There are trolling motors which go on trim tabs, and two of those would give the effect of twin screws--plus are wider spaced than the outboards, so would be effective in docking....These would also go better with the fishing and do about as well as a bow trolling motor (which is a bit of a misnomer, since many fisherman use the motor to maneuver the boat for casting of bait rather than actually trolling with the electric motor.) These are the Minn Kota Trim and Troll system. Not cheap, and only for fresh water! Lenco stopped selling the trim tab motors this year.

[Aurelia]

I got a few measurements on our existing Minn Kota Riptide ST 55lb 54" IPilot

-The total length of the motor when laid flat on the deck is 66''
-The amount that would hang off the deck on the prop end when mounted is 10"
-The shaft floats 6.5 inches off the deck when laying down
-The motor head rises 15 inches from the deck when in use
-The base of the motor is roughly 12x7" but the mounting block itself which would always be there even when the motor stays at home is 4x6"

The deploying action is sliding and tilting in nature and should not interfere with a railing running over it as long and those railings are 15+inches off the deck.

I could not find a perfect pic of the forward deck of a 19/22 but it looks like one of these units could be mounted roughly parallel to one side of the bow on whichever side does not feature a hausepipe. The base would be mounted to one side of the anchor roller and the shaft of the motor when folded would hover over the centered anchor cleat which is not ideal but workable.

At least with a white motor and mounting block it would be a bit camoflaged when mounted and the small block would not be noticable when the motor is not carried. Now how to run the power.....

Mounting block that stays mounted all the time:

http://www.c-brats.com/albums/album1321/20130814_183054_resized.sized.jpg

Why do I care when I don't own a C-dory? I like to plan ahead.

Greg

[Aurelia]

So here it is! You can put (at least) this trolling motor on the bow of a 22/19. Why, well let me explain.

We installed this motor on our Lund Impact two years ago thinking it would be handy for fresh and salt water fishing and boy did we underestimate how nice it would be.

It is basically an easy to use silent motor with a smart GPS driven autopilot but the most useful feature is the anchor mode. With one button press on the neck pendant floating/waterproof remote, the boat holds your current position steering and throttling automatically to "anchor" the boat against significant wind and tide as well.

We use this to hold us over or next to fish cover in salt and fresh water and quite precisely keep the boat off the rocks or between the kelp or hold against a current while we can fish and not have our hands full with the boat. It works well for holding the boat steady anytime you would like your hands free for dealing with 6 year olds or whatever boating brings your way. Did I mention that during all this time there is no engine noise! Just the sounds of nature while you enjoy fishing from your boat.

I can also reach down and click the anchor off, turn and throttle to change position then push anchor again and get right back to fishing all from anywhere I was already standing or sitting. It can also follow a set course or even re-trace a saved route along a shoreline for hours while you just fish, and at any time while on the move that anchor mode is just one click away from holding you steady. It will also drive the boat at 1.5-2 knots for quite a distance so I really don't start the outboard to move unless we are leaving the area.

My brother in law ended up with a similar rig by chance on a boat beginning last spring and thought it "might be nice sometimes". After a season I asked him how he liked it and he said he will never fish without one again, It is his favorite feature of the boat, and he mainly fishes salt water in the sound.

This thing changes the game entirely for us and we were not too interested in loosing it.

Power? We have the 55lb thrust model with Kipawa prop and we run it with two group 31 AGMs at 12v that also serve as our house batteries on the 19. The Lund was only a foot shorter and had more beam, draft, and with full canvas, plenty of windage and we never wanted more thrust. As a battery test once, I ran it for 3.5 hours at 3/4-full speed powering around and outside Gig Harbor against tide and wind on a crappy day to find the batteries down to just 91-92%. It doesn't work that hard in normal use at all and usually sits at 5-20% power while anchoring even with wind/waves thrown in. With DC and AC chargers my range anxiety faded to nil and we have used it for hours each day for 5 straight days with no AC charging and had no problems with power.

The mounting was tight on the 19 but we found a spot that would just work and the quick release mount leaves little on deck when we leave it at home which will be about half the time. Raising and lowering the unit is easy and clearance is actually very good for those moves.

Instead of making more holes, I will just run the power plug down through the hawspipe and plug it in to the cable I ran from under the berth. Real anchoring and using this motor should never really happen and the same time so this should work fine. I have a surface mount receptical ready if I get annoyed.

The anchor gear still has a direct line (rubbing the corning of the mount lightly) to the bow cleat so that still works fine. I could redirect the rode over to another piece of hardware if it bothers us over time.

The position of your boat's hawspipe or presence of a windlass might make this type of motor mount challenging or worse.

Can't wait to get back on the water with it and you will all have to weigh-in on how it looks in person at the Friday Harbor CBGT. We know it is a little gawdy but at least it's white and quickly removable! Let the questions fly if you have any.....

[Aurelia]

And I am not alone... There is also a "link" version that works with a hummingbird fishfinder to follow underwater features. Motorguide also offers a similar product but looks to be a more basic system called "Pinpoint".

http://www.fishingclub.com/magazine/articles/articletype/articleview/articleid/779/i-pilot-field-test-more-time-to-fish

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4657740/Minn_Kota_Terrova_I_pilot_My_R

http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com/f21/reviews-minn-kota-i-pilot-139944/

[Aurelia]

We used the Minn Kota on the 19 over the weekend and it worked about as well as it did on the Lund. The heavier boat takes a few extra seconds to change direction or get up to "speed" but it reached about the same speeds at the same power settings as the wide body 17 Lund hull. We can go up to 2mph at full power and the draw is 36amps at max speed for the 55lb thrust motor. I had always heard that they draw about an amp per pound of thrust and always figured that was "rough". Yep it sure is.

We anchored twice with it mounted and it was not in the way and we also used it to anchor digitally for an hour or so. We also used it to quietly leave the noisy public dock in Gig Harbor and power out into the bay to find a nice quiet anchoring spot instead. Success!



Greg

[R-Matey]

[Pafishermen]

Love the way you mounted it. I'm looking for a 22 cruiser right now. Do you think a 55" shaft is long enough for it. Maybe a 60" would be better?

[Aurelia]

Ours is a 54 inch shaft and you can see how it fits in the pics above. It has enough reach for bumpy water but more length would stay down in even rougher conditions. Would you be using it in very rough water? Likely not.

The long shaft would put the head over the side of the boat when folded on deck so keep that in mind.

Greg

[Pafishermen]

Is the front shape(size) and height of a 19 and 22 the same?

[Aurelia]

Same front end on both boats. The 19 is only different rearward of the helm bulkhead.

[Pafishermen]

Thank you, the 54" should work fine for me then, I wouldn't be using it in rough water. For emergencies I'll have a 9.9 kicker.

[Aurelia]

Even Ben from Panbo has now seen the light GPS controlled trolling motors are really quite nice. Ours is the Minn Kota brand but now Motorguide has joined the fun and partnered with Lowrance for MFD control as an option.

http://www.panbo.com/archives/2015/02/lowrance_motorguide_xi5_smartsteer_trolling_control_life_changing.html

Greg