Bow mount Trolling motor

[Theremikegoes]

Stole the trolling motor from my 13' whaler clone. Probably will need to swap in a 54 or 60" shaft instead of the 48 but will sea trial and see how it runs. Batteries in the fwd stbd cuddy made the wiring nice and short! The offset mount isn't perfect but my whaler clone has it mounted similarly and works great. Butcher block teak shim set it within a degree of level, easy to work with and looks purty.

On the whaler I used the main to supplement thrust in rip tides, I expect the kicker will work similarly on this boat. I set the throttle and control the boat with the bow mount.

Yes... I know I need a spacer under the fwd nav light!

[salmonchaser]

Thanks for sharing. Looking at adding this to my Sea Explorer for bottom fishing.

[martin3]

I have been seriously considering adding a TM on my SR19,  but space is awkward with my drum winch already installed (it's not going anywhere)

The off set mounting would work with my drum winch.

I am curious to hear how it performs.

[Theremikegoes]

The 48" length was almost 100%, will probably still swap to a 54 but low priority. Only churned/broached once when it got fairly rough. The 55# controlled the heading great, when the wind grabbed the bow I had to "help" it by trimming the main 1/4 turn or so. You won't be trolling coho with just the bow mount, not sure even a 70 would allow that though. Nice to control the boat from a thing hanging on my neck! Conditions were 10-12mph winds and fair swing tide today.

Spot lock I didn't try but I'm sure would work in a reasonable tide.

[crazyfisher]

I recently installed the motor guide trolling motor on my SC and it's been awesome! I added a mount on my sea hunter as well so I can pop it off and use it on the sea hunter as well. Used it the last 3 times in the ocean using the spot lock as well as autopilot. Game changer!

I went with motor guide for the interface with lowrance fish finder or else I would have gotten the minn kota. Is yours the auto deploy? I would love to get a auto deploy  but heard it has reliability issue?

Deploying the trolling motor out in the ocean is tricky. I'm figuring out a way to deploy and retrieve it inside the cabin with some pulley system that kayaker use. Still working on it.

[Theremikegoes]

Mine is not auto deploy but is pretty easy to handle from the sea ranger hatch.

[Theremikegoes]

Played with it again today. Spot lock held great. Wind picked up after the video and spot lock had to work harder but still held, although did blow out a few times with big rollers. I get about a knot on just the electric.

The screen shot is of amp/battery life at high load. View at the end of the controller for the bow mount.

[shin09]

What shaft length are you using and are you happy with it? Seems like a 60 could work but maybe 72 better for the 17/19 chaser?

[Theremikegoes]

I have a 48 that is fine for most conditions, I think a 60 would be as long as I could see being useful, even a 54 would be a rare occurrence to ventilate.

That said, mine is mounted right on the deck and back from the bow a little. Some have mounted it on a pedestal above the anchor which looks like a 60 would be necessary.

[shin09]

Interesting! I saw your opening figure a 48 would have been too short and cavitate in the chop. Would you say it's about another 6 or 8 inch higher in the bow?

I am curious what battery setup are you running and how is your run time so far?
 
crazyfisher what shaft length did you go with

[christianbrat]

really nice setup!

[croaker stroker]

Spot-Lock is so nice for rockfishing. 👍🏻

[Theremikegoes]

If only! I'm area 10. Hoping for ling next spring though.

[crazyfisher]

Interesting! I saw your opening figure a 48 would have been too short and cavitate in the chop. Would you say it's about another 6 or 8 inch higher in the bow?

I am curious what battery setup are you running and how is your run time so far?
 
crazyfisher what shaft length did you go with

I have the 60 inch shaft. I would have gone longer if I knew but 60 works just fine. Down the road I may buy the 72 inch shaft and extend the cable as it doesn't cost that much.

[shin09]

Good to know! A couple guys with 19's on the Facebook group said need 72 (based off what they are running). Is your chaser a 17 or 19?

If a 60 works that makes it a bit more economical as you could use a motor guide xi3 which is under 2k for the motor. Xi5 still a bit better than the 72" Terrova though.

Looks like a leelock system for the bow?  How is the pulley system working out too?

[crazyfisher]

Sorry for the delay. I have a 17 chaser and a sea hunter. The 60 works fine. I did put the leelock system for the chaser so I can interchange the trolling mount to an anchor mount. Haven't had a chance to work on the pulley system yet. That's a winter project hopefully.

[shin09]

Thanks for following up and no worries on the delay, we're all busy! Good to know a 60" works for a 17, even with that extra height of the Lee lock.    once you get that pulley system rigged, I would love to see it!

[Argo]

Sorry for the delay. I have a 17 chaser and a sea hunter. The 60 works fine. I did put the leelock system for the chaser so I can interchange the trolling mount to an anchor mount. Haven't had a chance to work on the pulley system yet. That's a winter project hopefully.

I'm happy to come across this LeeLock System setup. And why are you thinking about one day changing out to the 72" shaft? Is the 60" cavitating at all in light to moderate chops? And I also wonder if Minn Kota has improved the reliability of the Auto Deploy Retrieval in their latest models?