Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabout?

[mike64]

So I picked up an almost-new 50lb thrust transom-mounted Minn-Kota trolling motor on Craigslist. Not just for trolling-- I was hoping to be able to use it as a backup to limp back to the launch in case the OB died.

I wanted to get a bow mount, but the way my boat is designed there's really nowhere to mount one. And I like to stand and fish from the back of the boat, so I figured I could work the tiller pretty easy if I'm by myself. But it seems the problem with a transom mounted troller on a boat of my size is, there's not much control.

I'm testing the troller out yesterday and it was pretty windy. Trying to negotiate a channel in between some reeds a crosswind blew me right into the reeds. I imagine a bow mount would pull the boat through the water and it wouldn't get blown around as bad.

So anybody have an opinion-- can I make a setup like this work? Wait for only perfectly calm days if I want to troll? Put the motor back on craigslist and save up for a gas kicker?

 

[clarkbre]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

You should be fine with that motor on your transom. I have a 16' Vhull Lund with the same problem...no where to mount on the bow. I have a Minnkota Endura 30 and it actually pushes the boat just fine. The bow did get blown around a bit at first but then I did a little weight distribution in the boat. I moved the gas tank to the mid section and moved the battery all the way up front. Once I did that it helped settle the bow down in the water and the boat tracked better going slow or fast. You might play with it and see. As far as power, that 50lbs thrust should be more than enough for your boat.

 

[mike64]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

You should be fine with that motor on your transom. I have a 16' Vhull Lund with the same problem...no where to mount on the bow. I have a Minnkota Endura 30 and it actually pushes the boat just fine. The bow did get blown around a bit at first but then I did a little weight distribution in the boat. I moved the gas tank to the mid section and moved the battery all the way up front. Once I did that it helped settle the bow down in the water and the boat tracked better going slow or fast. You might play with it and see. As far as power, that 50lbs thrust should be more than enough for your boat.

Thanks Clark. Nice to hear from somebody with about the same setup. That's a good idea with the weight distribution, although I've heard putting a battery in the bow is not a good idea for going WOT over chop-- beats it up too bad. And the lake I usually go out on gets pretty choppy. Guess I'll see what I can do about the weight distribution, hope for a little less windy day and try 'er again.

 

[Splat]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

Perhaps the use of a drift sock?

Bill

 

[mike64]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

Perhaps the use of a drift sock?

Bill

Thanks, Bill. I'm not familiar with drift socks-- I'll have to google up on the use of them.

 

[Ober51]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

You could always put the transom mount motor on the bow of the boat by fabbing a little spot to clamp it on. Then you could switch the head of the motor and it would pull your boat rather than push it - same as a factory bow mount TM. Ive seen it done a bunch and it works great. BUt that's if you can fab a bracket with your set up.

 

[mike64]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

Hmm, that's an interesting idea, Ober51. Will definitely consider that, thanks!

 

[dakota22]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

Curious as to what the hull weight of your boat is? I have a Lowe deep hull weight 950 pounds 82 " beam. Have a 55 thrust on bow which works great. Was thinking about a 55 thrust on transom so I could occasionally switch off and save battery time on both units. Also when my Bro is running boat at bow and has to retie etc etc I could use the tiller troll on the back plus backup for safety.

 

[mike64]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

Curious as to what the hull weight of your boat is? I have a Lowe deep hull weight 950 pounds

It weighs about the same, ~1000 lbs.

 

[Ober51]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

Curious as to what you decided? I think I am going to flip the head on mine and try it on the bow (its a TM). I will report back in a bit.

 

[mike64]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

Curious as to what you decided? I think I am going to flip the head on mine and try it on the bow (its a TM). I will report back in a bit.

I haven't done anything different with the trolling motor yet-- any time working on the boat lately was spent on the LU, trying to fix it and keep water out.

I think a bow-mounted trolling motor would handle better, but since it's controlled with a tiller it seems like it would be awkward to manouver being on the bow. But I haven't had the time to give my bow a good looking-over and do any measurements to see how I would go about mounting on the bow. Let me know how it works out if you set it up on your boat.

 

[summitlt]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

I have a 37lb bow mount on my vhull 16 footer and mounted it out back, same reason as you did, no place for a bow mount. Only problem i have is keeping the boat where i want it in winds, found that just trolling in reverse works just find, just because the boat is designed to go forward, doesnt mean you have to.

 

[mike64]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

I have a 37lb bow mount on my vhull 16 footer and mounted it out back, same reason as you did, no place for a bow mount. Only problem i have is keeping the boat where i want it in winds, found that just trolling in reverse works just find, just because the boat is designed to go forward, doesnt mean you have to.

Good idea!

 

[john from md]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

Mike,

Let me know if going in reverse works for you. I have a 16ft bowrider and have the same problem. I don't have any transom space and will have to buy a jack plate of some type to put the Minn Kota on. I don't want to spend the money if it still won't work.

John

 

[mike64]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

Mike,

Let me know if going in reverse works for you. I have a 16ft bowrider and have the same problem. I don't have any transom space and will have to buy a jack plate of some type to put the Minn Kota on. I don't want to spend the money if it still won't work.

John

Will do. I'm taking my boat to a place on a lake for a few days next week, so I'll have lots of opportunity to test it.

 

[mike64]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

Mike,

Let me know if going in reverse works for you. I have a 16ft bowrider and have the same problem. I don't have any transom space and will have to buy a jack plate of some type to put the Minn Kota on. I don't want to spend the money if it still won't work.

John

John,

Going in reverse with the trolling motor seemed to work pretty well. The lake I tested it on this week was a lot less choppy than the lake I'm usually on, so conditions were a lot better. One thing I noticed with the troller is when you change direction there's a delayed response (kind of like the old Asteroids video game ) unlike with an OB where the turning response is more immediate. So you have to account for that. Going backwards also worked out well because I like to fish off the back of the boat so I was able to work the tiller easily while fishing.

 

[john from md]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

Mike,

You are dating yourself with the asteroids game. The kids today would think it was invented by cave men even though it and those little yellow things that ate things up (forgot their name) were state of the art a few long years ago.

Glad it worked out for you. Any idea what kind of speed you were getting going backwards? Did you tilt your engine out or leave it down?

John

 

[mike64]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

Mike,

You are dating yourself with the asteroids game. The kids today would think it was invented by cave men even though it and those little yellow things that ate things up (forgot their name) were state of the art a few long years ago.

That's Pacman, ya young whippersnapper! You kids with yer Xboxes and Wiis don't know what a real classic video game is all about!

Glad it worked out for you. Any idea what kind of speed you were getting going backwards? Did you tilt your engine out or leave it down?

John

1 mph? Not too fast, anyway. There's only 3 speeds for reverse, and the top reverse speed was really cranking, so I went with the middle speed to not use up the battery too much. I tilted the motor up. I'd like to try it with the motor down, using it as a rudder to steer that way, but transom space is tight and turning left too much might bump into the troller.

 

[john from md]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

Did you know that you can turn the handle section of the Minn Kotas 180 degrees? If you do that, you can use the forward speeds of the motor. There are several threads on the web relating to modifying Minn Kotas. I have found everything from turning the handle to lengthening and shortening the shaft.

PAC MAN, yea, that's it. I think those games came out just after I came back from Nam. Prior to that, everything was pin ball.

Tight Lines,

John

 

[mike64]

Re: Is the 50lb transom mount trolling motor I bought useless on a 16' v-hull runabou

Did you know that you can turn the handle section of the Minn Kotas 180 degrees? If you do that, you can use the forward speeds of the motor. There are several threads on the web relating to modifying Minn Kotas. I have found everything from turning the handle to lengthening and shortening the shaft.

Yeah, I've also heard that you can modify the head so forward is reverse without turning the tiller outward. Those Minn Kotas are very versatile. I still need to play around with my setup more and see what works best for me.