TM questions

I am looking at picking up a trolling motor for my 17' trihull. In the past I have had bow mount foot control MK's. Since I have a very limited budget (baby on the way) I am considering a transom mount because they are pretty cheap compared to a bow mount. Is it possible to spin the control around so that it faces backwards over the propeller instead of like a tiller? I do have a kicker motor bracket on my transom, but would rather mount the motor on the bow because I am an avid bass fisherman and trying to get the wife to control the boat from the back would probably not go over too well.

What size wires would you run up to the bow for power? For a 12v motor I figured that a 80a breaker should be sufficient between the battery and the TM. Should I go larger or can I get by on a smaller one?

I have done installs on bow mounts before but I already had the boat prewired and setup with the appropriate breakers as I had just done a swap instead of a completely new setup.

Any tips, hints, tricks and other information is greatly appreciated. Also wouldn't hurt if anyone knew of a good used TM that is for sale.

Re: TM questions

Yes the head can be turned 180 degrees. It is done all the time. We have no idea what size wire you need since you didn't tell us what "thrust" motor you are looking at. For a 12 volt motor of any size you don't need an 80 amp breaker since no motor I know about draws anywhere near that. A 55# Minnkota for example draws 46 amps worst case so a 50 or 60 amp breaker is advised. Wire size for that motor would depend on how long the run is from the battery to the motor AND BACK. 8 gauge minimum and if on a longer boat, 6 gauge.

Re: TM questions

I figure I will go with something in the 42-55 range as anything else would likely be a 24v. I'd love a 72 24v bow mount foot control but that's just not in my budget. I'm thinking that I will mount a battery box up in the bow possibly also. However I may just install a third battery in the back and run the wires. I'm still trying to convince my brother inlaw to let me buy his hand control bow mount that is sitting in a boat that hasn't seen water in over a decade and needs more work than it's worth.