Casting Deck and Electric Trolling motor, Possible?

[FishBuilder123]

Hello,
New to this site and boating all together. Just got my first boat, a cheap old one to start off with. I use it mostly for fishing and works great but I find the 140hp kinda spooks the fish and I dont really have much room to stand while casting. So i would like to install some kind of seat on the bow of the boat and a bowmount electric trolling motor. Had a few questions to help me get started...

Is this even possible?
Would I have to re-enforce the front?
How many pounds of thrust should the trolling motor have(believe the boat is a 20' but not exactly sure:redface?
How would I go about mounting the seat?

I want my boat to go from this...

To something like this (just the seat and trolling motor)

 

[iwombat]

Re: Casting Deck and Electric Trolling motor, Possible?

Can you take a picture of the underside? Then we can tell what's reinforcing it now, if anything.

 

[FishBuilder123]

Re: Casting Deck and Electric Trolling motor, Possible?

unforchunatley i cannot beacuse the boat is docked at simcoe (about 200 clicks from where I currently am). Underneath the front there is no real re-inforcement, as in bars or anything, just a makeshift port-a-potty and some sitting cusions. The front is strong enough for two people to stand on but you can fell it kind of bending a bit, if that helps at all.

 

[iwombat]

Re: Casting Deck and Electric Trolling motor, Possible?

Yeah, it helps. You probably don't really need to, but I'd certainly be wanting to put a cross-member in there to stop the flexing. If you don't you may develop cracks in the gel coat over time.

You might want to consider glassing in a piece of glue-lam or just regular dimensional lumber right underneath the seat. You'll also want to put some kind of backer in to hold the screws for both the motor and the seat.

On top of that, you'll want to put a battery (or two for a 24-volt) up in front and some kind of grommet through the deck for the motor wires. I'll assume you'll put a foot pedal or some other steering right up in front there, and not need to run something back to the helm.

 

[FishBuilder123]

Re: Casting Deck and Electric Trolling motor, Possible?

yup plan on a foot pedal design. So i cant tap into the main power of the boat for the trolling motors? theres two batteries in the back which i think should be sufficient, not sure though?
Any idea what power of trolling motor I would need and what part of the boat i could fasten it to?
Thanks!

 

[iwombat]

Re: Casting Deck and Electric Trolling motor, Possible?

I'm no expert on trolling motors, but with a deep v and 20' I'd say your in for at least a 24-volt system. That's a lot of boat for an electric to push (or pull, rather). I'd certainly isolate that from your main battery, you wouldn't want to drain enough power that you couldn't start your mains.

How curved is the underside of the deck? I can walk you through creating your own glue-lam out of layered plywood with a jig. You might need that if it's curved enough.

 

[FishBuilder123]

Re: Casting Deck and Electric Trolling motor, Possible?

do you mean how much it curves when I step on it?

 

[iwombat]

Re: Casting Deck and Electric Trolling motor, Possible?

No, is the deck flat, or arched?

It looks flat from the pic, but pictures can be deceiving.

 

[FishBuilder123]

Re: Casting Deck and Electric Trolling motor, Possible?

Its flat

 

[iwombat]

Re: Casting Deck and Electric Trolling motor, Possible?

That sure makes putting in any cross-members easy. you might want to put in a thin (1/4" - 3/8") plywood backer underneath, then support it with either one thick, or several small cross-beams. 1/4" ply, some mat and roving should hold a seat well enough to mount the seat and motor with bolts and fender washers. I'm guessing headspace might be an issue in the cabin, so a few small crossmembers maybe instead of one big one. Glass it all in and you'll have a nice front porch.

Another option is to just put some 3/4" ply in and forget the cross-members. Lots of ways to go on this one.

Whatever you do, you'll need to structurally tie it to the side of the hull or you'll just get flex in the sides of your deck instead of the middle. That may require some 45-degree supports around the edges.

I'd sure like to see the underside though to get a better understanding of what you've got to work with.

 

[FishBuilder123]

Re: Casting Deck and Electric Trolling motor, Possible?

Will try a few things, just a couple more questions,

Any special screws/bolts to use to fasten the cross-members/plywood(any part of the boat that i should never drill into)?

Any ideas on where to get a swivelling seat that is removable at the base (to not get in the way while not fishing)?

Thanks alot for all the help

 

[iwombat]

Re: Casting Deck and Electric Trolling motor, Possible?

Screws and bolts should all be stainless. What you end up using is going to depend on how you engineer this thing. I'd avoid going into the sides of the hull for obvious reasons. You should just be able to tab into the sides with fiberglass, I'd imagine.

Getting the proper tension on the underside to adhere the backing or cross-members to the lid is going to be interesting. You could make a jack and epoxy/resin and glass it in place, or screw it in from the top and epoxy/resin it in. Sort of depends on if you're okay drilling through the lid.

 

[FishBuilder123]

Re: Casting Deck and Electric Trolling motor, Possible?

Thanks alot for the help, will post back if I have any more questions