how to determine thrust ?

[LORDY611]

How do you tell what an electric motor's thrust is without the manufacturer telling you? <br />I got a 1961 Silvertrol with a 1961 aluminum jon boat awhile back and am curious how it compares to the motors of today. Here is a link to a couple photos.<br /> http://www.shareaproject.com/pages/imageDetail,p,184,i,2558,00.html

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: how to determine thrust ?

Interesting article that goes through the trolling motor years and advancements. Looks like yours was 10# or less thrust, as indicated by this statement:<br /><br />"Changes and improvements came rapidly, including the patented use of rack-and-pinion steering in the mid-60s that made the directional control more sensitive and reliable. Static thrust was a whopping 10 pounds of thrust. The product’s name was changed to the more technical sounding – MotorGuide".<br />...<br /><br /><br /> web page

 

[LubeDude]

Re: how to determine thrust ?

If you can stand up in your boat, close your eyes, turn the motor one way or the other and turn it on full blast and you dont fall out of the boat, its probably 40#s or less. <br /><br />Yes, I know, There always has to be one in the crowd, but Im boored.

 

[LORDY611]

Re: how to determine thrust ?

Originally posted by Bassin' Fever:<br /> If you can stand up in your boat, close your eyes, turn the motor one way or the other and turn it on full blast and you dont fall out of the boat, its probably 40#s or less. <br /><br />Yes, I know, There always has to be one in the crowd, but Im boored.

Fall out of the boat? Heck I remember having to change my heading one time so that I could use the shoreline to block the headwind because it was pushing as hard as the motor was! I was literally not going forward...

 

[jurgenscraft]

Re: how to determine thrust ?

I had the same sort of problem at one time, so what I did to measure the thrust of my trolling motor was as follows, I went down to the local hardware store and bought a spring balance, ( you know those old fashioned scales one used to use to weigh almost everything, the type that you would have hung vertically and weighed the fish you had just caught) yep !one of those . I attached one end of the spring balance to the jetty and the other to the boat , in a straight, a line with the trolling motor, as possible and then switched on the trolling motor while my wife took the reading on the scale of the spring balance,did this a few times and averaged the results,keep a eye on the battery amp meter (if fitted) just to check for overload, none noted during this test, remember that the size of scales vary 10lb,20lb etc, this may not be the way purists measure thrust,but is sure as hell a good indicator as to how much thrust is produced by the trolling motor, Kind Regards William Wright,