Further North

I use 1/2 "shock cord" (think bungee cord) with stainless clips on each end. Much, much better than a rope, easier to manage. I clip one end to the winch strap, the other end to the bow eye hook. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019TDWUWE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1&psc=1 I started out with it at about 20 ft. long, which was too long, and I've cut it back twice...couldn't even tell you how long it is without measuring it, but it's "just right".

I can't believe that...unless you like spending your time on stuff like this...that you can do much of anything for under $100 if you add in your time...

We expect step by step video of the install, break-in and evaluation process. Detailed performance reports with graphs, tables and perhaps a spreadsheet devoted to MPH vs. MPG with several different propellers. An interview with each member of the install crew, plus a deep thoughtful retrospective on the retirement of the Otpi is also indicated, possibly multi-part released over several days. ? ...this is a cool project. Ignore all that idiocy and have fun with it.

I am under the impression that one of their products is designed to deal with that...but I can't recall which one. On the Helix G2s, mine have been fine, but it's small sample and they are both G2N. A couple folks I know have had issues. Seems that the more complicated we try to get the more issues we have...it also seems like that'd be predictable.

I'd bet the same way.

Just an observation: Minn Kota's statement about not using an extension cord is absurd. The cords attached to their chargers are nowhere near long enough to reach a wall socket. I suspect a lawyer, and a not very good one at that, is try to play CYA for Minn Kota...

I don't mean to be prescriptive, or indicate that anyone who is running electronics off their cranking battery is doing even the slightest thing wrong...as I said there's at least tens of thousands of folks doing this who are just fine, and will be, forever. It's just that what happened to me was sobbering...we had to go about 8 miles back to the lodge on a Canadian lake on the trolling motor at about 4:00 PM...after fishing on the trolling motor hard since 8:00 am that morning...had I not been running a 36 volt system, I'm not 100% sure we'd have made it back. Would they have come looking for us? Sure. Could my boat and thousands of dollars in gear been pushed up on rocks by the wind and sunken/lost before they got there? You bet. Could we have been hurt along way? Unlikely, but maybe. I'm embarrassed to have had to deal with the situation, but it taught me to go belt and suspenders on the water, these days. I hope others can benefit from my telling of the story. ...I also carry a portable jump battery. probably belt, suspenders and an extra pair of pants...but I've got peace of mind...

I started thinking, "2006, I can't believe they're not making that part any more..." ...and then I thought about it a bit and realized that was 12 years ago. Makes me feel old... Have you checked E-Bay? I guess that after 12 years, if I had to buy a new trolling motor, that's what I'd do...I tend to replace mine on about a 4 year rotation anyway... Or Craigslist? There's a used, 36 volt Terrova on Craigslist for $800 near me...I'd prefer that to a PowerDrive There's this: https://wausau.craigslist.org/bpo/d/minn-kota-bow-mount-trolling/6605551711.html

On GFCIs...I had something weird happen last year. Our detached garage where we store the boat is GFCI protected, and there's a circuit breaker for the garage in the house...pretty standard. We had a close by lightning strike that tripped the breaker and the GFCIs (for some reason the garage seems to be more sensitive to lighting strikes than the house is, so I am in the habit of checking the garage after every thunderstorm. Sure enough, the GFCIs had popped, so I re-set them, didn't think about it after that. I had a weird spot in my summer last year where I didn't take my boat out for about 3 weeks...fished with some buddies, was busy one weekend...anyway, went out to get ready for an after work run to a local lake...the while boat, except the trolling motor is dead as a doornail. The strike, or something, had also tripped the circuit breakers on the boat. My main battery charges the battery for the remote for my Ulterra, and the electronics battery runs the 360°, which pulls a constant draw if you don't shut it off...I hadn't installed shut off switches...I figured I didn't need them as the boat is plugged in any time it's in the garage. Those two batteries were deader than dead. I've since installed on/off switches on all three systems so I don't run into this again. Should have done it from the get go, but I took the easy way out.

@WRB....the OP's question was really about placement: That said, I think screen size is really a budget/preference issue. No way I'd go with a screen that small 6 feet from my eyes, but it'd probably work for a lot of folks. I do know I prefer to look at a 10" screen, but understand that there are reasons why some folks wouldn't go that route.

I use 30# Suffix 832 to a copoly leader (or fluoro) of about 7 lbs. on both spinning and baitcasting finesse rigs. Works great. I do it because I really dislike thin braid. It's got virtually zero abrasion resistance and trying to tie knots is just a good way to cut up your fingers.

Yup. The sides of our eyes are better suited for detecting motion than the centers.

Two thoughts for spotting them: Look for shadows. Particularly on bright days, they will be high contrast and often easier to spot than the fish. Look for Horizontal. Not much in nature is truly horizontal and it can help you cut down the number of things you have to look at to figure out if what you're looking at is a fish. Staying camouflaged if they can see you: Keep your shadow off the water if you can. Nothing good happens to fish from above. Wear clothing that matches the background. If you're on a boat against a blue sky...wear a blue shirt...if it's cloudy, wear grey...if you're bank fishing, green/brown.

Just for contrast, not because @J Franchois wrong, I'll offer these: I had a short in the charging cable for my trolling motor remote run my cranking battery completely dead. That it was on a Canadian lake didn't help. I've seen interference from other things running on the cranking battery on my electronics (and other's electronics). I've seen electronics shut off when starting the big motor with the cranking battery near the end of a long day. I've seen this on more than one boat. Because of the first bullet point above, and the fact that I am often on remote lakes by myself, I decided to isolate my electronics from my cranking battery to eliminate any risk of running that battery too low. Works great, and as a side benefit, I've never seen better images on my electronics. With the electronics completely isolated from the "boat" stuff, there's much less opportunity for any kind of interference. All of the above have root causes than can be solved (or at least reduced) by methods other than adding a battery and charger and wiring for a separate system, and there's probably at least tens of thousands of folks who have done so. I had the room and the money to add a 5th battery to my boat, it works great and it gives me peace of mind. It is far from the only solution, and could easily not be the best solution...but it sure is nice...

Cool. Please keep up the updates. I hope the "welcome distraction" isn't from bad stuff.

We had one for a while, it was my daughter's and while the motor was great, it was a bigger kayak than she wanted to deal with. It handled NW WI water (big lakes, small lakes, pretty big rivers) just fine.

I was told by a Minn Kota tech that they design them to work best at 9" under the water. I tend to run mine about a foot down, but will go all over. As shallow as it has to be to let me run shallow. As deep as I can get it when I want to cast side arm from the bow or am chucking flies up front. I have an Ulterra, so changing depth is as easy as pushing a button...

Like anything else: don't go cheap, you'll regret it. Good quality, heavier wire the longer you go, and if cord feels warm...bump it up... ...also, cheap cords tend to be less durable and won't stand long term abuse. I have one semi-permanently mounted so that it hangs down from the garage ceiling right above where my charger plugs in...one less thing to step on/trip over on the garage floor. That one is a 50', over-rated for the duty, because I'm a belt ans suspenders guy. I have another in my "boat box" that goes along on trips. That one is 100', and the heaviest duty cord I could find because: See above "belt and suspenders." I never know how from an outlet I'll be at say, a Canadian fishing lodge. I never know what conditions it'll have to endure (other fishermen walking on it, running over rocks, how many boats might have to be plugged into it, etc.). More than once we've had to link two 100' cords together to get to a decent power source. Example: Houseboat in the middle of Lac Suel , six boats to charge running off a generator at the back of the house boat...

I look at my electronics this way: Bow I want to look down at what I am over at the moment, so I know the depth, temp. and what is down there. I like having mapping up there, in my case because I run an Ulterra that I can direct to go to a spot I like, or follow a route, of follow a contour...but it's not critical. Had I waited until bow mount 360° came out, I'd rather have that at the bow than the transom...but I can compensate without a lot of mental gymnastics. I run a 10" screen at the bow because that's plenty to see what I want to see. Console I want mapping so I can see what the lake looks like as a move through it at speed. This also helps me not do stupid stuff like tear up the lower unit on a submerged hump or rock bar. I want Side Imaging at the console, because the way I fish is to run a section of lake, mark structure, then go back and fish it. DI and 2D are important back there as well, for when I, or someone else, is fishing the back deck. YMMV. I tend to throw gear from the front deck, flies from the back. Stops the fly line from getting wrapped 'round the gear rods. I run a 12" screen at the console because I often have a split screen with mapping on one side, SI, DI or 2D on the other and I want them to be big enough to see detail. Obviously everyone is different and "Different strokes for different folks" and all that...

Good thought. I'm not that dedicated to checking for line and junk behind the prop...but if it was easy, maybe I would be...

I'd put something in there that eats bass. Pike eat bass.

Stuff I do to change the odds: Change tactics. Shallow to deep. Aggressive to finesse... Change where on the lake I'm fishing. Weed beds to rock piles to docks... Change baits. Senkos to spinners to crank baits... Completely change how you fish. I learned to fly fish so I'd have an arrow in my quiver that was completely unlike everything else I was doing. I couple weeks back it paid off really well. Couldn't get a bite on any kind of gear. Other fisherman I talked to were in the same boat (pun intended)...so I started chucking flies. Surface, mid depth...some bites, but not much...bright green and black with steel eyes on a depth-bomb of a sinking head line (8 IPS for you fly guys)...BINGO! Over 20 fish in the boat in the two and a half hours I had left....to the point where other fishermen...who still weren't catching...started asking, "What are you using?" I sorta felt bad when I showed them...I've seen this happen a couple times, and sometimes it's the other way around, gear works and flies suck. Change bodies of water. Where I am, I've got lots of choices. If lakes are DOA, really not producing, I can switch to rivers...if the rivers are off...I can switch to streams...which brings me to my next choice: Switch species. This time of year here is a perfect example: Pike are well past spawn and ready to eat, musky are getting there, bass are coming off the beds here, so they'll be blah for a while, but they are just getting on them an hour north, and they are well post spawn an hour south...which brings me to my next choice: Drive somewhere else. Completely change conditions. Get out of a weather system. Not always an option, not always practical...

The short answer to how often do I get skunked, without reading all the other responses, is: Enough to be reminded it's called "fishing", not "catching".

You have an awesome opportunity to mess with him here. Move the handle to the other side...

So they reel backwards? Wow... That's funny, in an overkill sorta way...but I can't see it raising anyone's blood pressure in a pet peeve kinda way.