Zigkx

I put the power drive with I pilot on mine. My boat had issues not running, one dealer put a fuel pump on it (didn’t fix it) and the next dealer put a fuel tank on it because it wasn’t venting and vapor locking. Any way, while it was at the dealer they fitted my cover to fit the bigger trolling motor.

If you slow down too suddenly water will definitely rush into the back of the boat. I noticed there’s always water in my live well. I’ve never used it nor turned on the pump. Driving in reverse shoving water into it from the pick up on the transom?

50/50 white vinegar and water is what I use on the entire boat. It’s taken everything I needed off the boat.

6.7 Powerstroke would look better

Jaime, I know you got a maxxum but regarding the transducer question with the I pilot powerdrive. I took the boat out today for some pre pre spawn recon, and since I can’t use my bow mounted sonar with the new motor yet, I discovered two alternatives. 1.) I noticed I can steer the boat with the remote from the back of the boat and just watch the console sonar, and 2.) the console sonar is on a rotating base so I could spin it all the way around and just turn my head back to read depth and bottom contour. It’s a little strange not having a foot pedal, but once you’re used to it it’s pretty convenient. The remote is just as responsive. Also the spot lock keeps you on a dime.

That’s the only way I could get all the mounting holes from the motor on the boat, and the shaft need to be able to come out an inch or two to clear he aluminum. I’m happy with it, especially not have the pull cable any more.

Yes it wasn’t as easy as I thought, I figured once you pull off that angled cover where the motor plug is there would be enough room to get the nuts off but that’s not the case. I put one bolt with a lock but in the closest hole to the deck, the rest I used the heavy duty self tappers tracker put in the edge. If you’re making a new hole through the aluminum and ply wood it pretty tough. I’ve had it out it some good wind and i never saw the base budge at all. Yes it wasn’t as easy as I thought, I figured once you pull off that angled cover where the motor plug is there would be enough room to get the nuts off but that’s not the case. I put one bolt with a lock but in the closest hole to the deck, the rest I used the heavy duty self tappers tracker put in the edge. If you’re making a new hole through the aluminum and ply wood it pretty tough. I’ve had it out it some good wind and i never saw the base budge at all.

Yeah seemed like they mounted the trolling motor before they installed the deck. The only way I could get the nuts off the bolts under the aluminum plate was by taking the horn assembly out of the bow and shoving my arm in that hole with an open end wrench. For the power drive I pilot I had to mount it the complete opposite direction, so now the head of the motor lies on the starboard side.

Doing some research, if you have the minnkota powerdrive BT you can attach a transducer to the motor by drilling a hole at the bottom of the shaft to feed the wire in from the transducer, run it up the shaft and out of the power head. You can also buy the heading sensor dome seperately for the jog feature which lets you move 5,10 and 15 feet away from your spot locked area. The remote is a little weird to get used to but is easier that a non resessed foot pedal from the strain on your leg. Just got my boat back from the second dealer. They replaced the fuel tank, while the first dealer replaced the fuel pump. There was fuel at the Schrader valve on the vapor/liquid separator but but who’s to say there was a bunch of air in the fuel or not, fuel pressure with key on was 45lbs, the engine has 14 total hours. The dealer recommends leaving the tank cap vent open at all times. There’s a check valve underneath the vent that will accommodate gases escaping or leaving the tank. Apparently that’s what went wrong with mine because it runs like a champ now. All under warranty.

I haven’t come up with a solution yet, if anyone knows if you can run the transducer cable through the power drive or around it please let us know. I have the lowrance 4 on the bow. I also don’t know which sonars you can network. The lowrance 9 ti is on sale at Cabela’s for almost half off.

No sir. I do not have a transducer attached. I’m not sure how it works since the whole shaft and head unit turn to steer the motor. I’d imagine you’d have to run the transducer cable through the shaft and out through the motor cable and I haven’t gotten to that yet. I use lowrance, and unfortunately the motor doesn’t have universal sonar to run with the fish finder. I did have the cable wrapped around the shaft of the minn Kota edge and it worked perfect, but the head unit didn’t spin to steer.

No pedal, the cover fits. Just got it back from the dealer in which they put a fuel pump, took it 2 hours south and it ran for a few seconds and died. Won’t restart. Luckily there’s a mercury dealer here. Will keep posted. I mounted mine in the opposite direction of the edge I’ll post some pics

I added the Minnkota powerdrive 45lb with I pilot. Spot lock and jog is a game changer, you do way more fishing and less steering.

You’re absolutely right! It’s better to not have a boat and still fish, than to have a boat and not fish. But even driving to the lake and the boat not starting, was still better than being at work ?

Dealer said fuel pump is internally leaking. Kinda strange that this engine came out after the recall, and even more strange that a mercury “dealer” doesn’t stock a fuel pump that had a recall on it.