immortl

Still expensive, but not quite as expensive as the electronic one I posted above, I think this is actually the 'sniper' mount I heard mentioned in a video, but my search for it took a while and I found that electronic one first. Anyways, this one seems to allow you to rotate the handle (thinking like throttle on an outboard) to rotate the transducer. You're not actually spinning the pole around manually with the offshoot handle. Maybe could be a little more precise? My use case is a kayak, a little different than a bass boat and I'm still putting it all together, no hands on experience yet, but it seems to me I'd want independent control of the transducer and trolling motor. Again, all theory in my head, subject to change with actual real world experience, but as a starting point, I want independent control. I'll go from there.

Ok, sit down before checking out the price, but for a separate pole mount for the FFS transducer that deploys with the trolling motor, but whose spinning/positioning is independent and controlled by remote control, check out the wtrforce sniper. I think it's for the boat that has everything and absolutely needs one last thing to spend money on. Here is the video of it in action. Seems pretty cool and useful to me to me. I figure a hand spun one will work just fine for my kayak, but I was also wondering if a quick release mount could be fabricated for the sniper, similar to the fishing specialties one.

Active Target 2 is now available for purchase, just picked it up from MidwayUSA. Now I'm just waiting on the HDS Pro head units to be available in a few weeks.

Thanks, that was useful. A whole other deal to research now. I started reading installation manuals for the current version Lowrance gear. Looks like some of it is turned on via accessory wires separate from power wire. Fuse blocks may be part of the plan again... Probably should have started with reading those first. I have probably ordered up twice as much stuff as I'll need and am going to have a large return for Amazon.

I am nixing the fuse block idea. I'd end up with 1 bussed block (common power input routed internally to all circuits) that really would only power the Yak Power switching module and then another 'non bussed' block (individual power input for each fuse) for the power outputs from the switching module. They'd take up valuable space on the mounting board and the non bussed blocks that I could find would not be all that water resistant. I'm going to go with the water proof/resistant inline fuse holders. Spent time yesterday seeking out inline fuse holders with appropriate gauge wire made of tinned copper and finally found them all. 6 AWG for leads off the batteries, and 14 AWG for the leads off the switching module.

Yes, I'll pick up 2 chargers. I spoke with a guy at Ionic and asked about the 10A vs 20A chargers, having the idea in my head that slower charging was 'easier' on the batteries. He didn't seem to think it mattered much though and said if you have enough time, 10A, if you want them to charge faster, do the 20A, it won't hurt anything. And this is why I posted this, I forgot about the meter. The youtube video I was using as reference for the physical rigging of lowering and raising the trolling motor called out the meter and I can definitely see it's usefulness for a rough idea of how many amp hours have been consumed. I'll add that in too. Unrelated to electric stuff - I always wondered how they rigged up string/cord in the hull to pull down on the step release for the motor and this video finally showed it. I thought it was quite ingenious to run the spectra cord through stiff water line tubing (like for an ice maker) to make the equivalent of a bicycle brake cable. Can you elaborate or have links specifically to 12.8v and 14.8v batteries? The ones I've looked at from Ionic, Battleborn, Amped, Dakota Digital etc... are all advertised as 12v but a full charge is up around 14.6 volts based on the spec sheets. I think I'm looking at the higher voltage you're talking about, but perhaps there is something else out there I haven't stumbled across yet? I have picked up from my research that running the trolling motors under max results in a large power savings and only a small reduction in speed. Were I trying to race somewhere, I'd look into those higher thrust Torqueedo or Nocqua motors off the stern. This is a big heavy boat, I understand I'm not going anywhere at warp speed. I came up with 6.5A max draw going through the manuals for the current versions of the HDS Live, AT, and S3100. Sort of like I used to do for cooling and power calculations when building a datacenter once, I calculated with the unlikely max draw and tossed in a little extra headroom. A 60AH batter would likely more than cover a solid long day of fishing with everything running full blast the entire time. I then rounded up to 100 and figured I'd likely get 2+ days out of it. Again though, I don't really need 2 days, so perhaps a 60AH or so for some cost and weight savings.

That's a good point. To keep with Ionic, 125 is as high as they go before the physically larger 200AH batteries. Amped Outdoors does have a 160AH battery though. Anyone have any experience with them? I agree the 100AH for the electronics may be a bit of overkill. I can probably drop that a bit as I was calculating max amp draw for each device. And really, no, I don't need 2 full days. I'm a recreational fisher, out to have fun, I just like my electronic gadgets. Additionally, most of my immediate fishing will be on smaller bodies of water. Although for sure if we have to go back down to Durham NC yet again, we're staying on the shore of Jordan Lake again and I'll figure out a way to bring both the kayak and the fifth wheel. I don't foresee any immediate scenarios where I wouldn't be able to recharge overnight and I even have assorted inverter generators I could use if necessary to charge things, one of which is pretty portable.

I understand the SAE connectors on the Yak Power switching systems are only good up to 20A or a bit less each. The overall switching system isn't supposed to exceed 20A across all it's outputs, and the wire leads in/out on the switching system are only 14 AWG. The only interaction between the Yak Power switching system and the trolling motor circuit will be a single 'accessory' trigger for the relay activation on the trolling motor run. In other words, one of the switching system outputs will be run to the trigger of the relay, allowing me to 'turn on' the relay with a button, no other trolling motor power will touch the Yak Power switching system. For all the connections on the trolling motor run (so at the battery box in the back and then up front at the trolling motor itself), I was looking at the Anderson type connections that I seem to come across a lot. I am curious if the Minn Kota would be a better choice up front where the trolling motor itself will be plugged into - Anderson type or Minn Kota for this spot?

I am in the process of planning the electrical layout and install for my new Hobie Pro Angler 14. This is not a 'keep it simple' kayak. Instead, this is a 'as close as I'm coming to a bass boat for a while' kayak, so it may seem like overkill. I won't necessarily have all of this on the kayak all the time, but I like the option to have it when I want it. As I've gotten older, I take these projects a bit slower and more methodical and know enough to know I don't know everything and try to research as much as I can. I wanted to run my plans by the group to see if I'm missing anything or can do something better. Additionally writing out my plans helps me think things through. I've corrected 2 issues so far in typing this out. I should draw all this out next. At the currently planned end state, the kayak will have a Motorguide Xi3 36" saltwater pinpoint trolling motor mounted on the bow, Lowrance HDS Pro (10" or 12" depending on where I end up mounting it), Lowrance Active Target 2, Lowrance S3100, and likely at a minimum one of those pole 360 degree lights and maybe some additional lighting. For the trolling motor there will be an Ionic 125AH LiFePo and for the electronics/lights another Ionic battery, thinking a 100AH one (based on 6.5a max draw of the HDS Pro/AT2/S3100, gives me 2 full days of fishing on single charge, likely more than that). Trolling motor setup - the 125AH Ionic LiFePo, 6 AWG marine grade wiring, 60A fuse close to the positive terminal (finally found inline fuse holders with 6 AWG leads), then an Anderson type quick connect. Negative lead from battery will go to same Anderson type quick connect, allowing me to remove battery box for easier charging indoors. Probably should put a battery disconnect switch in there before the plug? From that Anderson quick connect the positive line will run to a 60A circuit breaker and then to another Anderson quick connect up front where the trolling motor will connect. Has anyone used that insanely expensive Minn Kota connector? Worth it? The ground will run to the same Anderson quick connect. I'd like to put a relay in as well so I can rig up a fall overboard safety pin deal on power to the motor. The accessory/activate lead for the relay will run to some version of the Yak Attack power switching box and between the two is where I'll insert the motor safety kill switch. Yak Attack makes an auto reset breaker/relay but it's 50A and the trolling motor manual says 50A would work, but 60A would be better. I haven't yet found a 60A breaker/relay combo. Anyone know of one? Based on wiring charts I believe the 6 AWG wire is large enough for the run of say 10ft or so from behind seat to front cockpit area. Am I missing anything here? Any suggestions for improvement? Electronics - the likely 100AH Ionic LiFePo, 6 AWG marine grade wiring, 30Aish fuse close to the positive terminal, then Anderson type quick connect. Negative lead from battery will go to the same Anderson type quick connect, again allowing me to remove the battery box for easier charging indoors. From there the positive line will run to a Blue Sea Systems water resistant fuse block. The negative line will run to a Blue Sea Systems water resistant bus bar. Power for the Yak Attack power switching module will come off the fuse block with a 20A fuse. Ground for the switching module will go to the negative bus bar. If everything other than the trolling motor is running through the Yak Attack power switching module, the Blue Sea fuse block seems maybe unnecessary, don't currently have anything else to run through it. I could do an inline fuse and call it good there, and use just a non bussed fuse block for the power leads off the power switching module? The HDS Pro, Active Target 2, S3100, and lights will power through Yak Attack power switch module. Now with regard to fusing those individual power leads off the Yak Attack switching module... Do I simply put inline fuses in place (seems like I can make them fairly water resistant) or work to satisfy the OCD in me and put in a non bussed fuse block? (more appealing organization wise, but likely not as water resistant, although I could go after it with lots of silicone after attaching the leads) Once I get the batteries in hand, I need to figure out a box or two for them. Ought I try to put them both into 1 box or a separate box for each battery? I'm thinking 2 boxes so I can take only what I'll need that day. Thanks!

Thanks guys, appreciate the guidance. I'll give it a go and will let you know how it turns out.

I have a brand new Motorguide Xi3 salt water 36" kayak trolling motor with GPS Pinpoint, still in its box. The salt water version is white, I'd prefer for it to be black (kayak is camo). Any recommendations/warnings for paint type and/or prep? Based on my research so far, it seems I ought to use an epoxy type paint? I'm also not sure if I would need to sand parts (360 grit?) first or not? Generally that seems to be a recommended first step, but I'm wondering if the current factory new finish would actually be OK for the new paint to adhere to, sort of like I'm just adding another coat or 2 of paint... Thanks!

Motorguide also has 'spotlock' but they call in 'pinpoint', at least on the Xi3 and Xi5 series trolling motors. My Xi3 saltwater is sitting in the garage, waiting to be installed on my kayak. In my research I've come across several reports specifically for the Motorguide wireless foot pedal, that it is difficult to make minor directional adjustments with the wireless foot pedal. I'll end up with one to test and see because sometimes I have to learn for myself and maybe I can figure it out or tweak it better Or maybe not, so I'll pick it up from Amazon for an easy return if I don't like it.

Pure Fishing is running 30% off Spider lines at the moment.

Don't know if this would work 100% or not but I think it would help a good bit, look into an ozone generator. If you could tent something over the boat with the access hatches open (tarp or maybe just under the boat cover, run the ozone generator under there for a while. Perhaps a fan or two to help direct the ozone down into areas. I picked one up from Amazon a year or three ago initially to get the cigarette smoke smell out of our cars periodically and it works awesome for that. Yes, we're bad and smoke in the vehicles. Have also used it to remove cooking odors in the house and also use it to freshen up the RV periodically. It may help some too with killing off the mold as you have to remove anything living prior to treatment (people, pets, plants, etc..) and air the area out before going back in. Those little O3 molecules neutralize/kill just about everything it seems.

Thanks guys. I am officially not worried about it. Opened it up today and everything appears factory new, internal packaging all sealed up, and all is in good shape. Now to get my truck back from the body shop (they've had it for over 2 months now) on Friday and go pick up the kayak this weekend. Then I can dive into wiring this up and testing it out. I'll have to sort out registration too I suppose. Good winter projects.

Anyone who has picked up a motorguide trolling motor, when you received it, did the box have 'old' staple holes, like at one point it had larger metal staples holding it closed? I received my 36" Xi3 saltwater kayak trolling motor today and noticed that while the box appears in pristine condition particularly for coming through FedEx, every staple position has holes like there was originally a larger than current metal staple. I'm curious if this box was previously opened or if that's how they come from the factory/bass pro (internal quality checks or something). Every staple position is like the attached picture, but none of the box is torn, so it appears to have been done carefully.

That is an excellent point. I was just looking at wiring and relays a little earlier, thinking maybe it would be good to have a power switch for the trolling motor instead of direct hard wire... I wonder if I can find a kill switch module to wire in to the trigger lead for the relay. Then if the kill switch cuts out, the trigger for the relay is cut out and motor should lose power. I'll dig into that.

I ordered the Motorguide Xi3 kayak 36" salt water trolling motor last night (had $1000 credit with my perks at work deal, which was usable with Bass Pro). It has 55lbs of thrust which I believe is a bit more than the Minnkota in the Old Town Autopilot (45lbs maybe?). I hope it'll be enough, but we'll see. The NKs and torqueedos, iirc, have twice as much thrust or more. Maybe to balance the Xi3 in front, a torqueedo or NK will need to go on the back . Not much of a salt water guy at the moment, but guys in the trout club like to go for stripers, so I though for an extra 200, I'd hedge my bets and keep salt water as an option if I so choose. I know, I'm not fitting the traditional idea of 'simple kayak'. This is as close to a bass boat as I'm going to come for a while and am outfitting it as such. Lots of stuff and heavy, but still ought to be movable by me alone in the bed of my truck and access to the assorted little places as well as the larger for NJ spots available to me. I can always take some things off if the situation calls for it.

The one objectives are some sort of plastic, maybe 3d printed. I honestly have no boating experience so these are uneducated guesses loosely based on ideas I've found on the internet, but perhaps some marine grade board of sorts? Or maybe a really thick plastic cutting board could be cut up and drilled? Maybe something along the lines of what people deck their boats with? I initially thought for sure on the back/stern because that's where motors go, right? Then I learned spot lock trolling motors drag the boat around and should go on front. So for my use case, it's going on the front. The motorguide Xi3 kayak model weighs about 31lbs. Outfitter told me it'll push the bow down a little, will need to counter with battery/fishing crate behind the seat. In my searching I've seen lots of torqueedos or similar and tiller motors mounted on the stern. For tillers there are extended handles and/or pully setups to assist with throttle and steering from your seat. Possibilities are numerous, some require more creativity and ingenuity. Forums and you YouTube searches provided a lot of ideas.

It's all about the pork roll, egg, salt, pepper, and ketchup sandwiches here. I go with double pork roll. No better breakfast has ever been created by mankind. I was out west for about 15 years, and about 1 month before returning, I had an Uber driver educate me that a local grocery store actually sold pork roll. I was floored. Could have been enjoying my sandwiches all those years.

There are 2 clubs up there, I think of them as the blue collar and then the lawyer/doctor clubs. I'm in the blue collar one. We both put in good quality fish, perhaps the other club a bit more or higher in quality though. The fish go up and down and back and forth, it's all good. I will drop you a line next time I'm heading up to Spruce Run or when I have my kayak ready for the water. Round Valley we hit right after the water drop, didn't do much there. Farrington is also on my list and is only 15 minutes or less down the road from me. I was thinking that could be one of my 'after work, run out quick spots'. I seem to drive over/past it once or twice each week running errands. Don't think I've found out about Mercer or Carnegie yet, I'll look them up. Hmmm, that remark has the potential to closely resemble me I'm torn between acquiring what I 'think or know' I want now while the getting is good before things are hard to find in the spring vs waiting. I know I want a spotlock trolling motor and I know I want fancy electronics and forward facing sonar. My compromise, so far, is to only acquire a few bigger things and to fish the kayak without any of it first, before I start actually rigging things onto it. We'll see if I can be disciplined and pull that off. Agree that if I am to follow through with what I think I want on this kayak, I'll be well into the cost of a used cheaper bass boat. But for my use case, the kayak, I think, will be better suited, so I'm happy to have gotten one. We shall see how it works out.

Might want to give the OneObjective folks a call and see what they offer or have to say. Might be pricey, but if they do make one and you can find pics of it, might help with DIY. They list one for the Sportsman 106 which seems to maybe be what the pic above is of? You said topwater in your post though, so I may be wrong. Anyways, I just picked up one of their trolling motor bow mounts for my Pro Angler. Based on reviews and videos it seemed to be the way to go. https://www.oneobjectivebf.com/store/c56/OldTown.html#/

I am in central Jersey, Monroe Township (exit 8a off Turnpike, not the Monroe down south somewhere). Belong to a trout club up on the Musky off of 78 just past Clinton (Jugtown Mountain). Primarily a worm jockey for trout, but have been known to break out the fly rod on occasion and actually caught 3 in a row one day last summer when I tried the fly rod again after a 15 or so year hiatus. So far I have bass fished Round Valley, Spruce Run, and Assunpink with a buddy and his dad's canoe. Looking forward to to the kayak for this coming season.

I'm back in NJ again for a while. You have summed up NJ very well. Now when anyone asks me why I bought a kayak, I'm going to refer them to this, instead of my standard answer, "because I wanted one". I figure I can now find the spots I fished growing up with my dad and his buddies as well as fish the random little places I find driving around. Another reason for the kayak, for me, is the portability. We're doing the RV full timing deal and while I don't think it'll really work on the roof of the truck with the 5th wheel hooked up (kayak is a 14' Pro Angler, I think it'll be to far forward in order to clear the trailer) I figure I can toss it on a rack on the roof of her VW wagon when we get back to moving around the country again. This past summer we spent a good amount of time in NC and a few weeks camped on the shore of Jordan lake. Would have loved to have had a kayak then.

Thanks MN Fisher, appreciate the help and links. They even had the links to the rebate deals as well, I hadn't been able to find those details as of yet. Too bad the Xi3 Kayak 36" trolling motor isn't on the list Anyone ordered from thegpsstore before? Anyone remember how quickly the new model stuff sold out last time it was released? I was sort of planning to look for the gear in stock once it was available for sale. Anyone think it would be better to 'pre-order' it to have a better chance of snagging? Could be said I'm being a bit manic in trying to make sure I have the 'basics' that I know I want for the kayak this winter so I can set it up, play around with it, and not worry about "oh gee, that part is now out of stock everywhere" come spring. Thanks again, appreciate your help.