Ever Shorten A Foot Pedal Cable?

[Mxtaylor]

Hi all,

 

In the process of turning a 14' jon boat into a 'bass boat' - flat decks, etc.. I have a 55lb Minn-Kota Edge but in my testing, the 5' cable for the foot pedal is unmanageable in this small boat. It won't sit where I want it to. Nowhere that I can really bolt the pedal down to either. Has anyone ever cut the cable to shorten it? I'm looking to cut maybe 18" out of it..

 

You can see the base for the pedestal seat under the plastic. The motor will mount onto the aluminum angles.. Sorry, should've taken a new pic with it sitting on there tonight. But you can see I don't have a whole lot of room to work with a 5' cable.

 

Thoughts?

[Fishing Rhino]

Before you make all the electrical connections, is it possible for you to turn/twist the foot control 360 degrees which will put a loop in the control cable, effectively shortening it?  Looking at the image, you should be able to "stow" the loop beneath the two crossmembers at the bow.  Use a zip tie or two to secure the loop where it will be out of the way.

 

Then route your electrical cables.

[Al Wolbach]

Hi all,

 

In the process of turning a 14' jon boat into a 'bass boat' - flat decks, etc.. I have a 55lb Minn-Kota Edge but in my testing, the 5' cable for the foot pedal is unmanageable in this small boat. It won't sit where I want it to. Nowhere that I can really bolt the pedal down to either. Has anyone ever cut the cable to shorten it? I'm looking to cut maybe 18" out of it..

 

You can see the base for the pedestal seat under the plastic. The motor will mount onto the aluminum angles.. Sorry, should've taken a new pic with it sitting on there tonight. But you can see I don't have a whole lot of room to work with a 5' cable.

 

Thoughts?

 

Can you spin the shaft in the mount to get the cable to lay in a different area?

[Mxtaylor]

Thanks for the tips but with the current plan - neither are really feasible.

 

Because the foot control only goes from 0 degrees to 360 degrees, its most comfortable to have halfway be at 180 degrees (straight forward). If I rotate the shaft to where the cable is out of the way, I have to heel all the way down to toe all the way down to veer slight left vs slight right. Not ideal.

 

Heres another picture with it in place and a couple more pieces of carpet. The picture doesn't really show the depth right, but it almost comes out to my knees. Its functional now, just not comfortable. Still, not quite enough room to not have the pedal cover up one of the hatches. Should have bought this thing before I started the framing & decking. I'm going to take it out Saturday for the first time and see how much it bothers me when I'm actually fishing and not being critical in the garage.

[Fishing Rhino]

I don't know how the Minnkota's steering is set up.  A Motorguide has a rack and pinion steering system.  The steering can be accessed by taking the top off the head.  A plastic plate holds the rack in place.  I can remove the plate, and lift the rack out of its place.  Then, the foot pedal can be centered and the motor can be set to the straight ahead position.  The rack is replaced with the pinion gear centered on the rack.

 

I think the Minnkota has a push/pull cable on a pulley.  The pulley should be splined over the steering shaft to allow for adjustment of mounting the unit in various positions whether it be in line with the boat, or across it like you have done.

 

I found this on a google search.  Sounds like it might be best done with a helper to hold tension on the cables.

 

Warning!!! from Mark Richards (98.199.150.17)  1/1/2008 3:27:00 PM

 

 Ok, I have done this quite a few times so take heed, I am not familiar with the MK65 but I am sure the principal is the same on all of these motors..

 

Take off the top half of the plastic head and look on the center shaft. Your two foot control wires wrap around a plastic spool which sits on the shaft with a spline fit.

 

If you have not done this before, get a pad and pencil and draw the way the wires come in, lay and attach in that plastic spool - because when you pull it off, if they come off you will be scratching your head wondering what the hell you did. You can figure it out but why think if you don't have to, its not as simple as it sounds because spool rotates, the wires wrap round and round etc..

 

Slack your cable tension adjustment screw in the footpedal all the way off, then what you have to do is slide that plastic spool off, and rotate it until you have the right position. The object of this, is to have the motor set pointing straight ahead, with your footpedal in the middle incline position, so you have full travel in each direction up and down.

 

When you do this, you have to be aware that with the cables loose, they can come off the cams in the footpedal if you don't keep tension on them.

 

Good luck.

[Lund Explorer]

The only thing I noticed is that you've gone with a much less than normal mounting angle for your motor, which in turn might cause the problems you are talking about. 

 

You may have been much further ahead by using on of the wireless power drive motors.

[ksboy]

I've never done this before but my bet would be:  It would be easier to redesign the front of the boat so the motor attaches the way it was meant to, i.e. deploying off the front of the boat. A guy I know built a stand from the front deck he built and then mounted the motor to the stand so that it would deploy as it was meant to do.

Just my 2c worth.

Good luck!!!!!!!!!!

[Fishing Rhino]

Here are some images of how trolling motors are mounted.  I don't recall ever seeing a trolling motor mounted parallel to the center line of the boat.  Nitros have the trolling motor mounted as shown in the last image.  They are mounted that way to open up deck space on the bow.

 

It's why trolling motors have internal adjustments so the motor can be in line with the hull while the control pedal is in the middle position.

 

 

 

 

[Al Wolbach]

I don't know how the Minnkota's steering is set up.  A Motorguide has a rack and pinion steering system.  The steering can be accessed by taking the top off the head.  A plastic plate holds the rack in place.  I can remove the plate, and lift the rack out of its place.  Then, the foot pedal can be centered and the motor can be set to the straight ahead position.  The rack is replaced with the pinion gear centered on the rack.

 

I think the Minnkota has a push/pull cable on a pulley.  The pulley should be splined over the steering shaft to allow for adjustment of mounting the unit in various positions whether it be in line with the boat, or across it like you have done.

 

I found this on a google search.  Sounds like it might be best done with a helper to hold tension on the cables.

 

Warning!!! from Mark Richards (98.199.150.17)  1/1/2008 3:27:00 PM

 

 Ok, I have done this quite a few times so take heed, I am not familiar with the MK65 but I am sure the principal is the same on all of these motors..

 

Take off the top half of the plastic head and look on the center shaft. Your two foot control wires wrap around a plastic spool which sits on the shaft with a spline fit.

 

If you have not done this before, get a pad and pencil and draw the way the wires come in, lay and attach in that plastic spool - because when you pull it off, if they come off you will be scratching your head wondering what the hell you did. You can figure it out but why think if you don't have to, its not as simple as it sounds because spool rotates, the wires wrap round and round etc..

 

Slack your cable tension adjustment screw in the footpedal all the way off, then what you have to do is slide that plastic spool off, and rotate it until you have the right position. The object of this, is to have the motor set pointing straight ahead, with your footpedal in the middle incline position, so you have full travel in each direction up and down.

 

When you do this, you have to be aware that with the cables loose, they can come off the cams in the footpedal if you don't keep tension on them.

 

Good luck.

 

 

I have done this with a Motorguide and it is quite simple but can't address a Minnkota. But this may be your only good option. It has been a while but with a Motorguide all you have to do is remove about three screws, rotate the shaft, reinstall the screws.

[J Francho]

You probably aren't going to have too much luck shortening the cables. Would be easier to coil the cable.

[Mxtaylor]

Thanks everyone for the great responses.. I knew it wasn't the typical mounting style, but seemed the easiest way to tackle the problem.. The other issue is the steering will act funny with it that far off the centerline of the bow, from what I've read. I'm going to fish it this weekend and see how much of an issue it really is.. Then it may be time to rework the front end, we'll see.. Good thing plywood is cheap.