How to mount a trolling on this boat

[Nick982]

I want to put a trolling motor on this boat but im not sure what kind, or how to even mount it. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[cart7t]

Uhhh, a picture of the boat would be nice.

[Nick982]

[BaitMS]

You are getting a little ahead of yourself. In the other post you talk about constructing a casting platform. First things first.  :

[Nick982]

im just trying to gather all of my information, so i know how much money is going to be involved and how much time everything is going to take, thanks for the helpful post though  

[Guest SkyChimp]

I have a Tracker Grizzly 1548 that didn't come with a trolling motor mount. All I had was a high, broad gunnell and no real way to mount a motor. I racked my brain and built several prototypes out of wood before it hit me all of a sudden how it could be done well and cheaply.

I went to Lowes and bought a couple of steel bars about 4' long and about 1/8" inch thick. I bent them, primed and painted them, and mounted them in parallel to form a platform that was attached to the casting deck and the gunnell. Then I mounted a Minn Kota quick detachable trolling motor mount on top of that.

These steel bars cost a couple of buck apiece. The steel is soft enough to easily work by hand using a vice, hacksaw and drill.

When I was done I had a mount that was far more solid than the flimsy aluminum mounts that come on some aluminum bass boats. I've used it for several years now and its still solid as a rock.

Here's a pic. If you want more detailed pic, let me know. I'll snap some and upload more.

[Nick982]

Thank You Sky Chimp! if you could post some more pics that would be awesome

[Guest SkyChimp]

I'll snap some tomorrow evening and post them here.

[HPBB]

first what kind of TM?

   since you want to put casting decks in it, a transom mount is out, so it would be a bow mount TM.

Next foot control or hand control?  

 I prefer foot.

what brand?

   That is a personal choice. I have had both, liked and hated both brands

what volt and pound? 12 volt, 24 volt or 36 volt? ( as the power goes up the prices do also)

what style of bow mount?, cable steer, or power steering?

When you are ready to  buy your new TM, get the biggest you can afford. If you only carry one battery then 12 volt, if you can carry 2 and can afford it get a 24 volt tm. Like I said buy the biggest one you can afford.

And how to mount it? if your putting a deck on it have a raise front part that the motor can be bolted to.

[bassboy1]

We had an ingenious method that works especially well for jons and vees, and requires NO DRILLING! It is removable with a 9/16" wrench, or if you replaced the nuts with kneural knobs, it would be completely removable.  I have been meaning to borrow dads digital camera, but I keep forgetting.  Maybe tomorrow, yall will see what I am talking about.  

[Guest SkyChimp]

He is going to be limited in what he will be able to do.  His boat looks to be small.   Nevertheless, he should have plenty of room to put in a good system.

With limited deck space, I recommend a Minn Kota Power Drive.  In the deployed position it has a much smaller foot-print than manual steering models - which will benefit him.  With the corded or remote controller, he could be anywhere in the boat and control the motor.  

On a boat that small, no need for a 24v motor, which will require 2 batteries.  A 24v motor will be overkill and will cost more.   A 40lb 12v thrust motor will be just fine.  It will give him plenty of performance, even in wind.   If he is worried about having enough juice, there is a way to hook up 2 12v batteries to power the motor.  But It probably won't be necessary.  You can run a fishfinder and a 40lb thrust power drive motor off a 2700 series 12v battery all day.  I have a 55lb thrust 12v motor on mine and it performs flawlessly, even in wind.   On top of that, it will go all day on one battery.  I carry a second battery to operate my electronics and lights, and as a back-up for the motor, but I've never run out of juice on my main battery for the motor.

Nick, your boat has a lot of potential.  You are not going to need a BIG motor or a 24v+ system to get excellent performance.   If you put some thought and time into it, and wee bit of money, you'll have an excellent boat for ponds and lakes.  

[Catt]

Check out this one on a Alweld, I would suggest you have it welded in place and bolt it through the bracket.

http://www.alweld.com/Alweld%20Website%2001-17-07_files/page0003.htm

[bassboy1]

Here is what I did to mount a trolling motor to my 12 foot Grumman vee.  The TM is a 50 pound thrust Minn Kota powerdrive.  

First of all, my boat has a handle up front, and we used that to our advantage.  You can see said handle in this pic.

Now, we used some stock aluminum with an end view of this.

We find this aluminum very useful as a 5/16 bolt fits in the track, and can slide until you tighten it to make it adjustable.  

Now, we cut the aluminum at the same angle as the bottom of the gunwale lip.  

We ran a 5/16 (1/2 inch head) bolt down and used a nyloc nut.  

The handle in the front of the boat, keeps the mount from sliding to the front.  The widening vee of the boat keeps it from sliding back.  

This rig is gonna have a few modifications in the future.  Right now, the TM is not exactly level in the water.  So, we are gonna space up the back, by having a piece of the same aluminum that goes above and below the gunwale, and has a cutout for the lip.  See crude drawing.

[Guest SkyChimp]

Here the photos of my simple mount that I promised.

[Nick982]

Thanks for all the replies, hey sky chimp can you find me a link to that quick release setup, ive been looking all over the web and havent been able to find it.

[bassboy1]

Hey nick, I don't think that said mount is sold commercially these days.  Outsourced by the new plastic ones.  But, they show up on ebay from time to time.  Check there.

[Guest SkyChimp]

Yes, it's still made.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?id=0013626014791a&navCount=5&podId=0013626&parentId=cat21380&masterpathid=&navAction=jump&cmCat=MainCatcat21276-cat21380&catalogCode=IH&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat21380&hasJS=true

My local BPS sells them, too.