bow mount trolling motor on jon boat

[groutsky]

I am coming close to finishing my winter project of adding a deck in my jon boat.  I have a bow mount trolling motor and had a question on location for mounting.  I am wanting to conserve as much space on the front as possible and was going to mount it clear to one side (so the motor would drop on the front, clear to one side of the boat).  Is this going to cause any tracking problems? or does the motor need to drop in the middle of the boat for best control?

If anyone has any advice that would be great so I can mount it just once!

[Team9nine]

Probabaly depends on your exact hull setup on the jon. I've had some mounted just slightly to one side or the other of center/the nose and it didn't hurt. I personally wouldn't want to go all the way to one side or the other myself, though I can't speak from experience on that one. My current jon boat that I remodeled went right on center. If you've got a slight V to the front you can angle the bracket a decent bit just like on the fiberglass bass boats and still have it drop near center.

-T9

[Culln5]

When I had a jon boat, I put a foot controlled trolling motor on it by taking a 2x6 pressure treated board and cutting each end with opposite 45 degree angles.  Then mounted it from the left rail to the front.  When the trolling motor was dropped it was in the center of the boat.

[Wayne P.]

I have owned 5 square bow boats and each has had the trolling motor mounted on the port or starboard side. The mount was parallel with the gunnel and the motor deployed on the corner of the bow. Each would track a little off center without a rudder of some sort. I used a transom mount trolling motor for the rudder on the boats without an outboard. This is my former 12' jon boat:

[FishingPirate]

I cant tell you much about those but Ive got a Motorguide Bulldog on my 14 foot john boat. Its a 40lb thrust foot controll with a transom mount. So far its been working well and Ive never felt underpowered.

[groutsky]

Thanks for the help guys.

I suppose I'll sacrafice a little of the deck space and angle it across to get it close to the middle.

Thanks!

[South FLA]

I made an aluminum one based on the phote below, doesn't sacrifice deck space and you can use a transom mount and just turn the head.  Works great.

[bocabasser]

check out the one at bridsallmarine.com-i had one on my flats boat before i upgraded and went with a 24 volt tm. they are a bit pricey, but they work great.