Kayak Tournament Fishing - Torqeedo or Xi3?

[Alfred Morgan]

Hey folks,

First post here but I have a interesting question: Which of the above motors would you choose to mount on your kayak and why?

I've never had a motor on my kayak before and I'm trying to figure out which one to get before I make a big purchase like this.

[Fishingmickey]

Hello Alfred and welcome to Bass Resource!

     If your wanting to go places (spot to spot). It's the Torqueedo for me. If your wanting to hold position and fish a offshore spot then the Xi3 with spot lock is the way to go.   I'm running a Torqueedo 1103AC on my PA14.  Full throttle speed is 6.1-6.3. If I pedal assist and I can come close to hitting 7mph.  Full throttle will suck the battery down quick at 1,100 watts draw.  At 1/3 throttle (350 watts draw) I'm running about 5mph.  It is much faster then the Xi3 will push it.

     Torqueedo draw backs, It's expensive!  But take into consideration that you don't have to buy a battery.  You have to use Torqueedo's battery (29volt 31 AH).  An upside to having the Torqueedo is the throttle controller with the watts read out, range and battery charge percentage left is a big plus.  The Torqueedo really gives me the ability to go much further from my launch point without losing nearly as much fishing time.  We usually have a 15-30 minute window between launch time and lines in.  I have yet to run my battery dry during a tournament.

     I'm looking at the spot lock motor's and thinking about maybe adding another kayak to the stable.  The Xi3 is the only trolling motor that has a specific version built for a kayak.

Regards,

Fishingmickey

 

[Bankc]

Fishingmickey pretty much nailed it.  Do you want speed or spot lock?  Also, the Xi3 will probably need to go on the bow and the Torqueedo on the stern.  Depending on you kayak setup, this could make a difference.  

[Darth-Baiter]

i see guys with both now.

 

one in front for the spot lock and one in back to get to the spot to use the spot lock.  

[Alfred Morgan]

@Fishingmickey

That's for the greatly detailed reply. That's pretty much what I settled on as well. I mainly fish grass right now, I do some offshore fishing when it gets really warm out and I found a good spot but for the most part I stay shallow.

I'm leaning towards the XI3 purely because I know for a fact I can just set it to troll at 1mph and pitch into a ton of grass vs me peddling down the grass line.

We will see what the rest of the summer brings to be experience wise before I make my decision. Sounds like there is a big difference between the speed that the xi3 can put out vs the Torqeedo.

Do you know how big of a difference there is? If I can still get to the out of reach spots faster then the people peddling I think that would work haha

[Fishingmickey]

2 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

i see guys with both now.

 

one in front for the spot lock and one in back to get to the spot to use the spot lock.  

Are you referring to that other rock star you tuber from Cali, Darth?

[Fishingmickey]

1 hour ago, Alfred Morgan said:

@Fishingmickey

Do you know how big of a difference there is? If I can still get to the out of reach spots faster then the people peddling I think that would work haha

I'm not sure how big the difference is. I don't look behind me. But the Torqueedo 1103 is 155#'s thrust (3hp). I think the Xi3 is 55#'s of thrust.

FM

[Alfred Morgan]

59 minutes ago, Fishingmickey said:

I'm not sure how big the difference is. I don't look behind me. But the Torqueedo 1103 is 155#'s thrust (3hp). I think the Xi3 is 55#'s of thrust.

FM

Doesn't seem that much of a difference, I wouldn't be buying the 3hp model if I went with the Torqueedo. 

 

I appreciate all the information! 

[Bankc]

My guess is you'll probably be looking at around 2.5-3.5mph out of the Xi3 and 5-6.5mph out of the Torqueedo.  So it's a pretty significant jump.  Almost double the speed.  The Xi3 will probably get you to around a moderate pace while paddling.  The Torqueedo will get you to about as fast as you could possibly paddle on your own, if you attempted a dead-on sprint with everything you have. 

 

However, if you're going to be fishing a lot of grass, I'd rather have the control than the speed.  Plus, a bow mounted trolling motor would be easier to clean off on the water.  Sometimes I'll get vegetation wrapped around my stern mounted trolling motor and have to paddle to the bank to get out and clear it.  It'll cut through hydrilla just fine, but there are some plants around here with thicker stems that don't want to separate so easily.  

[Darth-Baiter]

17 hours ago, Fishingmickey said:

Are you referring to that other rock star you tuber from Cali, Darth?

maybe.  i have seen him about. 

 

but no. i saw another tourney guy.  he was running enough batteries for livescope, a motorguide up front and a torqueedo out back.  bigass PA 14.  i bet his rig weighted 250lbs+.

 

i was on Clearlake, picking up an occasinal bass with a drop shot.  he asked, "where are the fish and how are you catching them?"  

 

"dont you have livescope?"

 

"yea, i suck with it".  hahah  his boat was legit.  he came from across Clearlake.  that is a long haul.  

[Alfred Morgan]

On 7/11/2023 at 10:05 AM, Bankc said:

My guess is you'll probably be looking at around 2.5-3.5mph out of the Xi3 and 5-6.5mph out of the Torqueedo.  So it's a pretty significant jump.  Almost double the speed.  The Xi3 will probably get you to around a moderate pace while paddling.  The Torqueedo will get you to about as fast as you could possibly paddle on your own, if you attempted a dead-on sprint with everything you have. 

 

However, if you're going to be fishing a lot of grass, I'd rather have the control than the speed.  Plus, a bow mounted trolling motor would be easier to clean off on the water.  Sometimes I'll get vegetation wrapped around my stern mounted trolling motor and have to paddle to the bank to get out and clear it.  It'll cut through hydrilla just fine, but there are some plants around here with thicker stems that don't want to separate so easily.  

Yeah, basically that's what I'm thinking. Torqeedo seems cool if I want it I'll rig it up down the road maybe, but I think I'm going to stick with the Xi3 for now. I'm rocking a sportsman 106 pdl right now so it should fit well.

[Darth-Baiter]

On 7/11/2023 at 7:05 AM, Bankc said:

My guess is you'll probably be looking at around 2.5-3.5mph out of the Xi3 and 5-6.5mph out of the Torqueedo.  So it's a pretty significant jump.  Almost double the speed.  The Xi3 will probably get you to around a moderate pace while paddling.  The Torqueedo will get you to about as fast as you could possibly paddle on your own, if you attempted a dead-on sprint with everything you have. 

 

 

the Xi3 is fast.  5mph plus.  i can barely hang pedaling as fast as i can.  but i cant last at that effort.  i do it for fun, alone.   my friends kayak is a PA12 for reference. 

[guidoStow]

A word about the spot locking on the XI3. It always puts you bow into the wind (or current). It works like this: So you are cruising along and see a spot you want to fish so you push the anchor key. The motor then stops your motion and then sharply and abruptly turns the bow towards the wind. If you were standing when you did this you might be swimming now. If seated it might simply be annoying to potentially be facing away from the structure you intended to fish. For a fly fisherman, this is a real issue and I have gone back to a stern mounted motor and physical anchors.

 

I hope this helps anyone who was considering this motor...

 

 

[GTN-NY]

I have a Xi3 on my big heavy Big Rig. I get just over 5mph. 
I stand most of the day fishing and like to crawl down a shoreline into the wind which is easy with the remote control locked on a gps heading. 
I learned real quick to not engage spot lock unless I’m sitting. Allow most went swimming when it suddenly spun the kayak around. 

[Bankc]

On 7/12/2023 at 5:00 PM, Darth-Baiter said:

the Xi3 is fast.  5mph plus.  i can barely hang pedaling as fast as i can.  but i cant last at that effort.  i do it for fun, alone.   my friends kayak is a PA12 for reference. 

I forgot that Motorguides are faster than Minn Kotas.  Same with those Newports.