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PostPosted: Mon May 14, 2012 7:10 pm 
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Joined: Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:14 pm
Posts: 123
Hi all:

I've wanted to get out to the inlets of some of the local reservoirs, which are 2 to 5 miles from the boat ramps. So, I cobbled together a quick and dirty prototype of a motor mount for an electric trolling motor just to give it a try. I like some of the designs I’ve seen on this site, but I wanted a quick, cheap, and easy means to try an electric motor before going to a lot of trouble to do a more complicated mod, such as extending the wiring for the motor speed control or drilling holes in my PA.

I wanted a design that would bring the motor and battery within reach. I focused on utilizing the rod holder holes behind the seat. You can see from the pics that I built a simple mount out of 2x4 that anchors in the rod holders and is secured to the middle handle bars via bungee cords. This is enough to handle the weight of my 32# thrust Minnkota.

It worked out pretty well. On the plus slide, it’s quick and easy to implement with no drilling or rewiring. Also, I can raise, lower, and tilt the motor from my seat w/o a bunch of pullies and cables.

This design has a few negatives. As expected, the motor tiller has little effect at low to moderate speed. So I stuck to using the PA rudder with the motor in a fixed, forward position. At low speed, I found that a few pump on the Mirage drive help get her back on course. At full speed, about 4 mph, the PA became more responsive – a little too responsive in fact. So, I held the Mirage pedals side by side so that the fins were straight down to form a keel of sorts. This seemed to help.

The other disadvantage is that the motor is hanging off one side. I counter balanced this by shifting the battery to the other side to even things out, but it could make th boat more susceptible to rocking. Also, the main 2x4 made storage of my 9-foot fly rods difficult

All in all it was a worthwhile experiment. I have some ideas for refinements and I will try it again in a week or two.

Tight lines,
Bob

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PostPosted: Tue May 15, 2012 12:26 am 
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Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2009 1:19 am
Posts: 113
Location: New Zealand
That's my kind of technology :) Looks good so far!


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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2012 6:38 am 
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Joined: Tue May 04, 2010 4:01 pm
Posts: 465
BOL re the Rube Goldberg comment.

My trophy bride has laughed and for the most part enjoyed how owning 3 kayaks has brought out my recessive Rube Goldberg gene.

Besides "Rubing" with the 3 yaks, some creative and helpful Rubing has happened mainly in our garden and other outside posssible Rube targets of
opportunity.

She bought me a DeWalt 18 volt drill and a titanium drill bit set for Christmas to inspire my "Rubing" and make it easier. It can drill a hole in a yak in seconds or a steel watering trough in a couple of minutes.

She has a couple of livestock watering troughs for her edible gardens. I have "Rubed" creations to help her, make watering easier and to prevent critters which fly or walk from eating our food.

She has put basically severe limits on inside :roll: "Rubing" with the exception of my office and my small work area in our laundry room.

I was born during the depression, and I learned from my Dad and Grandfather to never throw any screw, bolt or useful metal rigging away. Now, I supplement my collection with screws, bolts and other potential rigging via visits to Home Depot and Ace. One of our Ace stores has a yakker, and he is very helpful with his :idea: hints and suggestions.

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2009 Oasis
2012 Freedom Hawk Pathfinder


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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 4:25 am 
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Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2005 8:53 am
Posts: 24
Location: West Columbia, SC
Simple, crude, inexpensive...I like it. May steal this one and refine it a little. What type of battery are you using?

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West Columbia, SC
2010 Hobie Pro Angler
2005 Hobie Outback (2)


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PostPosted: Sat May 26, 2012 3:15 am 
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Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2009 3:24 pm
Posts: 100
Location: Waverley,Nova Scotia,Canada
I like it too. Appears very sturdy but also very easy to remove (no holes to drill either!). Thanks for sharing.
Regards....


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PostPosted: Sun May 27, 2012 10:42 pm 
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Joined: Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:14 pm
Posts: 123
Thanks all.

My battery is 115 amp hour deep cycle that my brother pick up at Costco.

Bob


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PostPosted: Sun May 27, 2012 11:01 pm 
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Joined: Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:14 pm
Posts: 123
It is actually pretty sturdy. Easily holds my small motor very securely. Doesn't wiggle or bounce around. I installed it on my PA while the PA was strapped on it's trailer and I leaned on it to test the integrity of the system - make sure te left side would not pop up from the weight of the motor - and it didn't budge. I used it for about 5 hours on the shake down cruise and it performed flawlessly.

Re: Improvements: The biggest downer for me is that is eats up rod storage area since my 9' fly rods extend back to the point that the reels land just about at the main 2x4. I'm thinking about building a full box for the battery, or at least a back plane. Then I could mount the 2x4 to the backof the box or back plane and only have it stick over the right side of the PA. The weight of the battery should be enough to hold it down, but I could probably secure it to the seat with a bungee cord, or strap the whole battery box down, This would give me back the rod storage on the left side.

One note: I designed it so that the long 2x4 just touches the base of the back mounts for the side rail.

Bob


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PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2012 9:45 pm 
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Joined: Mon Mar 05, 2012 9:08 pm
Posts: 73
Looks good. Here is my version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMPqGr5R ... ata_player


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PostPosted: Thu May 31, 2012 11:23 pm 
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Joined: Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:14 pm
Posts: 123
carsautotech: Nice install! Like the brackets made from angled aluminum.

Not sure that I could give up my center storage for battery storage.

I assume you steer with ethe PA rudder and keep the motor fixed straight ahead. how does that work out. Is it responsive at low spead? Is it stable at high speed?


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