My next boat questions

[JBplusThuy]

My Minn Kota Endura C2 30 arrived today, and as I was gazing upon it with visions of 'gills and shellcrackers dancing in my head, I looked at the screws that hold the head to the shaft and I said to myself, "Self, those sure look like I could unscrew them, turn the head 180 degrees, tighten them up again, then mount the motor to on L-shaped piece of wood that I already have, attach said piece of wood to the bow of my Livingston and have the motor stick down nicely between the two hulls. Then my cheap transom-mount motor would become just like an expensive bow-mount motor, except without the foot control."

So, those with wisdom in these matters, can the head in fact be turned on the shaft? And if I can do that, should I? Or is it more practical to keep it on the stern next to the outboard?

Next, what are your thoughts on transducer placement? There's a piece of wood affixed to the stern that looks like it one had a transducer attached. Is that a good place for the transducer? The little Humminbird that I got for use on my float tube is getting a new home :-)

Thanks!

Jonathan

Jonathan

[Bing]

You can also reverse the leads to the battery, red to black and black to red.  The only drawback is that you may have more speeds in forward than in reverse, making the reverse true, more speeds in reverse than in forward.

 

[Leo Nguyen]

1.  Place the trolling motor at the stern. That motor can always be positioned anywhere when needed.

 

2. Transducer should be far away from the outboard. Prevent false readout during fast movement. Some will recommend it affixed to the outboard, since yours is not generating too much interference to worry about. Fully recommendation would be on the hull at the stern of your boat, and far away from the outboard. Wouldn't mount it on either side, since docking and undocking the boat onto the trailer will accidentally snap it off. This is why it recommended to mount on the outboard to prevent accidental damage. Place it in the front will cause the same issue with the false reading due to interference.

 

Ehh..I'm still a newb when it comes to owning a boat..but, my pontoon feels like a mini-boat with the trolling motor. Ask Dick, since he's one of the many that own the Zoom Zoom Zoom.

[JBplusThuy]

Thanks, Leo. Sounds like going with the existing piece of wood that formerly had a transducer on it will be the easiest way forward, and I can always move it later if that doesn't work out.

In some random googling the other day, I saw that Minn Kota makes a 2 HP, 48 volt electric outboard that will drive a pontoon boat (the party barge kind) at 5 MPH. I bet your pontoon would plane with one of those lol :)

[Leo Nguyen]

LOL..2HP on a 48V, man, that will kill the battery pack so fast, it's not funny. The 55# thrust will kick my pontoon to the 4mph easy. I normally like to exercise my body, and keep my cardio up. I wish I could walk on water, and get from point to point a lot faster by dragging my pontoon.

[DAVID L EITUTIS]

LEO IN MY HUMBLE OPINION YOU CAN WALK ON WATER!!!!!!!!!!! Forget the pontoon and just walk to your next honey hole!!!!!!!!!!!  Just teasing here buddy , but there is a good way to keep your cardio up, CATCH SOME GIANT GILLS OUT THERE IN CALIFORNIA!!!!!!!!!
 TOOTY

[arthur cole]

Here you go Bud this is mine !! LOL

[JBplusThuy]

That actually looks really comfortable :-)

[Bill "Musky" Modica]

Johnathan, I've been spinning Minn Kota heads around for more than 30yrs now.....started doing it in Canada, back trolling for walleye.....This enables 5 levels of speed control, versus the standard 3 in reverse.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

What Bill said.

If you have an outboard on the rear, the logical place for the MinnKota is on the front. You motor to your spot, shut down the petro-sucker and use the electric to poke and prod into pockets. This means that you move to the front, however, once you get there.

Unless you are going to use it to actually troll - then the rear location is appropriate.

But, then, I dont know much. As for transducer, well, didnt it come with directions?

[JBplusThuy]

It probably did come with directions, but that doesn't mean I have them anymore :-)

Putting the Minn Kota on the front does sound reasonable, and I'd likely move to the front anyway, since there's a swivel seat up there already. OTOH, that might mean having to put my fish finder at the front. Just thinking about that, I can see there'll be a day when I have two fish finders like a lot of bass boats have.

On the third hand, so to speak :-) having the electric on the stern probably makes sense for getting the boat on the trailer, since it gives more fine-grained control than the outboard does. I guess I'll have to try a few different setups and see how they work out on the water.

Thanks for all the input!

Jonathan

[Leo Nguyen]

Oooo..2 fish finders. That's the ticket! Save up for a nice down imaging fish finder that will display hidden structures, of course, it will cost more than the boat.

[jim cosgrove]

i just got a pelacan plastic johnboat to use in the electric only areas.has a front motor mount.i turned the head around on my miinn kota no more reaching back to steer like my old john boat.used to kill my back,have to rig up some sort of fin for the back to keep the stern from drifting around