Outboard Help (now Trolling Motor and More)

[Tom L]

Santa just dropped an old 17' aluminum Johnboat on my lap, but he didn't give me an outboard. In searching for an outboard, several questions and decisions needed to be answered before I can move further:

 

Horse Power: How much would I need? 4, 6, 8. 9.9, 20?

 

Weight & Portability: The boat will be stored outdoor. So, the outboard needed to be light and easily mount and demount for garage storage.

 

Shaft Length: How long is appropriate? 15", 20", 24", 30"?

 

Engine Type: 2 or 4 strokes?

 

Brand: It's an can of worms and I don't want to touch this subject yet.

 

bwt, I'm planning to use the boat on the Fox and lakes of Sabbona size and smaller. Thanks for any input.

[Guest rich mc]

a 9.9 is good for shabby and the fox. length of the motor depends on the transom depth. short shaft motors are better for traveling and rocky and stump filled waters .I have a 18ft jonn boat and I would only want a 20hp or more when on the rock or Mississippi. a 24 volt electric motor is a must rich mc

[eugene f collins]

Hi Tom

Are you looking into new or used motors?

Jet drive would be a Plus. running the shallows of the fox.

 

Agree with Rich. .. 24 volt trolling motor. Drag you around

all day on electric only lakes!

 

Stop over at tanglewood marine in st charles. They have a couple little

Used Outboards on display. Good mechanic as well.

[Ryan Kral]

9.9 if you plan on using it on most of our local lakes, because they are limited. I have yet to get a motor on mine, but the owner of Towee swears by Tohatsu 4 strokes. They are significantly cheaper than others, and they make all of Mercurys smaller outboards, and Nissan outboards. If you are interested in Jet drive, talk to Mike A., but you would be limiting yourself to rivers. I dont have any experience with them yet, and I know guys like their old 2 strokes, but the new 4 strokes are significantly quieter, and guys seem to love them because you dont have some of cold start, or other issues. Also, if you get a 15-20hp, it'll help you get around bigger lakes a little quicker if need be(sudden weather, etc.), and you could use a good trolling motor set up for our local lakes. Heres some info on shaft length. Ryan

http://www.onlineoutboards.com/Help.html?Question=Shaft-Length

[mikea]

First question you need to ask is, where and how am I going to use this hull for most of my fishing? http://www.tinboats.net/forum/index.php Best investment you can make is a quality bow mount trolling motor.

[Tom L]

Thanks guys for the useful info. It looks like a 9.9hp, 4 stroks, with 15" shaft will fit the boat nicely. Most outboards this size are under 100lbs, so I won't break my back trying to mount and demount it. and it will be a legal size for most local lakes. Eugen brought up a good option on the jet type outbroad. But after looking into it, I feel it will not be a good fit. Jet outboards are rated at 20hp and up , very heavy (close to 200lbs) and very expensive (~10k which is way out of my budget). I don't know how much I will be using the boat and if I'll like it or not. I'll use the boat primary for fly-fishing on the Fox, Busse, and Shabbona. I may take it to Lake Geneva in the future, if I brave enough.

 

The idea of a 24v trolling motor is great. Most 24v trolling motors are rated at 70-80 thrust. Maybe instead of get an outboard, I should looking into get a trolling motor first. Try it out on Busse, which is an electric only lake. See if I'll like fly-fishing from a boat or not. It will be a steep learning curve, trying to control the boat and fly casting at the same time.

 

Again, thanks guys.

[Guest rich mc]

there have been many times when I just used my 75lb thrust electric at shabbona, and its not a bow mount. now you have more questions on a bow mount do I get a foot control, pinpoint auto system , fob control. or hand control. two anchors are a must, and don't forget a down imaging depth finder. the fun is beginning . richmc

[Rob G]

Tom,

if moving weight is a concern, a 9.9 2 stroke should be even lighter. My 50 hp Merc 2 stroke supposedly weighs 200 lbs, but the same 50 lb. engine in a 4 stroke was 275 lbs. That may or may not matter to you.

 

Btw, if you're interested in a 55 ft lb Minn Kota (largest 12 volt that anyone makes requiring only one battery) bow mount, hand steer, let me know, all have a long shaft so I can stand on my front deck, move myself around and cast easily without having the foot control in my way while also not catching my line draped on the floor. Anyway, have fun but a boat is an endless hole in the water for which to throw money down.

[Tom L]

Holy cow! I got the boat and the trailer for free; and thought maybe spending a few hundred more bucks will get me into this boating biz. It's not just an outboard issue now, we are talking trolling motor and depth finder too.

 

Rob, you're right about a boat being an endless hole. I'm tempting on your offer on a 55 thrust Minn Kota, but not sure if it'd work well with fly casting being a hand control motor. The hands may be too busy casting, stripping, and controlling the boat at the same time. Have you or anyone else tried fly fishing using the hand control trolling motor? If yes, what was the experience like? The up side of this option is that being a used motor it'd be cheaper than new. Up front investment will be less, but the risk may be that it won't work well for my purpose and have to buy a new one.

 

My thought is that a foot control may work better. Of cause this is a pure theory in my part, since I have no experience at all. I was looking into a Minn Kota with the iPilot feature. It sounds neat in theory, but the price tag went up ($1000+). Has anyone have any experience with this feature (iPilot) at all?

 

decisions, decisions......................

[eugene f collins]

Ahhhhhh..........

 

Ipilot. That is next for my boat. Actually the big fish finder! I bought

The 80 pound terrova 24 volt trolling motor.

I like running the trolling motor by foot. Have been using foot control

For 20 years or better. Now I am learning how to fly fish while running the

trolling motor. Little more work, but I am learning. Spin tackle-no problem.

Float your boat- Saturday morning -try my pond hopper. It will be similar to your boat

With a hand control trolling motor.

[Rob G]

Tom,

a hand controlled bow mount is what I now use. I tried foot controls which worked excellent for bassfishing with spin gear seated and combing the shoreline but foot controls work best when you are sitting down or are at least leaning against a small butt seat. Very difficult to use a foot control when standing freely with nothing to stabilize your weight. Try it for two minutes and you'll know what I mean. I personally don't like a seat on my front deck as it limits my mobility, always something I have to work around. I also had the pilot control and one controlled with a small remote control that I attached to my wrist. It worked "OK" but it was slower to react than what I can do with my hands if I needed to avoid a sudden hidden stump in the water. Try them all and see what works for you. If you've ever down this way, you're always welcome to fish from my boat and try a hand controlled motor. There is no perfect troller for what we do, each choice will have compromises.

[Guest rich mc]

one thing I've heard about the wrist control is that if you are in the middle or back of the boat you cant see stumps or shallow water. my fav way to fly fish from my boat is double anchor front and back and cast away.. oh maybe you will want a power pole to help anchor. but you will need to get get a push pole from bass pro very valuable . and a bow mount 55lb electric will do fine all day at shabb if the wind is not to bad, its nothing to carry an extra battery. rich mc

[Tom L]

Power pole? Rich, you're killing me. A boat is a hole with no bottom, indeed. I also changed the title of this thread to "Outboard Help (now Trolling Motor and More) to reflect the discussions here.

 

Eugene is bring a hand control and Mike A is bring a foot control trolling motor to the float your boat this Sat. I'll be there to try them both. Thanks everyone.

[Scott Ferguson]

Foot control motors come in 2 styles. Cable steer, and electric steer. You get more power for your money and better reliability with cable steer, but they all have very tall foot pedals which has been said, are difficult to operate standing up. The electric steer have flatter foot pedals which can easily be operated standing up. They also have remote hand operated controls. If you use 2 hands to handle your rod and line, most guys don't have a third hand to operate the motor, you must stop your retrieve to steer the motor. Biggest problem with fly casting from a boat is that your line will wrap around EVERYTHING! A stripping basket could help (sorry Ron) Having to use 2 anchors to hold the boat still so you can fly fish is a HUGE pain. That's one of the reasons I won't fly fish from a boat.

[ronk]

My guess is that the boat will primarily be used to access spots which will than be waded?

Scott

Only for guys who keep a cluttered boat.Ffing guides don't.So the sb is the floor of the boat.

[Andy C]

I fly fish from my bass boat and use a stripping basket. I use a hand steered trolling motor on the bow with a foot operated start switch. I set the speed and forward/reverse on the top of the motor and steer with an extendable handle. I like it much better than the cable operated units that I have had prior. Much better in rivers in my opinion. Much easier to stand up and fish and very serviceable sitting down. Mine is a 12 volt and has plenty if power and lasts two full days of fishing on a deep cycle marine battery. I really like having a bow mounted and transom mounted fish finders. Sidescan on the transom and traditional sonar on the front. Not essential but great for most lakes IMO. Especially if your are fishing for suspended or deep fish. You don't need color, so go with grayscale unless Money is of no concern. I use 12 volt lawn tractor batteries to power my sonar to save weight and space.

[Scott Ferguson]

Scott Only for guys who keep a cluttered boat.Ffing guides don't.So the sb is the floor of the boat.

If you have a foot control trolling motor, if you have cleats for tying off the boat, if you have a bow mounted light, if you have FEET! --Your line will find them and wrap itself around them. Some stuff just can't be put away!

[ronk]

As Andy says a sb could be an aid fishing from a boat replete with electronic gear(seldom needed stream fishing & often not in stillwater either) But even than hand holding the line while casting standing up would at least in most instances be a good alternative.It may be easier to rely on an artificial aid but learning this technique will make any ffer a more complete & proficient caster.Next to the dubl haul it's the most important casting technique I know especially in streams where the vast majority of ffing is done as well as from shorelines with tall thick cover like many of the Driftless streams where a sb would only be a hindrance thruout the summer months

[ericg]

On the Rock River we dont like anything less than 20 horse but that doesnt seem to apply to you. (I have a 16 ft aluminum boat with 20 horse 2 stroke, would consider going to 30 or 40 if I didn't have to mount and dismount the motor by hand to put it in the garage.)

ericg

[ronk]

As Andy says a sb could be an aid fishing from a boat replete with electronic gear(seldom needed stream fishing & often not in stillwater either) But even than hand holding the line while casting standing up would at least in most instances be a good alternative.It may be easier to rely on an artificial aid but learning this technique will make any ffer a more complete & proficient caster.Next to the dubl haul it's the most important casting technique I know especially in streams where the vast majority of ffing is done as well as from shorelines with tall thick cover like many of the Driftless streams where a sb would only be a hindrance thruout the summer months

[/quote

I apologize for returning to the overworked stripping basket subject and hope it can be backburnered henceforth.But in giving it further thought I don't understand why a sb would be needed in any kind of boat when all that's needed is a small clear space right at your feet onto which the line is laid. 2 yrs ago I fished with Eric & Eugene in Eugene's boat. Last year I fished in Capt.A's vhull with a TU partner on Lake M and with Tom L in Capt A's drift boat on the Kank. On none of these 3 guys in a boat trips as well as on all my other past boat trips was a sb ever needed by anyone.Sorry Scott.

[Tom L]

Had a chance to try Mike A's Minn Kota Terrova at the float your boat outing yesterday. The Auto Pilot feather was really nice. Freed up a lot of boat controlling time for fly casting and fishing. Worked really well on a lake. I understand there maybe some issues for river. I think it'll do for my purpose. Thanks Mike.

[Tom L]

Update 7/27/2014:

Finally had everything ready and took the boat out for a test drive on the Fox this morning. I opted for a Minn Kota Terrova i-Pilot 55lbs trolling motor (no outboard yet) and was able to connected my old Hummingbird 385ci depth finder from the kayak to the trolling motor with only one adapted cable needed. A bilge pump was installed also.

 

The auto pilot and the electronic anchor on the i-Pilot worked great when the wind and the current were not too strong. The motor couldn't get me pass a spot with too strong of currents, so I had to turn around.

 

 

btw, I also took up to another dandy of smallie from a root ball close to shore.

 

 

This is the spot.

 

 

 

Flooring and carpeting are next.

 

 

[Eric]

That's great Tom. Congrats and nice catch!

[eugene f collins]

Ah yes! The freedom of a boat!

 

Nice catch Tom.

[Bart Durham]

Looks like one mean fly fishing machine!