Full steam ahead!!! And questions

[idahoron]

SO I went to sportsmans today and got my Minn Kota 40# trolling motor for my FC9 pontoon. It was 130 dollars with a cupon I had. WAY COOL!!!
Anyway, I called about getting a licence and the gal at the DMV says they don't sell the sticker for invasive species.
So I got to get this figured out, I thought it came with the licence.
Question, Why do you guys & Gals, turn the head backwards and travel backwards? Is it for turning with your feet?
Also any helpful hints to get started with a motor would be helpful. Ron
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[cpierce]

This year the invasive species fees are combined in your regular boat registration. It isn't a separate sticker for in state registrations.

You turn the motor's head around because the pontoon boats and tubes track better being pulled. It also seems easier for the motor to pull you that to push you. Another advantage is the no hands steering, where you lock the motor into position and kick your fins to steer where you want to go.

For weight distribution it helps to have the battery close behind you.

Nice score on the motor price!
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[idahopanfish]

FG has a nice clean setup where the controls are right up front where you are, but that does involvr splicing in more wire to the wire harness which would probably negate your warrenty, so TD's remote on/off switch and exstended handle would be the next best method to have easy access to reverse and the different forward speeds.
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[flygoddess]

Ron, every thing C said about turning the motor is true. They have no Keel so going forward is not great, but can be done in a pinch or to come face first into shore.

My motor I now use, I have not put a remote one. #1. like panfish mentioned, the Warranty (which mine is way out of) #2. Mine is the reo-stat type and haven't quite figured out how to do that one.

Really not a big deal with it behind me. I am able to pull it all the way up on shore and even kick it out a little.

Your boat is kind of short so that handle is going to be right in the back of your head. (the other advantage to mine...the handle doesn't pull out, it kicks up). I doubt you will need to extend it at all.
The on/off switch could be good, but definitely not needed.

Set the little stop where the prop is in the water pretty good. That way it will be submerged all the time including waves.
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[TroutNoDoubt]

One of the toon manf used to carry an accessory keel that was supposed to help the tracking when being pushed by a motor. It looked like a rounded rectangle of sheet plastic or aluminum mounted on a piece of metal tubing. Anyone have any experience with those and know whether they work? I tried rear mounting a Minnkota on the back of a very old Bucks Apline. Man, that thing had no directional stability. Just zigged and zagged all over the place. Real hassle reaching over my head to steer it. Front mounting makes a lot of sense.

For those that front-mount their motors, do you reverse the polarity on your battery connections to reverse the prop direction? This would effectively to use the allow "forward" settings/speeds to pull the toon rather than the "reverse" settings.

Bob
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[flygoddess]

[quote TroutNoDoubt]One of the toon manf used to carry an accessory keel that was supposed to help the tracking when being pushed by a motor. It looked like a rounded rectangle of sheet plastic or aluminum mounted on a piece of metal tubing. Anyone have any experience with those and know whether they work? I tried rear mounting a Minnkota on the back of a very old Bucks Apline. Man, that thing had no directional stability. Just zigged and zagged all over the place. Real hassle reaching over my head to steer it. Front mounting makes a lot of sense.

For those that front-mount their motors, do you reverse the polarity on your battery connections to reverse the prop direction? This would effectively to use the allow "forward" settings/speeds to pull the toon rather than the "reverse" settings.

Bob[/quote]


This one:

http://www.store.northforkoutdoors.com/i...ucts_id=60

It works .....okay, that is why they are discontinuing it.

I had a motor on the back of my 6' Alpine and that thing tracked beautifully and could turn on a dime...."WITH my feet in the water and fins".

Some still run the motor on the front.
Down side to that as I see it...that is where my $100 line is, and as C pointed out, takes much less juice to PULL then to push.
I prefer to go backwards. Buy turning the head around, you have all the forward gears to pull you and the reverse to push you.
Plus, on steep banks, the motor in the rear allows me to come in nose first and step on the bank.

I have never heard of anyone reversing the polarity, but anything is possible. No set rules, just the old been there and done it thing[]
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[cpierce]

I would NOT reverse the polarity on your motor. I don't know what motor you have, but between the motor and the battery is probably a lot of electronics that you would mess up!

TMs really don't push a toon very well. So turn the head around on the motor and have it pull you from the back. By doing that you aren't reversing the polarity anywhere. It is very easy to do. It is only one or two screws to remove, then turn the head so that the handle is on the same side as the prop, and put the screws back in. (That is for a transom mount motor. Bow mounts' heads are already turned around.) That way the motor is behind you and out of the way of casting, kicking, and landing fish.
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[OldTroller]

Reversing the polarity would work but would change the physics of the motor in the water. I mean it would still be pushing instead of pulling in relation the the motor going nose first instead of ass first into the direction you're wanting to move/troll. Or to try and clear that up the cone of the motor leading the way will be much less drag on the motor/battery rather than having the prop leading the way.

It's kind of hard to explain but easy to see once you see it set up I will try to take pics of mine to show how it's done.

If the pics show up you'll see where the shaft enters the head of the motor. At that point you'll find one or more screws. Undo them and seperate the motor head from the shaft. Turn it 180° and re-insert the shaft into the motor head. Now when you hit the go forward gears the motor housing will go "nose" first.

In the original setting you'd have to turn the motor around i.e. somehow mount it backwards to get the damn thing to go nose first. That's great but the control handle would be pointing out the back of the boat if mounted behind you. This way the handle points toward you and the motor houseing goes nose forward.

You should also see how I spliced into the wire leading to the battery and added an on/off switch. I mounted it into the pvc so that when tucked into a pocket on my boat it would stay put. BTW I used a regular 69¢ house switch from Homedepot. It's great because I don't have to turn around to turn off the motor when I get a fish. And I don't have to remember the setting on the motor either.

I hope this helps.
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[flygoddess]

Or just take the head off, get some wire tape, a box and knob from Radio Shack. Take the handle mechanism out and mount in a box.
That way you have all the speeds AND on and off anywhere you want them.


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