Trolling motor placement

[Topshelf]

I picked up a new trolling motor yesterday for my little 16 ft john boat. I have a 25 hp Evinrude tiller on it. My problem is there is not that much room to mount the trolling motor with the outboard in the center and still have room to rotate the trolling motor handle.

I was thinking about shifting the 25 over to the right a few inches off of center, to give me some more room. Anyone ever try this and do you think it would cause any problems just being a few inches off center?

[waterfoul]

A few inches shouldn't hurt. Have you considered putting it on the front of the boat and fishing from up there? Do you have a casting deck up front or is it v-bottom all the way to the bow?

[Topshelf]

A few inches shouldn't hurt. Have you considered putting it on the front of the boat and fishing from up there? Do you have a casting deck up front or is it v-bottom all the way to the bow?

Its a flat bottom aluminum John boat and the front deck just isnt condusive to running the trolling motor. I think I'm just going to try moving the outboard over a little and see what happens?

I was amazed at the boat control that new trolling motor gave me while jigging. Made a huge difference over trying to use the outboard to stay verticle.

[waterfoul]

you might also play with the vertical adjustment on the trolling motor... how far down do you have the prop below the bottom of the boat? Can you move the motor up in the bracket at all?? Might solve all your problems.

[Busterboy]

I ran into the same problem with my small boat and solved it after seeing a trolling motor mount for a john boat. I took a section of 2X4 about 16" long and used two pieces of 1/8" X 1 1/4" angle to mount the 2X4 on its edge on top of the transom near the outer edge of the boat. I mounted the trolling motor on the 2X4 and there is plenty of room to operate both motors. The trolling motor now clears the handles mounted on the transom and also the corner braces on the boat. My trolling motor is only a 36# thrust model so I am not concerned that the bracket will be broken off during normal use.

I started out with a smaller section of 2X4, just large enough to mount the trolling motor on but that limited where i could place the motor, by going with a longer piece it allowed more flexibility in where it can be mounted.

Buster boy

[Topshelf]

I ran into the same problem with my small boat and solved it after seeing a trolling motor mount for a john boat. I took a section of 2X4 about 16" long and used two pieces of 1/8" X 1 1/4" angle to mount the 2X4 on its edge on top of the transom near the outer edge of the boat. I mounted the trolling motor on the 2X4 and there is plenty of room to operate both motors. The trolling motor now clears the handles mounted on the transom and also the corner braces on the boat. My trolling motor is only a 36# thrust model so I am not concerned that the bracket will be broken off during normal use.

I started out with a smaller section of 2X4, just large enough to mount the trolling motor on but that limited where i could place the motor, by going with a longer piece it allowed more flexibility in where it can be mounted.

Buster boy

So if I understand this right, what you did was extended the 2x4 over the boxed section of transome? That might work for me also? The problem with my boat is the corners are boxed right in from the rear of the bench seat back to the transome. It leaves a fairly small area for the gas can and battery. The attached pic I found online and then photo shopped it to look like my boats transome area. This one has a trolling motor mounted, but it seems the transome area is a little wider than mine. Either that or the power head on mine is larger?



http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/boat_copy.jpg

[Busterboy]

So if I understand this right, what you did was extended the 2x4 over the boxed section of transome? That might work for me also? The problem with my boat is the corners are boxed right in from the rear of the bench seat back to the transome. It leaves a fairly small area for the gas can and battery. The attached pic I found online and then photo shopped it to look like my boats transome area. This one has a trolling motor mounted, but it seems the transome area is a little wider than mine. Either that or the power head on mine is larger?



http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/boat_copy.jpg

Your very close in what I am trying to explain. The angle mounting brackets are about 12" apart and are mounted in the open area of the transom, the remainder of the 2X4 extend past the bracket towards the side gunwhale. This puts the trolling motor about where the handles on the picture show but can be made longer to extend it further out if needed.

My boat isn't a john boat but a small rowboat v-style with a transom width of 50", between the outboard, handles and corner bracing, I needed as much flexibility as possible to avoid interference between the motors.

Buster Boy