One Man Pontoon

[chuckinduck]

I just purchased the Colorado One man pontoon out of cabelas the other day....and was wondering if anyone has every hooked a trolling motor to one of these little boats.....my trucks short bed prevents me from buying a canoe and this was the next most practical way to float.....my thinking is...hook the trolling motor to the transom mount on the back and troll upstream for a ways then just drift back down to my truck ......thus negating spotters.....if any of you have one what pound thrust is necessary....I have a minn kota 28lb thrust motor already....the boats are light so I would think it'd push no problem....current is the only variable I haven't been able to get worked out...but they ride high it seems....anyone have this model and do you like it?

[DavidH]

Don't know if this helps but I did a thorough test of my battery capacity (70 amphour marine) and 36 lb thrust a couple of times here in SE michigan on Kent Lake and up into the Huron river. I put in at the east ramps and GPS indicated I went 11 miles up stream. I wanted to see how my boat etc would behave in similar circumstances.
Anyways, my boat is my own design, open 13 foot sailing/rowing/motoring skiff. 130 pounds. Trailered. 36 pound thrust Minn Kota. 70 amphour 1 year old. On the slow Huron, I went as far as possible upstream til I bottomed out (draft 6 inches) on speed setting 5 the whole time. Almost made it to General Motors road. It took me 2 hours and my info on my motor and battery caps told me I should be about dead at that point. 36 thrust kota did extremely well. 5.5 mph in the lake and down to 1.2 mph or less in faster currents once on the actual river but mostly at a decent walking speed against the slow currents of the Huron.
I turned around and drifted back down using the motor to control my position (this was a battery test too) and really never once turned off my motor. 1.5 hours later I made it back down into the lake and almost to the ramp against a 10 mph headwind that had kicked up since I left, when my battery almost died and I could not overcome the wind anymore. Broke out the oars and rowed into the ramp.
Great experience and good anecdotal info. FYI: I can "putter" around for 7 to 8 hours on this battery.
An inflatable should scoot right along upstream, perhaps against stronger currents than my skiff since it has so little wetted surface. Wind might be another issue though if you have to motor against it as well as the current.
Perhaps someone has pontoon boat experience to help you but I thought I would pass along my fun!

[chuckinduck]

Thanks David H....your info is really valuable....I would think this pontoon would react comparable...while my thrust is 27 or 28lbs.....the boat weighs 86 pounds...so it should be relative...thanks for the input though

[troy1]

if you put a trolling motor on your pontoon you will have to register it. it just became a motorized boat. a co caught my buddy doing it last year and gave him a warning.