Hand control bow mount motor?

[redfin]

Hi I’m planning replace my bow mount electric before the bass open’r. I’ve noticed there are couple of hand control products out in the market, does anyone have any experience with hand control bow mount? I just thought I would have a bit more balance if I didn’t have to use my foot to control the motor especially on choppy water, plus more room at the bow without the foot pedal/cable if I had a hand control unit.

 

Thanks.

[lew]

I remember watching Izumi one time and he was talkin about the same thing and brought up the same point as you, where he said the hand control gave him more stability in the boat when fishing rough water with both feet planted firmly on the floor of the boat.

 

I spose it has it's advantages although I've always preferred the foot control myself

 

It's a good question though and should bring up some interesting replies.

[limeyangler]

I have an old Minn Kota that came as part of the package when i bought my used tinny. It has a foot pedal control that is very basic, more like the foot control on an old Singer Sewing Machine. It is very difficult to use as a foot pedal so i have it next to me on the bench seat and use my hand to control it. My buddy Dave just got a new boat with a new Minn Kota that came with a hand held remote control that can be strapped to your rod handle....wow...i love it....i just use my thumb to control the motor while never having to let go of the fshing pole. Anyway, my point is, they are great, but Dave not having had experience using a handheld control finds it difficult, or he might just be saying that so he does not have to bother doing it when i'm in his boat....lol.

[mikeh]

I don't know anything about the hand control units, but just to let you know BPS had a few units on sale when I was there the other day. They had 65lb and 55lb thrust motors as well as others on sale.

[lew]

redfin, by hand control I assumed you meant a bowmount that was controlled by a handle rather than a foot control like in the picture below, or were you referring to an electronic remote control that's held in your hand ??

 

[redfin]

Yes Lew, that's the one I was thinking to buy, I didn't even know there is a remote thumb control ones on the market. Thanks for the input folks.

[Musky or Specks]

For my boats that are stashed on back lakes that I have to portage all my gear into I use a bowmount with hand control with a handle extension. I have quick release mounts on the boats in those lakes and just bring my motor and handle in snap em on and Im ready to go. Best Pro of the hand helds is the quick response and control that you have far superior to any foot control in that respect. Biggest Con of coarse is your hands arent always free to cast. Oh and there was this one time that I had a very large musky on and was afraid of it getting tangled in the trolling motor and the boat was to small for my partner to get around me to pull the motor up. So in a panic I just gave it a big yank-extension handle threw me to the floor of the boat and the motor locked into position and trapped me in the bottom of the boat. I wish we would have had a video camera it was hilarious. Im sure it would have won me 100,000 on Americas funniest home videos. Landed the ski though a nice fat 46 incher.

[bushart]

I have the 24 volt hand controlled minn kota

 

You will need an extension handle so not to bend too much---otherwise it's been good for the reason you mentioned--I did'nt like foot pedals in big waves.

 

I found the control arm at the head worked loose not long after purchase though and hard rights and lefts make you lean a bit much--otherwise it's good

 

Bushart

[Terry]

it depends on the type of fishing you do

I found that I had to stop reeling to turn the motor and it was a pain flipping banks, more time on the motor then the rod

but on open water needing much less control it was nice

but I like foot control...or go with a wireless with fob control

[Kerry]

I'm leaning in the same direction for my next one.I'd also look into whether you can get the bow mount model with the 3X steering.That would prevent having to lean out at all to reach to turn.

Kerry

[bassfighter]

I did some research once and there are accessories to add to our regular foot control trolling motor so we can use our hand to control it, they cost roughly $150.

[topraider]

I have had a hand controlled unit at the bow of my boat for the past 15 years. I have used foot controlled ones in bass boats and I never felt comfortable with them, given the balancing issues - I fish out of a small boat and like to have both feet free. I also fish a lot, and like simple technology, I feel foot contolled models have more that can go wrong with them. When I fished bass tournaments, there were frequently issues with the cables, or the foot control assembly that would cause grief.

 

I now stand on the bow of the boat (the very tip) and use my knees to steer, if the waters are not to rough. Never used the hand extension, in a small boat, it just gets in the way.

[Rattletrap2]

My current bowmount motor is foot controlled with cable drive. I really do like it.

 

On my last boat, I had converted my old Minn Kota Power drive (765MX) to hand controlled when I got fed up repairing the foot pedal. The system I put together worked really well. I made up a small control box that held a potentiometer to control the speed and a toggle switch to run the motor continuously. On the handle, I mounted a momentary contact push button to start the motor when I only needed short bursts of power. I was able to steer this unit with my knee and it was great.

 

In my opinion, the hand controlled versions would still be worth looking into.

[redfin]

Hi, Thanks for all the replies. I made up my mind for a hand control bow mount and went to Basspro and purchased the only model they carried. It’s a Motorguide 54# 12v unit. I had it installed and last week and was using it for the past few days. Besides all the pros and cons that everyone mentioned above, I find another huge advantage of this unit - it has reverse gears, which I can use to get rid of most the weeds on the motor without lifting the unit out of the water, even the stubborn slops on Rice, a good (unexpected) feature that non of my previous foot control units had. It took me no time to adjust to the new motor, and in my opinion, the pros outweighs the cons, well…for a lazy a*s like me anyway. Unfortunately I had no time or choice of other hand control units, otherwise, I would definitely get a 24 v. Oh yeah…I did miss couple of pick ups while changing speed and steering.

Thanks again guys for the inputs.

[BillM]

I think the only hand controls I could use is the actual in hand remote.. I use the foot pedal on our MinnKota bowmount without to many problems.. It does take a bit of getting used to, but having both hands free is really nice. The 30ft cord is also nice if I am out there by myself and can use it from the rear of the boat.

[aplumma]

My brother and I have a boat that is hand bowmount and they make a switch (Big Foot at BPS i think) that you wire inline that mounts on the floor. The switch allows you to lock it on with your foot and turn off also if you get a fish on you can use it as a momentary switch also. The steering part is done with your knees or foot as needed for direction changes. If you want more details on the switch or wiring it up shoot me a PM and go from their.

 

 

Art