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For those who use trolling motors on your canoe


scugpg

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Guys I'm looking at powering my canoe with a minnkota maxxum transom mount motor 36'' shaft of the side of the boat via my canoe motor mount. It's about 25-27lbs for the motor though; what kind of trollers do you use on you canoe? I realize the enduras are lighter but don't have the battery saving features like a maxxum/traaxis or motorguide digital motor. Do you have any issues with that much weight off the side?

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I ran a 4Hp evinrude off the side of my canoe for a season. That was a lot of weight hanging of the side. It was a really sturdy canoe.

 

After that motor blew up, I started running a 36Lb Mini. No issues with weight, or anything like that. It moves the canoe along really good. I put the batt. way up in the front of the canoe if I'm alone. Works good as a counter ballance.

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I ran a 4Hp evinrude off the side of my canoe for a season. That was a lot of weight hanging of the side. It was a really sturdy canoe.

 

After that motor blew up, I started running a 36Lb Mini. No issues with weight, or anything like that. It moves the canoe along really good. I put the batt. way up in the front of the canoe if I'm alone. Works good as a counter ballance.

 

same setup as him

 

36lb minkota

 

pushes around 2 people fine. if im alone, i just use the kayak.

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I've used 2 h.p. gas engines on the side mount of my 14 foot Sportspal often....with no problem.

 

For close to 30 years, I used a 9 lb thrust Minn Kota (Minn Kota 15) and loved that old motor. Not much speed with just under 5 km/h at top speed however great for slow speed trolling with 2 people in the canoe and a wire basket for the brook trout hanging in the water. However for landlocked salmon or pike, I often trolled alone with nothing to slow down the trolling speed. The real slow speeds are for walleye, brook trout and lake trout. The big problem with the 9 lb thrust was the fact that in a windy situation....it was very slow when going into the wind. I should have kept the motor because it was working perfectly and it was great for the small lakes I often fish.

 

Last spring, I sold the motor for 50 dollars and bought a 32 lb thrust for 60 dollars on sale. Wow....lots of speed. I will have to check the top speed with my GPS but I would say it was over 10 km/h. However.....no good for trolling unless I click the motor on and off all the time. However, the motor works great on my 12 foot aluminum boat....but still too fast for slow trolling. The 9 lb thrust Minn Kota was great for trolling for walleye on the 12 foot aluminum....even with 3 guys in the boat.

 

Maximisers....I don't have much experience with them but I doubt that they are all that efficient. To move a canoe at a certain speed you need a certain amount of energy. If that energy comes in bursts, like I suspect how the maximiser works, you just end up going slower because you are just using less energy. You cannot go faster with less energy. It's plain physics.

 

What I find wierd is why the companies who make electric motors do not offer more speeds.....especially the slower speeds.

 

The energy consomption of a 30 lb thrust electric motor at maximum speed is about 30 amps. The energy consomption of my 9 lb thrust electric motor was about 9 amps.

 

My Sportspal goes a bit more than twice as fast with the 32 lb thrust as it did with the 9 lb thrust.....but consumes 3 times as much energy at top speed. So you can see that speed is not directly influenced by energy consomption. I guess if I want to go 20 km/h I would need to consume 90 or 100 amps per hour.

 

There are now infinitly variable speed electric motors on the market. Yes....they cost more but this way you can dial in the exact speed you want to troll and still have a maximum top speed. Do they go slow enough? I don't know.

 

I use a very large battery with about 200 reserve minutes. This means that I will completely deplete the battery in about 4 hours at high speed (50 amps). This also meant that it would take about 20 hours to deplete the battery at high speed with my 9 lb thrust motor. Of course, a battery does not work in such a linear fasion. High speed slows down after a couple of hours at 50 amps. But at 3 amps (low speed on my 9 lb thrust Minn Kota), I guess I could do quite a bit of trolling during a week of fishing. However, doing such a thing would do some damage to the battery. Leaving a battery for such a long time without fully recharging it is not a good idea. However, it does not take 24 hours to recharge such a battery after trolling for 10 hours at 3 amps. Usually, the battery was fully recharged after an overnight charge rate of 10 amps. A 6 amp charge rate....I would recommend 24 hours.

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Just started using a canoe ( 11 ft sportspal)with a 36lb thrust (side mount) Motorguide electric motor a few weeks ago....love it,

 

can troll all weekend if I keep the motor in the two slowest speeds...

 

top gear and that little canoe hums across the ponds

 

I sit on the battery box ( my canoe doesn't have seats) and have my gear up front.

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Guys does anyone use a heavier electric on the side? The minnkota maxxum/traaxis are heavier because they have the digital maximizer in them (similar to the motorguide HT digital motors).

 

I don't know how much the digital one weighs,,,, but mine weighs about 10-15 lbs.... and is on the side.

It does NOT make the canoe tilt, if that is what you are wondering.

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I don't know how much the digital one weighs,,,, but mine weighs about 10-15 lbs.... and is on the side.

It does NOT make the canoe tilt, if that is what you are wondering.

 

Digital is around 24-28lbs I believe. I had no issues with my old motorguide 30lb stealth that died on the side of the canoe but it was only 17lbs. Another 10lbs is signifigant off the side :)

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