An Electric Trolling Motor On A Woody Boat?
Slow sunset fishing
Longtime fellow Woody Boater and commentator Brian Toye has shared his latest contraption. A new bracket he made to allow him to mount an electric trolling motor to the stern of Zoomer. I got to admit, at first I thought. OH NO! But, then I thought about it some more, and LOVE this idea. It’s what we are all about. Using our woody boats. So cool. Here is how it works from Brian himself.
The hardware – I use the lifting ring to secure the bracket. I did not want to drill any new holes in the boat.
The custom bracket
Fitting test
another angle
ready to test – These photos are during the test fit. I need to source a few protective pads but it should work great.
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This should allow me to catch more kokanee when fishing at Odell Lake in a few weeks as trolling with a V8 is kinda dumb !
shhhh gone fish’n!
Well done. Also excellect for quite sunset cruise.
Can an extension be added for the tiller arm so you don’t have to sit on the aft deck?
Nice design and fabrication.
A boat named “Wecatchem” really should be outfitted with one of those.
I like it! Nice work… Id put in a second deep cycle battery with isolation switch so you dont run down the main battery and not be able to start your v-8. AND,…… might even get you to a safe harbor with out a tow if the V-8 takes a nap. Or,….to sneak away from the dock … Fix it straight ahead and steer with the rudder.
mega cool! I love this kinda stuff!
John in Va
Great idea! Good job!
I once mounted a Minnkota Ulterra on the bow of my 16′ utility.
Totally remote comtrol—stow and deploy, steering etc.
You could launch the boat and let it sit out in the water till you parked the truck and then have it meet you at the dock.
Admittedly looked a little ungainly but a woody fishermans dream
Great idea for a boater that likes to fish. Maybe a fighting chair on the aft deck just in case you hook a big tarpon should be your next project.
Thanks for the comments!
After a week of fishing and actually catching fish, this turned out great. I was able to quietly motor away from the dock at 6AM, troll for four hours, catch fish, and then return to the dock. Didnt have to fire up the V8 at all. (Saved that for later when the resort patrons got out of bed)
I wanted the boat to remain 100% original, thus no new holes etc. I just left the bracket on all week, but removed the motor after fishing. The deep cycle battery performed great – same thing, I just put that on the floor next to the cooler and tackle box. I took it back to the cabin after returning to put it on the charger. Again, I did not want to mess with the boat having two batteries etc
I did mess about with fixing the motor position and using the boat rudder, but actually it was nice to just sit in the rear cockpit, have all the fishing gear and the motor etc all at my fingertips. I did not need a motor handle extension either.
With five forward speeds, i did have to use the smartphone to figure out which speed was the desired 1.5 mph needed for the Kokanee. (Position 3)
The bracket was $350, and with the motor and new dedicated deep cycle battery, total cost was under $600. And by not using the V8, I saved about 28 gallons of $5.25 clear petrol.
After removing the bracket, the motor and battery, the boat is back to 100% original. If you love your boat and love fishing…I would highly recommend doing this.
Brian – was the bracket custom made? Or can it be purchased? Could you share the dimensions?
Brilliant idea – I’ve wondered myself if my trolling motor might be a good emergency power source, but out of shame I figured I’d have to hide it from the other W.B.’s
And the wife likes to fish (she wasn’t thrilled with a runabout as our first boat).
Hey Jack, the bracket is total custom.
The hole for the lifting ring portion is 1.25 dia. The width of the bracket is 9.00” overall.
The drop is 5.5” and then the lower tray area is 9.5” in length and then with the last up portion of another 5.5”.
The two welded in bits were for much added strength and are just 1/2” square steel.
Four holes are drilled into the end to allow for two 1/2 “ thick wood squares to be mounted for the motor attachment.
I really just started with the tray needed to accomodate the two screw downs for the motor and then went from there. I have that odd bit of hardware on the stern which I merely added the oval cut out for. Your boat may not need that.
It was C-n-C ed, bent, and then welded up. The steel thickness is 1/4.
Double check that diameter of the lifting ring as no doubt they are all different.
I did take my two kids out one day and they sat in the front cockpit. Oh, and another reason for not having the motor handle extension was due to the flag. I did not want to have to take that off and on and risk steeping on it etc etc.
When I was a wee lad (in the mid 1940s), I would go trolling for smallmouth, in the Molly-O, with my Grandfather, in Lake St. Clair. He towed a 5 gallon bucket off the stern, and steered with the custom steering pole. Worked great.
Good Idea Brian. That took some thinking and fabricating. Turned out great. You can get more use out of your Classic Boat. Neat the way you made it without compromising originality.👍
Good sneaky way to avoid a tow.Put motor on and pull out the pole and fish back to the dock instead of a tow from a pontoon boat.