what is a trolling motor capable of?

M

michael barnes

Active member
i do not have a truck, just a small car, and i am trying to figure out what kind of boat to use for next winter, for duck hunting, so i am limited to a car toppable boat. so i have decided on a 14'7" old town discovery canoe. i have some outriggers, and they make a canoe basically un tippable. i understand this is not any where near a big water boat, so i will limit hunting to small salt guts and broken marsh, no chance for seas to build, but i would like to use it in windy weather, say 20-25 mph max. remember, there will not really be any seas.
so here is my question. can a high quality trolling motor, like the minn kota saltwater series, push a canoe head on into a 20 mph wind? what thrust would you recommend? i was thinking 50-55 lbs. much higher, and i could almost buy a nissan 4 stroke 2.5 hp, but that is really more than i can spend, so will a 50 lb trolling motor push me where i need to go? thanks again for any help. just so ya dont think im a weird tightwad, all this talk about money, i am in college right now, and it kinda limits my money right now. thanks again.
 
A 55lb thrust will likely be plenty of thrust, but for long runs, a 24 volt setup is better. A canoe is not hard for a TM to push, but amp draw and battery life /weight are your enemies when using one as primary propulsion for other than short distances while duckhunting. In normal boats, windy days suck the life out of TM batteries. Wind alone usually doesn't do much to a canoe, save from the side...it'll cause you to side-slip unless you have a lot of keel. Front or back on, it's more your torso as a sail, and not the canoe. Try one out and see what it'll do. If it's not enough stamina and too much weight, you can always mix margaritas with it.LOL
 
With decoys and other gear you will might be having a hard time in that small of a canoe with the battery weight. I have yet to use outriggers in choppy water. I wonder if they would make tracting a problem if one side of the boat has an outrigger in the water and the other is up in the air when you are quartering through the chop.
 
I'm not familiar with electric motors but you certainly don't need more than a 2 or 3 hp outboard motor on any canoe. A canoe can't plane - it has a displacement hull. Hull speed is acheiveable with low horsepower & will be approximately 1.3 x the square root of the vessel length. So perhaps 5-6 knots for a 14-15 ft canoe.

I'd think twice about a 4 stroke motor because of the extra weight. You get stability from a canoe by keeping weight low.
 
Mike,

I have a 17ft aluminum canoe. I started out with a trolling motor and it worked, but not that great. I had a huge battery that was a treat to load and unload, the wind would kick me around when it picked up, and if there was ice then I usually had the trolling motor pushing while I was paddling. I got a hold of an old Evinrude ducktwin. Its a 3hp 2 stroke that wieghs around 30 lbs full of gas. I can push myself, gear and another hunter almost scary fast. I can break ice, and get through some pretty shallow water. IMHO stay away from electricity and water, get a little outboard and you wont regret it.
 
Other members mentioned weight when it came to an outboard motors as opposed to a TM. A 2-3 hp gas outboard certainly weighs less than a deep cycle marine battery.

I have a 15 foot aluminum canoe that I used quite a bit this year. I was contemplating the same set up. My problem was that I already had the canoe and it didn't have a transom to mount the motor. I did think about making a motor mount but rather than put money into a canoe that I most surely would never see again, I decided to buy a BBSB instead(got an excellent shape 12 footer, trailer and 9 hp for $1000) Since you haven't purchased the canoe yet and if this is what you want, I buy a flat back canoe and hang the motor on the rear transom.

Having thought about this quite a bit, I can't see a two stroke 2-3 hp with say a three gallon gas container(better yet one with an internal tank) weighing that much more that a deep cycle marine battery (or 2 as some recommended) plus the trolling motor. The motor compared to the battery would be a wash and the gas container would probably weigh a bit more that the TM. I believe that gas weighs about 8lbs a gallon. I'd rather have the reliability of a gas motor getting me there and back and not having to worry about winds draining my battery. My canoe is rated for over 500 lbs so It can surely take it.

Cheers,
Mike
 
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Mike, Just read your posting ,and i must agree with Brandon Bolling. Back in the late 60's. 1968 that is. I took a hunting trip for deer in Greenville Maine. and brought along my Evinrude ductwin outboard motor, I made a 15x30x90 triangle bracket out of 2x4's which I sea clamped to the side of a 17Ft. aluminum canue. The ducktwin motor gas supply , had a built in gas tank which you filled thru the top., I carried a 1 gal gas can as extra fuel, thus keeping the weight down, this little motor carried me & 2-other guys with no problems plus the deer that I took with my 270 winchester on our return trip across Pollin Pond in allagash Main, I wished I still had that little kicker, it served me well on lots of duck hunts,brings back alot of memories.Hope this Info helps you out. Good Luck Cas {DUCK HUNTING,I LIKE IT. I LOVE IT, I WANT MORE OF IT.

gas tank which you filled
 
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Cas,

I love that little motor! its got a lot of push for its size and it just keeps on tickin! I will get rid of it when someone can pry it from my cold dead hands.

Mike,

Forgot to add that the motor has an internal tank that can get you quite a long way before having to refuel, and by that I mean grabbing your one gallon tank to refuel, you can run ALL day on a gallon of gas. Check out ebay, they have tons of them, evinrude 3hp will get you started, and you can find them pretty cheap. The models are ducktwin and lightwin. Maybe a carb kit and a new impellar and you could get a great little motor for a very low price, nothing like what you would pay for a new 2.5hp. Its an idea, if you want to run on a low budget that is the way to go.
 
Can't say for sure with a canoe, but with a Kara, that's 14.5 feet weighs about what the Old Towne would, but has a lower profile and less wind resistance, a 30lb trolling motor will push it 4.5 mph and wind doesn't really effect the Kara very much. Range (there and back) with the typical 110 amp hour trolling motor battery drawn down 50% is 2 miles. The thing I like about the Kara with the trolling motor is it's effortlessness and silence. It's really a cool thing to slink out to your spot in that predawn time and make no noise at all and not break a sweat. I wish I had an opportunity to use it more than I do nowadays we get out to the duck blind in an airboat.

Ed.
 
Bama Bill is so right. I called the Minn Kota folks several years ago and they told me that even their horsepower rated motors were designed to push or pull boats at hull speed only. There is an optimum power for your boat. Figure that out and make sure you always have enough battery life to get you home, better yet carry a fully charged spare.

Have fun working that out.
Best,
Harry
 
dont buy the TM... spend that $ on anything but a motor. man power that canoe to where you wanna go. I hunt 75% from my canoe and just man it out.. break'in ice, 2' waves, whatever.... buy a pair of sponson's, the outriggers slow you down and create drag. + get in the way of your paddles. & it is alot of weight... lightweight is key and the whole reason you use the canoe. to and from the roof of your car... load extra gear. jmo
 
I know a lot of people use them but I am not a big fan of canoes and duck hunting. Keep an eye out for a small jon boat. I have a 10' that I got for free when a friend was going to trash it. It is light enough move it where ever I need to by myself. I save my canoe for camping and pond fishing.
 
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