Post
by ChuckE » Sun Jul 08, 2007 2:09 pm
book,
I fished with a buddy from Wisconsin that had one on his deep hull walleye boat. He used it for pulling planner boards that were rigged from a mast in the center of his boat. It was great for pretty much going in a straight line or even making a slow-gentle turn, but I can't say it was any good for manuvering like in a harbor because it didn't have enough thrust to make a power turn, like the big motor could -- the amount of turn is limited by the turn of the big motor, which isn't much over 45 degrees from side to side.
Another way to look at is to think about how much maneuvering you could do, if your current front mounted trolling motor was limited to 45 degrees or so each side of center. You could make slow sweeping turns, but sharp turns would be difficult to make. Now think about your current trolling motor being in the back of the boat, and having to push against the sides of the hull that are in the water (instead of the front which is cutting the water). Much worse.
I have a kicker motor on my Ranger that is setup quite similar -- I can link it to the main motor with a coupling rod, using the main steering to turn the kicker motor while trolling. It's a 9.9 hp motor, and I can only make slow turns with it, but again I only do that while trolling in big water. If I disconnect the coupling rod, I can turn the motor an additional 45 degrees (on each side, e.g. 90 degrees travel on each side), and maneuvering improves dramatically, especially since it has much more power than an electric.
At one time someone made a setup similar to the one in your post, that had 2 props. My buddy told me he had one on a previous boat, and you could control each prop separately. Supposedly it would turn the back of the boat on a dime, since you could go forward on one prop and slow reverse on the other, while still maintaining forward movement.
I don't know if that helps or not.
Chuck
TackleTour
Contributing Editor, Gear Crew Member and Moderator
