Okay, so technically this wasn't the "first" voyage with the motor. I took it out for a quick shakedown the other night right after I got everything set up. But this was the first actual motor powered trip to try and do some real fishing.
I have a Nucanoe Flint kayak. Nucanoe has a bunch of clever propulsion options for their boats, but they were all a little pricey for my "kayak project" budget since I wasn't even sure I would actually care. But I had an old Minn Kota 30lb Endura trolling motor and a deep cycle battery. So I decided to pick up the inexpensive $30 "transom motor plate" and a tiller extension handle. Nucanoe also offers a little kit to raise the motor up out of the way when launching/landing. But I ended up just building my own version out of stuff I had around and a trip to the hardware store after watching a few videos on it.
One drawback to the plan was the 65lb deep cycle battery I bought for this motor the other year. I have no idea why I went with a group 29 size instead of something smaller. But whatever. Mistakes were made. Anyway, I strapped the battery down behind the seat in the hopes that it would not wreck the balance too much and it would be like a heavier version of me sitting in the seat.
Results?
I'm actually pleasantly surprised. While I wouldn't use this everywhere, I have a couple bigger lakes where it takes some amount of time and energy to paddle from the launch to my fishing spots. The little trolling motor pushed me along at 4mph at max, which is faster than I paddle. Steering/throttle with the tiller extension wasn't perfect, but it was mostly just fine. Trying to remember which way to twist for fwd/rev and trying to remember how many clicks you'd twisted (for when you wanted to get back to zero) were the biggest hassles. Some sort of PWM setup in a little box like @Chadk has on his kayak would solve both of these issues (and give better battery life). Not only was it useful to get from point A to point B, but I was surprised at how often I used it to adjust position if I was drifting too close/far from where I wanted to be. Loading/unloading/setup was a bit of a headache. But 90% of that can be put down to the 65lb battery. I have ordered a LiFePO4 battery that, at 12lbs, should improve things considerably.
So, I suspect I will use this somewhat regularly on the larger lakes. It's not the fanciest thing and foot steering would make it miles better. But I don't really have that option on my boat (or in my pocketbook) and besides, I fish some number of smaller ponds/lakes where I'm happy to paddle. So for me, this makes a nice middle ground.
I have a Nucanoe Flint kayak. Nucanoe has a bunch of clever propulsion options for their boats, but they were all a little pricey for my "kayak project" budget since I wasn't even sure I would actually care. But I had an old Minn Kota 30lb Endura trolling motor and a deep cycle battery. So I decided to pick up the inexpensive $30 "transom motor plate" and a tiller extension handle. Nucanoe also offers a little kit to raise the motor up out of the way when launching/landing. But I ended up just building my own version out of stuff I had around and a trip to the hardware store after watching a few videos on it.
One drawback to the plan was the 65lb deep cycle battery I bought for this motor the other year. I have no idea why I went with a group 29 size instead of something smaller. But whatever. Mistakes were made. Anyway, I strapped the battery down behind the seat in the hopes that it would not wreck the balance too much and it would be like a heavier version of me sitting in the seat.
Results?
I'm actually pleasantly surprised. While I wouldn't use this everywhere, I have a couple bigger lakes where it takes some amount of time and energy to paddle from the launch to my fishing spots. The little trolling motor pushed me along at 4mph at max, which is faster than I paddle. Steering/throttle with the tiller extension wasn't perfect, but it was mostly just fine. Trying to remember which way to twist for fwd/rev and trying to remember how many clicks you'd twisted (for when you wanted to get back to zero) were the biggest hassles. Some sort of PWM setup in a little box like @Chadk has on his kayak would solve both of these issues (and give better battery life). Not only was it useful to get from point A to point B, but I was surprised at how often I used it to adjust position if I was drifting too close/far from where I wanted to be. Loading/unloading/setup was a bit of a headache. But 90% of that can be put down to the 65lb battery. I have ordered a LiFePO4 battery that, at 12lbs, should improve things considerably.
So, I suspect I will use this somewhat regularly on the larger lakes. It's not the fanciest thing and foot steering would make it miles better. But I don't really have that option on my boat (or in my pocketbook) and besides, I fish some number of smaller ponds/lakes where I'm happy to paddle. So for me, this makes a nice middle ground.
