Mounting a trolling motor on a canoe

[Juan Grande]

Anyone have plans or pics of how to mount a trolling motor on canoe? It's a fiberglass canoe (not a square stern) and I have a 30 lb Minnkota I'd like to put on the back.

Thanks

[HuskerBen]

I looked online at a bunch of different motor mounts. They are pretty pricey for something so simple, so I built one.

I used a couple of 1x4's. One was cut to fit the inside of the canoe, and this became the bottom part. The top part has the mount on it, which sticks about a foot out from the side of the canoe. I drilled holes in both parts to put carriage bolts through. Put washers on each bolt, top and bottom, and when the bolts are tightened, they sandwich the gunnel and clamp on pretty tight. It's sort of like a removeable portage yoke, except that one side sticks out for the motor to clamp onto.

Another option I've seen is to simply clamp the motor directly on the side of the canoe. I didn't like that option, because it creates a problem when you swing the motor up. Also, especially if you have a fiberglass canoe, the clamp on the motor might damage the canoe.

You can't really see the business end of the mount in this pic, but you can see how I made the dashboard. It's pretty much the same concept.

[Juan Grande]

Thanks Husker!

[Chode2235]

I sometimes just took a little bit of plywood, put it on each side of the hull and fastened the trolling motor right to that.

When you tilt it up, it folds right over the boat.

No need for crazy contraptions.

[youngie22]

Mine is a 2 inch peice of aluminum angle iron one inside bend and and outside bend. makes for a spot to mount a small chunk of 2X8. held on w/ 2 c- clamps. has worked well for me, looking to find an aluminum welder to get some made.