Ideas-Mount Troller to Bow of Small Boat

[bobber_down_1979]

I need some ideas. I have a small lund simular that the boat pictured. As you can see this person (found pic on internet)devised this idea to get his troller of his transom. Anybody ever try this? Looks like he probably drilled holes in his boat to mount the wood block. Any other ideas? The ver front of my boat has one of those anchor things were you pull the anchor up on top of the boat, and I can't not have that. the motor would need to be off one side or the other like in the photo. I have also seen the ez mount procontroll adpter online, but have heard bad things and it looks like it would be best on a john boat.

[whitebassman]

This is what I did to my 14ft alum. Just screwed a wood plate down to allow an area to secure the trolling mount. This way you'd get a proper bow mount down with a foot control. As oppose to the pic you found, looks like a transom trolling motor with no foot pedal (of course). To secure the wood plate, I just screwed some long screws thru the gunnel. Worked good enough for me. Then under the wood plate, you have room to put the battery too.

[whitebassman]

It didn't look the prettiest, but worked well. If you are handier with a jig saw, you can get that wood board to be flush with the sides, so it didn't stick out like that. I glued outdoor carpet from FF on top as well. You can see the two screws sticking out from under the gunnel as well.

[PerchJerker]

I did the same thing for many years with my 14' starcraft.

I had a transom mount trolling motor. At times I had it mounted on the transom. At other times I moved it up to the bow. When I had it in the front of the boat it was about 3 feet back from the point of the bow, if you measured along the top of the gunnel.

It worked great. I used two pieces of wood, probably 1x4 boards, and I stapled a couple nylon straps to them to keep them the right distance apart. I laid the straps across the gunnel and the boards were held in position on the inside and outside of the boat. I just clamped my motor to the boards -- no drilling through the boat for either the boards or the motor

It worked great. The motor was always tight and I never had any worries about it coming off. The boards protected the paint so there was no scratching. And since they just hung over the gunnel they were quick and easy to use, and easy to stow when I took the motor off the bow.

When I had the motor at the bow I turned the head of the motor around, that way I had more thrust moving the boat forward (ie. could use the forward speeds to move forward, without turning the head around you would have to use the reverse speeds to move forward).

Hope my description is clear and that it helps. Good luck.

[kg2]

Kinda spendy, but do the google: small craft bow motor mount

[minnygriff]

I currently use the exact set up as pictured above, and described by PerchJerker. I also have a 14' Starcraft that is pretty shallow, and I wanted to spread weight around the boat better. Then I can have trolling motor and battery up front, and my 6 hp and gas tank in the back. Traditional bow mount trolling motors are larger, heavier, and more expensive. Thus I bought a 30 lb MinnKota transom mount and flipped the head. You just need to remove one screw, twist the head, and put the screw back in. The motors are designed to easily rotate in this fashion. I use two pieces of wood along the boat as described by another poster to firmly clamp the motor.

Now for the warning: I first did this last year, and did not screw anything to the boat. I assumed the clamp was strong enough. However, when the motor is moving at a fast speed, the force is pushing along the boat and can slide off. Also make sure the trolling motor is pulled up when using the outboard motor. Obvious I know, but I donated one trolling motor to the lake bottom last year.

Bottom line, it's a great idea because trolling motors work better pulling and it spreads weight across a smaller boat. It works just fine "off to the side" as opposed to straight on, I noticed no issues at all. I would suggest securing the motor more than just clamping it - then you should be safe. It works really well up front, I would highly recommend it. Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

[bobber_down_1979]

Now for the warning: I first did this last year, and did not screw anything to the boat. I assumed the clamp was strong enough. However, when the motor is moving at a fast speed, the force is pushing along the boat and can slide off. Also make sure the trolling motor is pulled up when using the outboard motor. Obvious I know, but I donated one trolling motor to the lake bottom last year.

[minnygriff]

The reason mine came off was because the wood blocks slipped, the clamp was tight but could not hold them to the boat tightly enough. The clamp holds onto the wood fine, but the piece of 2x4 slipped along the boat and came off. Securing the wood probably solves the problem completely (this is what I plan to do this year), but you could honestly just tie part of the trolling motor to the boat if you don't want to drill. It is really just in case of emergency, something that will hold the motor so it doesn't sink. I have never heard of anyone having issues with this after researching it, so it is not common. This is just a nice little cautionary tale, but I doubt you will match my stupidity.

[bobber_down_1979]

I love that adapter discussed as pictured above. I would get that, but I use the anchormate as also shown, and it is mounted right off the front of my boat. Due to what I need, and how my boat is set up, I am not able to change that anchor system. My guess is that the anchor mate bell housing thing would be in the way of the adapter.

[Down Deep]

Cabela's has a mount listed on their HSOforum. Nice but kind of pricy @ $80.00

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Cabela's has a mount listed on their HSOforum. Nice but kind of pricy @ $80.00

It is called a ProControll EZ Mount Trolling Motor Mounting Plate. $10 bucks less at Bass Pro & Amazon.

Do a google search for it.

[TyGuy02]

I love these forums! I have a 14 foot lund (last year was my first year open-water fishing on my own and not depending on other people with larger boats) and I was SUPER frustrated with my trolling motor mounted in the rear. If I was by myself there was no weight in the front of the boat and with my overweight-self weighting down the back. I could never troll straight with even a light breeze. This topic has just re-energized me for fishing this spring with my little lund and reminded me that I don't need to buy a larger boat for this reason, just a front mount. Thank You!

[minnygriff]

I've heard the adapter mount is rather cheaply made and not all that reliable. At $80 I wasn't willing to invest. I would recommend just clamping it on one side of the bow as near to the front as possible, just like the picture in the first post.