adjusting trolling speed question!

[gemNeyeJoe]

I have an old 88' rebel 16 footer with evinrude 40HP on the back. Its a console, not tiller. my pops bought it back in 88' and ive have countless memories so i bought it from him. Never has motor problems. simply a great boat, just big enough for mille lacs. Anyways, when I kick throttle to ”trolling speed” it runs fine but its at 3 to 4 mph (calm day). Is there adjustments that can be done so when im pulling cranks its say, 1.5 to 2.5 mph? Just thought id ask, with this winter might be on the lake in a few short months!

[TruthWalleyes]

Few options without tinkering with your motor:

1) you can back troll, i.e. troll backwards.

2) If you have a bow mount trolling motor, you can use it to slow you down by turing the TM so it pushes against the rear motor

3) A transom trolling motor can also be ran in reverse to slow you down.

4) A drift sock out the back will slow you down

5) A plate on the back of the motor will slow you down. (Search trolling plate for outboard motor)

6) Just use the trolling motor instead.

7) Trimming the motor up may reduce speed some, but you'll sacrafice control.

Or, if you think it is idiling high, adjust the low idle...3-4mph seems pretty fast for a 40hp on a 16' rebel at idle.

Side note, most of my trolling is done between 1.0 and 1.7 mph.

[gemNeyeJoe]

thank you for the response. I don't want to depend on my trolling motor to pull cranks.. Lindy riggin', ofcourse! I like to get up on mille lacs as much as I can, and you NEVER know what its going to be like out there, so I'd rather dial in my motor, or throttle to solve the problem. When I pull crank I'm usually in the 1.0-1.5 mph. My solution so far is on/off the throttle to keep the boat in 1.0-2.0 mph. But that's simple a pain in the but trying to keep the boat in the line I've chosen and speed, and holding a rod. Anyways, I have two hooks on the back on each side and my buddy suggested drillin' holes through a couple 5 gallon buckets and chaining them to the back. If its too much drag, drill more holes. This solution seems like it'd work well, cost very little, and would be balanced since I'd put one on each side. I wonder if the handles on the buckets would hold up with that much force put on them. It wouldn't be pretty, but it'd solve my problem. Just looking for some advice before I have to fork over a bunch of $$ to an outboard shop. Thanks TruthWalleyes!

[TruthWalleyes]

Poor Man's Driftsock

http://www.hotspotoutdoors.com/forum/ubb...Day_Poor_Man_s_

To respond to the post below:

Instead of tying a rope to the handle. Drill two holes in the bucket and tie rope directly to bucket.

[Raider4ever]

Windsocks. You can put them over the side and drift or off the transom for speed control. Get one or two that are one size bigger than recommended for your boat. That way if you are going too slow, increase the throttle. To small or "appropriate" may not provide enough resistance in a good blow to keep your motor running. DO NOT rely on those bucket handles to be there for you when you need them most. If you get two, make sure they are both the same kind and size.

[kfk]

I used a method for several years to slow down a 150 HP outboard to trolling speed that worked very well. It involves hooking a drift sock on the front cleats of your boat. Set it up when your boat is trailered. Put a loop in a rope and hook it around one of the cleats (cleat 1). Swing the rope around the bottom of the boat and tie a loop in the rope right at the keel. Then, continue around the bottom to the other side of the boat and up to the cleat across from the cleat with the rope already looped around it. Tie another loop to loop the rope around cleat number two and leave 6 or 8 feet of rope past the loop for cleat number 2. Take the rope off the boat and leave all the loops tied in the rope. To the loop tied at the keel, attach a 30" drift sock (I estimate that will work for you). Now, to slow your boat down, hook the loop around cleat 1, grab the 6 to 8 foot length of rope past cleat 2 and pull it around the front of the boat until you can attach the loop for cleat 2, lay the 6 to 8 foot rope past cleat 2 in the boat and drive. The drift sock will catch the water and slow you to trolling speed. To take it off, stop the boat, grab the 6 to 8 foot length of rope, remove the loop from cleat 2, empty the water from the bag, remove the loop from cleat 1 and go. You can store the whole thing in a storage compartment or a small bag and you are set to go whenever you want to slow down to trolling speed. It worked great.

[gemNeyeJoe]

very informative kfk. thanks guys for the input. Is it just some motors in "trolling gear" run too fast? or is the drift sock an alternative solution than tinkin with the motor? I mean, I'd like to get on the lake, kick the throttle into "trolling gear" and be running at 1.0-2.0 on a calm day. If it's a bit windy I troll into the wind and it's usually the mph I'm looking for. If i can't figure out the motor from trial and error I'll resort to the drift sock method. That'll work just fine!

[delcecchi]

3 to 4 mph at idle seems a little fast. There should be a screw to move the idle stop to move the idle RPM down.

[hanson]

A 16 footer with a 40hp that can only slow to 3-4 mph at idle is a bit quick in my opinion. Quite honestly, you should be able to describe your trolling speed a bit better than 1mph accuracy but thats another topic... tenths of a mph are important.

I have a 16 foot single console with a 60hp Johnson (early 80s) that can just about troll at 2.0 mph with no assist.

I run a double trolling bag setup under the front of the boat tied off to the bow cleats similar to what 'kfk' described. I have 2 trolling bags that I think are 15 inchers, they may be 18 inchers from Amish Outfitters. If you plan to do a lot of trolling, research the difference between trolling bags and driftsocks, they are different things. The double bag setup makes steering much easier than running a bigger single sock under the boat.

I can almost get down to 1 mph with this setup kicking the engine in and out of gear. I don't need to move slower than that or I'll switch to the bowmount.