left side or right side

[picksbigwagon]

which side do I mount my trolling motor on? I was looking at the post pictures of you boat and I saw some on the right some on the left....does it matter? My manual doesn't say which side, just mount it as close to the middle of the boat as possible.... Thanks

[JohnMickish]

I prefer to fish off the right side of the boat so I mounted mine on the right. I think that is the deciding factor, which side you like to fish off of.

[MJCatfish]

You may want to consider where your tranducer is for your graph, if you have one. It should be opposite of that, so you: 1) Avoid hitting it with the prop 2) avoid any extra air pockets from it (it will affect how the graph reads) 3) avoid any other electrical interference.

MJ

[End of the Line]

I'd mount it on the port side for 2 reasons. Farther away from you as a driver, since there will always be at least one person, keep it away from you as you drive. Second, put it there to off set your weight to keep a more even load. Just my two cents.

[JohnMickish]

Are we talking a bow mounted or transom mounted trolling motor? I was assuming a bow mount.

[Northlander]

Most I see are mounted on the left side.

[eyepatrol]

If you're talking about a kicker motor, I'll share my experience. On my previous boat I mounted the kicker motor on the right side (driver's side) because I grew up fishing my dad's boat that way. One thing that would happen is when I was traveling wide open throttle with the motor trimmed up for maximum speed, the boat would have a little wobble to it...would "dance" a little on the water, for lack of a better term. Although, one thing to keep in mind is on that boat, the 3gal. oil tank was on that side along with the 3 batteries I had for the boat (starter and 2 deep cycles), so that didn't help much either. The wobble or dance the boat did never got too bad or out of control, but it did make the ride a little less enjoyable.

Just some food for thought.

[picksbigwagon]

sorry for the non clarity, I am talking about a bow mount trolling motor..........and by side I mean which side of the boat the motor hangs off of.............

[JohnMickish]

Thats what I thought. when you are in the bow what side of the boat do you prefer to fish off of? I'm right handed and it's more comfortable for me to fish off the right side so I prefer the motor hanging off the right side. I don't know why.

[Northlander]

Most are left. Its more preference than anything but set it up so when your in front its out of the way and easy to deploy into the water. When you mount it make sure the head is at the correct angle so when you pull it up its not hitting anything and rests in the boat. Im going to buy a Ram support mount for my head. Im tired of it bouncing around when traveling in bigger waves.

[uglystick007]

My Alumacraft boat cover is setup for it hang on the starboard (right) side.

[JohnMickish]

One good thing about it being on the left is that when you are motoring across the lake on the big motor the water drops that come off the trolling motor don't hit you in the face.

[picksbigwagon]

okay northlander, you've confused me, what do you mean by correct angle? I am not following that

[marine_man]

mfishinguy hit one of my pet peeves on the head... the water that flies off from between the prop and the lower unit always ends up hitting me in the face...

In regard to the angle, what I think he's saying is to make sure that when the trolling motor is retracted the powerhead is not outside of the boat, or too far inside the boat.

Most trolling motor's I've seen are mounted on the right side, as well as the ones that I've installed. Not real sure what the reasoning is behind it.. but that's what I've seen, or the way people wanted them.

marine_man

[bigbucks]

Here's another line of thought. When I bought my boat it had a bowmount on it, it was used. It was mounted on the left side looking from the back where I sit (tiller). I back troll a lot with a transom electric or the big motor. I was always getting my line caught where the motor mount hangs over the gunnel & it would get nicked up, for obvious reasons I hated that. As it turned out the bowmount was underpowered & also had a short I couldn't get fixed so it came off.

Late last summer I decided to buy a new bowmount. Let's just say it's not getting mounted on the left side... I'm so used to back trolling I'm not sure how much I'll use the bowmount, so I still want to be able to backtroll without getting hooked on the stupid thing. Granted I still may catch on the motor head, but at least that's much smoother & shouldn't snag & nick the line. I know I want the bowmount for fishing rivers & trolling with the wind, but for calm conditions or going into the wind it'll be hard to change those backtrolling habits.

[picksbigwagon]

These are all great responses, I hadn't even thought about the water droplets to the head....of course when my fishing buddy sits up front and spits sunflower seeds at me or shakes the ice and water from his beverage, I will take a little water anyday.............

I am feeling a little more comfortable in the installation of my trolling motor. I just need to get my boat out of storage next week so I can get all of this work done before the weekend of the 5/20, opener for me...........

[Northlander]

Ya marine man is correct. You dont want it outside the boat side or inside it too far. Mine rests with about 1" of the head over the inside of the left gunnel and my actual prop lays out the right front side. I wish it were down on the left side so that the spray doesnt hit me in the face as well. My old boat was so that the prop was in the water on the left side. Mostly so when I took it up or down I could use my right hand to do the lifting with. Im right handed.

Then the passenger got the spray. The wife didnt like that at all.