The Happy Troller

[Guest]

Anybody out there happy with their trolling plate called "The Happy Troller"? After so many inquiries as to the price and availibity in my area, there was a guy who told me that he would not recommend it because if you forget to pull it up, the prop cavity would blow itself up. Any truth to that? What's the worst it could happen if you forget to pull it up and you rev the boat...?

[Surface Tension]

I used one on a 25 horse. Worked good.
Its spring loaded so it pops up and locks up till you release it. I dont remember haveing to release anything when its in the down position. If I did it wanst any big deal.

[SuddenlySummer]

We mounted one on the back of a Merc 260 i/o for salmon fishing Lake Michigan. If you did forget to raise the plate before plane, the plate flexes and bends out. It doesn't blow up. Over the years, we probably forgot to raise it 4 or 5 times. We would just bend the plate back down and it worked fine.

The replacement plates aren't that expensive.

[fishinphyl]

Suddenly Summer. I have a 120 I/O Merc Cruiser. Would you recommend the Happy Troller for this? We usually fish the smaller lakes - largest being Big Cormorant and Pelican. Or would we be happier with a regular trolling motor?

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Phyl

[SuddenlySummer]

For Sure! It's a hell of a lot cheaper than buying another motor. It's just a matter of when, not if, you forget to raise the plate before you hit the throttle.

You can drop the plate at a couple of different angels to really tune in the speed you want. If you run downriggers on Lake Michigan or wherever, it's worth it. You really need to slow down to get a dodger and fly to run right.

[fishinphyl]

Thanks for the info!

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Phyl

[Surface Tension]

Happy Troller will get you down in speed to were you need to trottle up to troll. I can bounce bottom in 45 ft of water trolling with a crawler harness and 1/4 splitshot.
I dont like little egg beaters for a kicker for the reason the wind blows you around to much. Under those curcumstance's the torc from your main engine's prop will keep you on coarse better then the higher RPM's from a kicker.

[Icemandu]

Thanks, S.T., So why do you think there are so many boats out there with a kicker motor, and not so many with a Happy Troller, or like product? Has it just not caught on, or am I not in the loop? What are the advantages/disadvantages of either/or?

[Beerbatter]

Go with a kicker motor you wont regret it. I have heard of a trolling plate that is spring loaded so you dont have to remember to pull it up. But still more junk hanging in the water.

[Surface Tension]

Ive seen guy's in a 24,000 dollar boat sittin on there gunnaul (sp) steering there kicker, No Thanks. I use a kicker on Lake Superior to have a backup. I point he kicker straight and steer with the primary motor. I can get away doing this cuz I'm going straight, no sharp turn's. In my walleye boat I have a bow mount Autopilot, I would invest in one long before a kicker. Point it were you want to go and thats it. When it gets to rough for the bow mount then I use the primary motor. When it gets rough the kicker is useless. Works for me and Im a stickler for boat controll.

[Icemandu]

I have a 50 horse 4 stroke Honda that will already troll down to about 2-3 m/h. Will one of these Happy Trollers, or Troll-n-Plane(http://www.dycomarine.com/hi-tech/) help me to get down to 1/2 m/h, or would that require a smaller motor? Thanks for any info.