Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Advise on Electric Motor for Canoe

I have a canoe and am considering getting an motor so I can use it for trips on rivers. I want to be able to go up and down a river and don't want to have to paddle upstream.

So what kind you you recommend and what battery do I need?

Thanks

Conrad

I have a 17' aluminum on which I use a 34lb Minkota motor. It moves it right along. The biggest problem is the shaft length. To keep the prop just under the canoe, the tiller is way up in the air. Figuring out how to shorten the shaft will make it more pleasant to use.
The battery depends on how much you want to spend. The more amp hrs it has, the longer it will float between charges.
When you say river, are you talking flat or white water? With the motor clear at the rear of a long canoe, it will be harder to keep it moving straight upstream in fast water. On flat water, it's very easy.
Don't figure on being the fastest canoe on the water. I've had people in smaller canoes paddle faster than the motor will move me. Just hoist a longneck as they tool by.
Overall, I love it.

I think that the person that you want to contact is Red Green up at the Possum Lodge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Green_Show

Duquensebeer: If Red Green recommends something you can be sure it is the best way to go, with or without duct tape. Any chance your screen name isn't another way of saying Iron City beer??

Red Green is my hero!

You HAD to live there at some point to know Iron City...

The two only manufacturers of electric fishing motors nowadays, that I'm aware of are Minn Kota and Motor Guide. Bass Pro Shops has an in-house brand called Tracker, but I think they're probably made by Motor Guide.

I used to hang on a fishing site all the time. Conventional wisdom is that MK makes the better motor. I've owned two of both and think that is correct. Pounds of thrust is the measurement utilized to impart how much power a given motor has. The aforementioned 34 lber would seem plenty for a canoe, but mo is mo betta. You can always turn the thing down. Unless you were wanting to get the canoe up on plane, I can't in my wildest imaginings think that you would need more than one battery. ie 24 or 36 volt motors.

Obviously you will want a transom (back) mounted motor.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Minn-Kota-Endura-Trolling-Motor/5297227

There is one commonly available and that should be fine. I saw a brand called "Watersnake" while on Wal Mart's site. Never heard of them.

What you really need is a veeery long cord!






Just kidding. Buy a deep cycle battery with as many cold cranking amps as you can afford and be sure to deplete the charge fully before you recharge.

Check one thing before you head out. Here in Utah, if you hang a motor on it (even an electric) it has to be registered as a power craft. That's even true for little one-man pontoon boats. Your state may vary, but do check.

Actually, my Mother is from Pittsburgh along with most all my Uncles, Aunts and Cousins. I remember Pittsburgh from way back in the 50's when you could dirty a white shirt in a matter of minutes and a white house was not possible

I use a Minn Kota 30 lb on my "midship mounted power pack" and it will penetrate a certain amount of current, but there are shoals where I have to get out and drag it upstream.
36 or 40 lb motor would be better under those conditions and too much under flat water conditions.
I am sure I lose a certain amount of power the way my motor is mounted, but it is handy and control can be precise ot I can pull it up for shallow running, removal from the water.

My canoe was perfectly designed so that during one person operation one sits in the "normally front seat facing the "wrong way and the front is the back and the back is the front. Unlike many it sets well in the water under these conditions.

Back to power, I place a large trolling motor battery under the seat in the "front' .

I have tried to get battery draw, amp our, draw, horsepower information from Minn Kota, the battery producers, charger manufacturers, etc. and have yet to get squat for useful information.

I always fish upstream as then I can always float paddle back to my vehicle.

Is it best system???
Who knows, it works for me the way I fish!

i used to use one for duck hunting on the back of a fiberglass genoe.....I think it was 30 pounds thrust....no fast water, just canals and marsh ponds. you could pull it up till the prop barely drew more water than the boat and it worked pretty good in skinny water. it's not a go devil, and you can't blast through mud, but it was a nice little rig.

Unless you have a square end canoe, you need some kind of side mount. If you're in the least bit handy with tools, you can easily make one. A quick look at any commercial one will show you what you need to make. A side mount is easier to use because you don't have to sit sideways all the time to steer it. The one drawback to a side mount is that the prop has be a bit deeper or it will hit the side of the canoe when you turn. It's not a big issue but you will need a few more inches of water to run it.

I've run my 34lb motor 5 hrs on a medium sized deep cycle batt and still had plenty of power. You certainly don't need any more than a 12v. Like someone mentioned, extend the cables enough to put the motor under the front seat if you're alone. If you have a person up there, put it anywhere you like.

Thank you, gentlemen.

That is exactly what i needed.

yes, true in California, too.

Bummer!

Not only does Idaho require you to license a canoe with a motor, the fees are based strictly on boat length. So, a 17' canoe carries the same fee as a 17' twin engine screamer. Now, THAT'S a bummer.

Good batteries make or break the deal. Optima's are worth the money and big deep cycle batteries too.

I used an electric motor on my Nymph pram in Humboldt Bay while I was in college at HSU. A big deep cycle battery would push me and my daughter for hours, and fight significant currents too.

A good lightweight canoe, like Mad River Malecite (expensive), is a better option than the added weight/stability issue of motor/battery, particularly when paddling upstream.

Spent the entire day with my canoe and minnkota yesterday. 30lb thrust. The battery was a cheap WalMart brand of deep cycle. I was fishing long "river-like" strip mine pits with breezy conditions, some close to a mile long.

Next year I'm getting a bigger battery! This one starts to peter out toward the end of the day, but it gets me there and back albeit slowly. I may actually have two with the cheaper one in reserve for the end of the day.

I made a side mount by purchasing two turn handles from a local lawn mower supply store and 4" bolts. Took a section of 2x4 and a shorter section of 1x2 and made my cross pieces with the 1x2 section going under the lip of the gunnel with the 2x4 going over the top and extending off to the side. Tightened things down and we're in business! Total cost? less than 10 bucks if you have scrap wood. Total time to manufacture? 20 minutes if you aren't too good at measuring!

Things I've learned? More thrust if you intend to buck serious headwinds or upriver currents. Minimum 40lbs if the current is fast enough to cause eddys around rocks or the wind is strong enough to really break up the surface water.

Also, canoes do not track worth a crap into a quartering wind. You will be fighting to keep her straight and if the wind is strong enough, you may not actually be able to bring the bow back on course unless you have some weight up front. That's were the battery goes.

Fishing from a canoe is a learning experience. Sometimes, the simple resistance from reeling in the bait will cause the silly thing to turn and a 14 inch bass will definitely cause enough fight to get you turned around. But it's fun!!!

Mine is a 14 foot plastic boat from Old Town and weighs 85 pounds. I caught a dozen fish yesterday that were all in the 13 or 14 inch range (nothing larger) and it was a hoot!

Dan