Where & how do you use yours? & That question applies to any & all takers - & trolling motor owners. Thanks.
Hopefully sumner posts up about his. He put a lot of thought and work into it, but I don't think I read a report how it worked out
http://1fatgmc.com/boat/mac-1/mac-outsi ... age-1.html
I put a 12v 55lb thrust on my
I only kept it on 1 season, it did not work as well as I hoped. It was when I still had the 400lb 90hp outboard. It moved the boat, but acceleration was
very slow. I had hoped to use it during no wind days on the creek or as a "thruster" when drifting around sailing at 1-2 mph and tacking. I really wanted it to work out.
Observations with 55lb
On my heavy
every speed other than full was essentially useless. Full was 2-3mph. Less than that did not have enough thrust to keep the boat moving. It made a boil behind the boat and felt like I forgot to untie from a dock or was towing a barge.
It was larger than I expected, about 25lb.
It made more noise on speed 5 than I expected, enough hum/vibration that it was totally different, but comparable to my 4 stroke outboard at idle. You definitely knew it was running. It probably was not audible outside the boat, but the fiberglass seemed to amplify it onboard. My outboard at lowest idle moved the boat about equal.
If the boat was already sailing/drifting at 2.5 mph and I turned it on it had no effect. It did not speed me up ( I think the prop maxed at about 3mph) It did not help tacking at slow speed as I hoped. The slowing momentum of the boat was more than any added thrust from the motor. Mine was fixed mount so it did not aid steering.
To make the installation as clean as possible I removed everything but the motor body and shaft. Stainless pipe clamps held the motor to the side of the ladder so it flipped up and down with it. I direct connected the motor to a 12V continuous duty solenoid so a remote push button at the helm turned it on and off at full power. If it had worked better I was going to use a generic 12v wireless remote to trigger the relay. I was fairly proud of the installation.
After playing with it all winter I took it back off in the spring before heading out to the bay. It was probably my least successful mod. My boat probably weighed at least 5,000lbs and had bottom paint. I could see it working on a lighter smaller boat. A motor with double the thrust or twin install should work better, but I still would have my doubts to its usefulness on a fully laden
.
B- to fine tune docking, harbor maneuvering. That's IF I have the ability to run either side in reverse... C- Same as 1C.
