Motor mounted electric kickers? Tried one?

were you able to get the lithium battery problems sorted out? you mentioned it was cutting out under heavy load and slow charging.
 
Here’s an update on the electric trolling set up. It’s currently dead....we were crossing the Georgia Strait and price of wood got lodged into one of the power cables and ripped it out of one of the motors. So, I’m going try to see if I can get it going over the winter. If it isn’t fried than I’ll be making a mount so that it can run where a normal kicker would be so that it can be pulled so that this wouldn’t happen again.

Other than that I was very happy with it. I’d order another battery to extend the trolling time. The solar panels were a great addition and allowed me to troll way longer and even midday on a sunny day had enough to power to motor all on their own.
 
Here’s an update on the electric trolling set up. It’s currently dead....we were crossing the Georgia Strait and price of wood got lodged into one of the power cables and ripped it out of one of the motors. So, I’m going try to see if I can get it going over the winter. If it isn’t fried than I’ll be making a mount so that it can run where a normal kicker would be so that it can be pulled so that this wouldn’t happen again.

Other than that I was very happy with it. I’d order another battery to extend the trolling time. The solar panels were a great addition and allowed me to troll way longer and even midday on a sunny day had enough to power to motor all on their own.

Thanks, Andrew. I have an existing kicker, and was going to put the motor mounted electric on the kicker so it would be out of the water when running on the main [have to - the leg shape isn't compatible]. Yamaha says the electric tilt is strong enough - it will lift 200 lbs.
 
ive dumped mine with twin lithiums. now one lithium battery has gone into the car air pump/emergency jumper and the second has gone to blow up my inflatable kayak.
swapped it for a 6HP tohatsu sailpro. electric is nowhere near ready yet.
problems i had - the blue seas ACR would see the lithium as fully charged even though it was at 20% capacity and cut the charging current to it, the lithiums stopped charging in cold weather so no way to keep them topped up over winter, brown goo started leaking from them, the motor kept cutting out in high seas (safety switch so you cant run it out of water) everytime a wave tossed it in the air. overall not worth it.
 
I'll be looking into these Torqeedo electric outboards soon and potentially replace my 9.9 Yam with one.
 
Here’s an update on the electric trolling set up. It’s currently dead....we were crossing the Georgia Strait and price of wood got lodged into one of the power cables and ripped it out of one of the motors. So, I’m going try to see if I can get it going over the winter. If it isn’t fried than I’ll be making a mount so that it can run where a normal kicker would be so that it can be pulled so that this wouldn’t happen again.

Other than that I was very happy with it. I’d order another battery to extend the trolling time. The solar panels were a great addition and allowed me to troll way longer and even midday on a sunny day had enough to power to motor all on their own.
I let go of this idea during covid, and see that in the interim Minn Kota has dropped the engine mounted motors.

Andrew, did you go further with yours?
 
I am looking at a modification of Andrew's innovative work, assuming I can find the now discontinued Minn Kota 160# thrust motor - they discontinued all their engine mounted motors - apparently there's not enough market.

My modification is for several reasons and has several characteristics:
1. My wife forbids removing the Yamaha 9.9 or linking the electric motor to the existing batteries - she wants assurance she can get home if we exhaust the battery trolling
2. My Volvo leg won't accommodate the motor - but the Yamaha will
3. Yamaha says the 9.9 electric tilt can handle the weight [up to 200 lbs] - that will get the electric right out of the water when running on the main, avoiding the problem Andrew encountered [hitting a piece of wood and ripping the wires out of one motor]
4. My Yamaha has hydraulic steering so steering will be simple
5. I have to solve storage - fuel for the Yamaha is where additional batteries would best go
6. Lots of room for solar panels on my roof -- 600W

Thoughts?
 
Sounds fun, albeit they are suitable for pontoon fishing. Kickers burn so little and have zero impact why bother. But very interesting.
 
Back
Top