A fishing post from Idaho

[idahoron]

Last weekend I went to SFCR for bass, walleye, and yes even,,, trout[bob]
Jacob my son went with me for the first time in a long time. We wanted to try out trolling with both our boats hooked together and using the new motor.



Jacob was the first one to wipe the skunk off. His trout was a dandy. It was flying like it had wings. The picture doesn't show it very well but this thing was a pig.



I got a couple of small walleyes, this little guy and a 18" one. I didn't get a picture of the 18" one.



We both got a few bass.




We did have some slow times.



And I finished up with yep a trout.

No picture for this one but it wasn't that big. We had a fun time but the water needs to be a pinch warmer for a full on bite for walleyes. Ron
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Love that lake. Hope to hit it this fall again.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You didn't say how the motor worked for you. Are you glad you went gas?[/#0000ff]
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[idahoron]

Yes so far it is great. I got 9 1/2 hours of trolling on a tank of gas, that is 1/3 of a gallon on my last trip. That was pulling my son on his boat.

There are some things I like about the electric more, like instant control with the on-off switch. This engine is quiet but not as quiet as electric. I also like the instantly adjustable depth of the electric motor. The slower speed of the electric is handy when you want to maintain a constant low speed in wind.

The things I like so far about the gasser.
The gas motor has power, plenty of power. No wondering when the the battery will run out. light weight, no heavy battery. Double the speed of the electric when you just want to get some where.

Setting up a pontoon boat for one of these looks easy at first. Slap the motor on and go. This motor is a 15" shaft. For going forward it is ok on this boat. The depth was right on. The problem is reverse. When trolling I like reverse so when I turned the motor around the thrust of the motor would lift the free play in the oem mounting system. When that happened the motor would cavitate, especially with waves on the water. I built a new adjustable motor mount out of unistrut to compensate for the problem.





After I took these pictures I adjusted the motor down about two inches and it seems to be about right. Like I said I put on over 9 hours of trolling and it performed perfectly.

The next project is to figure out a better way to transport the motor. Ron
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[pontoonman]

Ron:
Good to hear your gas motor has worked out for you.

Do you have to keep a gas motor upright when you transport? Also, do you empty out all the gas from the lines? Seems like a separate, open trailer would be one solution. I wouldn't want to ride with the motor/gas tank in an enclosed vehicle with the odors/hazards of gasoline vapors....

Pon
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[idahoron]

I do have a trailer but the trailer is not going to be an option for the motor the way I have it.





This set up is too ridged. If the trailer is on a gravel road it shakes the crap out of the motor. There is no way this is going to work.

I am thinking that I am going to have to put it in the camper shell. Leaking is not a problem. I close the valves and it doesn't leak at all. The motor can be in the same position as on the boat and tilted up out of the water. It can also be up right. It can not be on it's side laying down.
What I want to try is to get a 2"x12"x3' and clamp that on the motor and then put it in the shell. I might also have to give it a foot on the 2x12 to make sure it stays up and not roll over. Strapping it down is going to be a must. All I know is the trailer is not going to work with rough roads. If I stayed on pavement it might be fine. gravel and dirt roads will kill this motor the way I mounted it. Ron
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[flygoddess]

Great report. We ended up trading our 5 HP for a 9.9. Put it on our Gregory. It did all you said and we transported it on the trailer. All in all, after two years of gas, electric works for us. No dissing gas, just not right for everyone.
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[cpierce]

Great report! It looks like Jacob is working way too hard for those fish with his feet up on the pontoon. [laugh][laugh]

I noticed that you are towing him with him facing forward. How does that track? Have you tried towing him roped off to the middle of his toon in the back? About where a motor would go. I was just wondering if that would make any difference or not.
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[a_bow_nut]

Have you looked into something like this for your trailer mount?

[url "http://www.suremarineservice.com/W600-015K.aspx"]http://www.suremarineservice.com/W600-015K.aspx[/url]

We use these at work when our test stands shake the electronics in the cabinets to peices and they really help us.

Look around they come in many sizes to hold any kind of weight that you have.
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[idahoron]

Those might help with vibration. The problem with this motor mount is more than vibration. Think paint can shaker. Ron
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[idahoron]

[quote cpierce]Great report! It looks like Jacob is working way too hard for those fish with his feet up on the pontoon. [laugh][laugh]

I noticed that you are towing him with him facing forward. How does that track? Have you tried towing him roped off to the middle of his toon in the back? About where a motor would go. I was just wondering if that would make any difference or not.[/quote]

When I am towing him forward or backwards is no different hooked like we have them the second boat tracks well. We hook up two ways. Pontoon ring to pontoon ring. Or we go pontoon ring to frame with bungees. The ring to ring works good. Hooking them up, and unhooking them is a reach in deep water. Ring to frame with bungees works great and the bungees help with shock. I like both ways but when I am hooking up I prefer bungees.

We tried to go with a rope from frame to frame. That don't work at all. The towed boat won't track straight due to the ends of the pontoon going anywhere they want. If the towed boat had a rope from one side to the other it would work as long as you pulled from the center. A pinch off one way or the other and the towed boat doesn't tow straight.

I also tried two 10 foot ropes from one pontoon to the other. Turning was sluggish and the towed boat fishtailed.
I have tried about every option to tow a second pontoon. Hooking together helps to make the two work as one unit. For that to work it has to be in reverse.
Ron
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[cpierce]

The pontoon to pontoon set up looks like it works good too for visiting and keeping in touch with who has a fish on etc. One of you doesn't have to be turning around all the time. Except maybe you with the motor. Are you using your fins to steer with or the motor?
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[idahoron]

That right there is the only problem. I have to turn to steer the boat. While we have two guys trolling if someone snags the bottom I kick it out of gear. Then Jacob rows us back to the spot and we un-snag. If I had to turn every time to go back it would be a huge hassle. The times we snagged Jacob rowed us back we got loose and went on trolling. We did the pontoon to frame last year with the electric motor. It worked well too. Ron
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[cpierce]

Well thought out and a good system.
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