Canoe and motor question

[pdowney]

Hmmm - Yesterday I rec'd a message from God telling me to buy a new outboard for my canoe, but it could be Satan trying to trick me. Maybe I could bounce my plans off you good people here.

I have a Pelican Bayou 160 (16' plastic square stern) that I picked up cheap as a factory second. I am looking at a Merc 5hp 4-stroke to put on this boat. The manufacturer rates the boat for up to 5hp. I will be fishing this rig 95% in medium size rivers (Mainly Ouachita and Little Red in Arkansas). I am an experienced canoist but only w/ arm power. I also have *many* hours running rivers in a motorized flatbottom. I read here somewhere on this site that the Pelican Bayou 160 sinks when swamped. I tried it w/ mine and it floats - 'pears to have floatation under the floor. I know that the Merc 5hp 4-stroke weighs 55 lb and I weigh 220 so I'll need another person or ballast in the front but I do have some concerns about stability.

To get my wife all hacked off over buying this thing and then tumping over and loosing/damaging things or not being satisfied with it would be a humiliation that I could not bear.

Read some reviews and there don't seem to be any glaring problems with a 5 hp.

Any advice, warnings etc. on the rig I am planning to put together?

[Gigmaster]

Don't ruin your canoe. If you have to have a motor boat, then buy a Jon Boat.

My 2 cents worth.

[dixieangler]

I also posted this under your thread on the main FAOL Forum.

My fishbud uses a large water jug in the front to add weight up front in the bow of his Grumman square stern canoe to distribute the weight. He claims this works well to keep the Grumman leveled while he is motoring alone.

[Joe Hyde]

If mechanical propulsion is what you're after, consider abandoning the internal combustion outboard engine idea and look instead at outfitting your canoe with an electric trolling motor.

I once owned a Grumman Standard 17-ft. aluminum tandem (2-seat) canoe. One year I rigged it with a low-end Minn-Kota 3-speed trolling motor. In its first action, which happened on a lake, the Minn-Kota on its lowest speed setting pushed my canoe, my brother-in-law and me across that lake FASTER than we could go with both of us paddling all-out. Stating this another way, even on its lowest speed setting my canoe felt close to being over-powered.

I have no personal experience using a trolling motor-powered canoe on a river. Nor have I seen anybody use one on a river. But in theory it should help you, having that extra power when traveling upstream.

With trolling motors you can adjust the depth that the propeller is running simply by raising and lowering the propeller shaft. Setting the prop at minimum depth might be handy when running upstream through riffles and shallows.

Most canoe hull designs offer very little resistance when moving through the water straight ahead. A fully-charged trolling motor battery ought to provide enough "gas" to run for...as long as you feel like fishing. Just remember to do like the powerboat river runners do: always begin your river fishing trips by running UPSTREAM. That way, should the battery crap out you can easily drift and paddle back to the put-in.

Anytime you go fishing alone, position the battery far forward where its considerable weight (plus maybe some rocks or water jugs) will hold down the bow and thus give your boat correct trim.

Esthetically, I think a trolling motor is a better fit for a fly fisher. Your presence on the river will be virtually soundless. Not only is this peace and quiet more relaxing to your senses, it lets you move upstream so quietly that you'll get to see many kinds of wildlife that would otherwise be spooked at considerable distance were you to approach them using a loud outboard engine.


Joe
"Better small than not at all."

[Tig]

I have in the past used a canoe and electric trolling motor extensively on both lakes and rivers. If you are considering travelling long distances to your fishing destination the electric will not last all day. I used mine just to manuovere (is that spelled correctly) at the fishing spots. Saved a lot of time not having to pick up paddles and put down rods. I also used a small gas motor. A Tecumseh I believe. Did not like it as much as the electric.
If distance is not a consideration, then my opinion is that you will enjoy the electric much more.

[Joe Hyde]

Something just occurred to me, that I forgot about in my earlier post.

I don't know about other states, but in Kansas all watercraft -- including canoes -- that are being propelled by mechanical means must be registered and bear state registration numbers on their bows.

In Kansas, canoes do not have to be registered so long as they are self-propelled (paddled). But...once you clamp on that electric trolling motor or small outboard your canoe cannot be legally operated on state or federal waters unless it has been registered and bears the official registration numbers.

Moreover, if an engine or trolling motor-propelled canoe is being operated on state or federal waters it must be equipped with Coast Guard approved navigation lights if the boat is being used for navigation during hours of darkness.

So before leaping into the world of mechanically propelled canoes, I suggest you check your state's laws on this subject. You don't want any unforseen and/or expensive regulatory surprises.

When I rigged my Grumman canoe with a trolling motor I followed Kansas law and registered my canoe ahead of time. Whereupon every year thereafter I got charged about $20 in personal property tax, just for the canoe. (A fair amount of money in the early 1980s, and I'm sure it would be higher now.)

After I sold that Grumman (along with the trolling motor) to a Missouri buyer, I had the boat removed from my county's tax records. Then I bought another canoe, but have never again used a trolling motor. I've been happily self-propelled ever since.

[funbun]

I hear ya, Joe. It's like that in Alabama. I built my own pirouge. I paid taxes on the wood, taxes on the paint, taxes on the glue and epoxy. Now that it's finished they want me to pay taxes to freakin run an electric motor down the creek? *sigh* I'll just stick with paddling and controlled drifting.

[pdowney]

Its the same way here in Ark, but for the size and hp I'm considering its only $22.50 every 2 yrs.

Thanks all for the input!

I'm going in.

[Byron Zuehlsdorff]

Same in Wyoming, and most states as I understand.
That includes inflatables, if they are to be propelled by any means besides human power. Have a 12' aluminum boat and a 16' canoe, both are BYRON powered!

[flybinder]

"8 foot inflatable "Toon boat" added an electric motor,(here in Oregon), and immediately became the proud owner of "A power boat".
Navigation lights, (if used, a half hour before sunset, or, a half hour before sunrise), Coast Guard approved life vest, (which, of course, I'd be stupid NOT to have even with oars), and, of course, 3" minimum height, contrasting colored, registration assigned numbers on each side of the craft, along with the yearly "State Of Oregon Power Boat registration sticker".
Of course it's an electric motor so I don't need to have, on board, the required dry-fired fire extinguisher, which would be required on a canoe or any boat with a gas engine.
The letters/numbers at 3" high and about 2 foot in length, along with the 4square inch yearly sticker, wasn't easy to affix to an inflatable, nylon shelled, pontoon boat, either, but " "dem's da' laws"!