I’m thinking about getting a trolling motor for my canoe (Old Town 16 ft), but don’t know the first thing about doing it! I’ve seen trolling motor mounts for canoe’s, so that won’t be too hard to locate on-line - but as far as the battery - do you just attach the motor hook ups to the battery, keep the battery towards the back of the canoe where I’ll be sitting, and away I go? Will I need to get a battery charger to re-charge my battery after use?
Sorry for the ignorance…
YUP, NOPE,and YUP!
The motor has small alligator style clips, super easy to connect!.
When I use to have a motor on my 17 foot old town canoe ( gone the yak route now ), I would put the battery in the middle of the canoe to ballance out my canoe, the batteries are quite heavy; they are marine batteries, that discharge, and charge slowly, they are sealed.
You will need a slow charge charger, in ourdays, most chargers do it all; slow and regular charge, and boost your car.
I use to have a motor on my 17 foot old town, you will not be disapointed, fun for trolling,and getting arround when there is a little wind.
If you do get a motor, try to get a slow discharge one, that economizes your battery power.
Also shop arround, and get one as powerful as you can afford.
The motor mounts are to make driving it easier, if you wanted to mount it to the side of the canoe you could do so, but it is a little uncomfortable to drive .
You also could make your own motor mount with a piece of wood.
Hope this helps!
chris from canada
Some thing to consider…
Use wheelchair batteries…
Advantages include deep cycle, sealed [can turn over and won’t leak]…and especially …lighter
Disadvantage…less battery life [this is a big one]
I use these batteries on my pontoon but I keep two…one lasts me most of the morning but it really depends on how you use it…full power against a wind can drain them…depending on the situation one can be recharged while using the other…my pontoon is only 8’ and though I haven’t tried the heavy ones I don’t think I would like the weight.
Yes it is done all the time. My father used a 1 Horse Neptune (gas) on his Old Town in the late thirties mounting it on one of those side mounts. My own experience with canoes under power goes back to 1963.
Here’s the standard no frills line on it.
I mention gasoline engines because small air cooled motors are around. The electric trolling motors are lighter, but the batteries make the total load heavier. Gas gives you a longer range since you are not confined to places where you can recharge every night. Just bring a can of appropriately mixed gasoline with you to top off the tank. Gas is noisier but it serves to get you into and out of the bush if you are going out for a week or more of canoe camping. Besides the noise another downside for gas engines is that on some urban and suburban waters they are not allowed.
Though the whole package of battery and electric trolling motor is heavier electrics are usually allowed on more waters. In many states boats operated under power must be both registered and display registration tags and numbers. Hand propelled boats need only display registration tags in most states. Some states do not even require tags. So check the regs for your state and the state(s) where you will operate the craft.
You will need a deep cycle marine or similar battery since automotive batteries do not tolerate deep discharge well and die sooner. You will probably have to have the battery in a case with a cover on it to be legal. For a boat under power you may be required to have a warning device (airhorn or whistle) and a fire extinguisher. Again check the state regulations. Caution: DNRs always check boats even if they do not seeem to enforce other fine points of law.
Balance is critical in a canoe. A tandem canoe requires two people unless you rig it so you sit in the middle or put a lot of balast in the front. Consider a solo canoe or kayak if you are frequently going out alone. Solo or tandem, wear a PDF all the time. The easy to wear Sospenders are great IMHO.
It is hard to stop once I start. This covers the high points.
I have a 32lb thrust Minn-Kota on my 14 TK Rogue River canoe. I would advise going with a 40lb thrust model. Minn-Kota makes several nice entry level models that won’t break the bank. check them out here:
http://www.johnsonoutdoors.com
The type of battery you buy will determine the expense of the battery. Lots of guys are going with deep cycle marine gel cells. Gel cells will not leak when tipped over but they are pricey and don’t seem to hold their charge as long as lead/acid batteries.
Defiantly go deep cycle marine. I bough a deep cycle 12 volt battery and battery box at Wal-Mart for under $70 bucks. I also have a battery tender charger that one of our board members sold to me. A Battery tender will charge and then maintain full capacity on the battery where as a standard trickle down charger will only bring the battery to a full charge and then shut off. Check out the battery tender series here:
http://batterytender.com/product_info.p … b005470712
I use an Old Towne side mount. They are about $80 bucks but well worth the price. Very sturdy and easy to attach. I bought a tiller extension from Bass Pro Shops and I sit in the center of the boat. I also used a heavy duty extension cord and alligator clips to extend the motor leads so I can put the battery anywhere ballast is needed in the boat, including the bow. Check your state regs and have fun. If you need a center seat for your canoe take a look at these:
I too used one on an old town 17footer but now have a kayak. Made a mount for that too, another story. All good advise above. Check your state regs, you may have to register boat if you put a motor on it. We do in California. If your like me you only have two hands and it is a lot easier fishing without having to paddle too. ha ha ha
Mike
Thanks so much for all the useful submittals from everyone. I really appreciate the effort. This board does not dissapoint! 
Dear Brookie,
If the canoe and trolling motor battery will see either frequent or infrequent use I’d suggest you spend some more money on the battery and get an AGM battery. Optima makes the most popular AGM batteries but there are others.
The advantages to AGM batteries are numerous. They are considerably lighter than lead-acid batteries. A group 27 lead acid battery will weigh about 65-70 pounds depending on the manufacturer. A comparable AGM battery will weigh about 45-50 pounds. AGM batteries withstand many more charge/recharge cycles than lead acid batteries. They can also sit idle for long periods of time and be recharged. Partial discharge and charge cycles are rough on lead-acid batteries, they are not a problem with AGM’s. You can cold store them with no bad effect, ex. you can leave it in your garage all winter and charge it and go. They are completely sealed and maintenance free and can be mounted in any position. They are spill proof and vibration proof.
The only downside is the cost. They run roughly twice as much money as a comparable lead-acid battery, however they generally last 3 times as long. I know people with 10 year old AGM batteries that still work as new. That kind of longevity is immpossible with a lead-acid battery. You will buy at least two lead-acid batteries in the same amount of time so the cost really isn’t a factor unless you choose not to spend the extra money upfront.
Optima is proabably the most well known AGM battery manufacturer, but there are other makers such as Trojan and Exide.
To give you an idea I am on my 4th lead-acid battery in 11 years. I never spent less than $ 70.00 for one. An Optima D31 runs about $ 150.00. When my latest Interstate battery fails I will finally bite the bullet and buy an Optima.
Best Wishes,
Avalon 
I bought a tiller extension from Bass Pro Shops and I sit in the center of the boat."
I forgot.
Golf still has a justification for its existence.
Most golf shops sell excellent tiller extension handles for Minkotas. They are the long tubes golfers put in their bags to keep thc club handles from rubbing on each other-$1-2.00. Just slip over the end ot the Kota’s tiller. I used one of these from the center of my 17’ canoe a time or 2.
Motors are for weenies
Paddle power rules!
dudley, I tend to agree but when the wind is blowing(when isn’t it) and you are trying to fish the dropoff at shoreline it is nearly impossible to hold position. Sometimes anchors work but a lot of times it is too deep or they just don’t hold well. Maybe I need a bigger anchor, I don’t know. Just my 2 cents.
Mike
PS I always paddle to and from fishing areas.
Avalon gave me some sound advice. Buy the tiller extension with the universal joint on it. Worth the money.
Near me in Lakeland, Fl there is a Minikota factory repair station. when I went in there to inquire about a trolling motor for my canoe the man was most helpful. He even told me that when I got ready to buy, if I bought from him he would even shorten the shaft for me at no charge. he says he does that for a lot of people who are putting trolling motors on canoes. the shorter shaft keeps the handle from being too high and or the prop from being too low.
Something I had never considered.
Rusty <><
Hi guys,
Last summer Suzuki brought out a new 2.5 hp motor that’s water-cooled … unlike Honda’s 2 hp air-cooled motor. It weighs about 30 pounds and, because of the water-cooling, is relatively quiet. It’s a 4-stroke and has the California Air Resources Board’s “Ultra Low Emissions” 3-Star rating.
It’s also quite torquey for a small motor … I use mine on a heavy 14’ Whitehall rowboat.
The little Suzuki was also aggressively-priced last summer, when it was introduced … unlike the 2 hp Honda where the mechanical components are (one would assume) machined in Switzerland from billets of magnesium and titanium … before being assembled and then sealed inside an exterior crafted from hand-laid Ferrari-spec carbon fibre.
Quick heads-up, though.
The Suzuki motors were shipped with faulty water-pumps and a huge recall was quickly issued … mine is being replaced right now as I write this.
There is no (as in nada/zero) mention of that recall anywhere on the 'Net. And I’m a good searcher.
I can’t believe that Suzuki has kept the recall Google-blind for so long, so let’s have a big hooray for the Internet community that makes this news more available. Starting here. Today.
Still, now that it’s fixed … I think it’s the perfect motor for my needs.
Ron in Winnipeg
Some places only allow electric motors…but that sounds like a nice setup.
I’m still ramling alone with the old two stroke 3hp Evinrude. Mine is the twin cylinder model (1997 … the old OMC before they went belly-up). A friend has the 2hp Evinrude (one lunger), near the same age. The weights of the motors are not that much different, the 3hp twin just a tad heavier, and the top end speed is just about the same. But one BIG difference when hanging them on a canoe … my 3hp has the “gear” (really a clutch), where you can start the thing in netural and after everything and everybody is settle, drop it into gear. The 2hp can be kind of skitish when you first crank it up, you had better “be ready” when it starts and takes hold!
For the most part, I use the motor for traveling a little distance, and then revert back to the paddle for just slowly moving around a bit. But if push comes to shove, the little three and get right down low and barely chug along.
Dale
Brookie,
Back in the late '70s I owned a 17-ft. Osagian Portage tandem canoe (aluminum hull, 65 lbs. empty). Got a wild hair to propell it with an electric trolling motor so that I could more easily reach distant fishing spots on a nearby federal reservoir. The plan being that once I got to the places I wanted to fish, I would cut power and conduct the more delicate boat maneuvering manually, using a paddle.
Before it got stolen (and replaced by the Osagian), I owned a Grumman 17-ft. Standard and when I bought it I also bought a clamp-on engine mount, thinking I’d use it someday. I never did use it on the Grumman, but after a few trips with that mount on the Osagian I quit using it because a mount wasn’t necessary; my small Minn-Kota trolling motor would clamp directly onto the Osagian’s aluminum hull.
My guess is that your Old Town’s hull is stout enough that you can do the same thing. If you don’t want any scuff marks from the clamp pads, just use something like a paint can stir stick as a protection pad.
I bought the least powerful Minn-Kota trolling motor, and found that on its lowest power setting it pushed my Osagian through the water faster than two grown men could paddle it. The canoe just flew along.
When I discovered Kevlar and lightweight fiberglass canoes – solo canoes – I sold my tandem and with it the entire trolling motor array (motor, battery, mount).
For me, the effort involved in hauling around, connecting and disconnecting, and using the trolling motor seemed like more trouble than it was worth. But that’s only because I personally grew increasingly fearful of crossing big bodies of water. Just too many sociopath bass boat and ski boaters out there who act out their hostilities behind the wheel of a powerboat. There’s safety in staying shallow and using just a paddle.
Joe
“Better small than not at all.”
Hey Joe,
Sounds like a Jimi Hendrix tune …
Major coincidence … I spent an hour earlier this evening trying to find your e-mail address. Riverat@hotmail.com?
I’d read of your reference to outfitting a pick-up bed (with a modest cap) into a place that was habitable for a while. I’m aware of your ingenuity and fussiness about the details, and was hoping that you’d be willing to share that info.
I’m 57 … single … and will be moving out to SW Alberta this summer (to fish full-time where I’ve spent the last several summers) … and have been toying with the idea of trading my little Hyundai for a more-rugged Ford Lariat.
I suspect that you’ve got all the details pretty-well “nailed” and it would make a great article.
Best regards,
Ron D.
Ron,
Ouch! Seems I forgot to update my email address. It’s:
Okay, I’ll do a story soon on my “micro-apartment”. It was very interesting, living in there.
So many people today own pickup trucks with bed shells. These shells are an under-utilized living space resource, especially for fishing bums like us FAOLers.
Joe
“Better small than not at all.”
Joe,
That would be great … thank you.
Ron in Winnipeg