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Some notes in case anyone else wants to do this.
I decided to go with a freshwater MK 40 Endura Max and a Island Hopper motor mount.
Motor Mount:
This is a case of something that is not exactly as robust as it looks online. If you are a handy person, you can make a better one without too much sweat. I was lazy and decided to spend the money rather than build one but I found that I had to modify this one anyway. Don't get me wrong, it will work as is with a 30#, but it won't last all that long. The method they use to mate the wood engine block to the aluminum tube is the weakest link and I don't think it would ever work on a 55 # motor as they state in their ad.
Motor:
I was going to buy a basic Endura motor and build a Pulse Width Modulator (PWM) but I got such a deal on the Endura Max that I went with it. I picked the 40 to give me a little more power if needed when the current and wind in the Severn are making it hard to get home.
Disclamer:
For those of you who want to keep your warranty intact, you best stop reading now as the work I have done throws the warranty out the window and I have not even put it in the water yet!
Mods I have made:
The Island Hopper mount is basically pieces of PVC, 1" aluminum tubing, a soft wood block and some pop rivets. In order for the aluminum tubes to slide into the PVC, the holes in the PVC are cut pretty wide. There is a lot of slop after the tubes are installed. I filled these areas with pieces of 1" black plastic water line (from HD) which tightened up the fit.
The wood block is drilled for a dowel which is pop riveted to the wood, slipped into the aluminum tube and pop riveted into the tube. With this set up, the pop rivets will probably shear if you hit bottom or a rock. Additionally, the wood is soft, painted pine that won't last long. I bought a 1" x 12" aluminum rod and made a hardwood block to bolt it to. The wood has several coats of Tru Oil and is Poly sealed. Additionally, the aluminum rod is bolted to the aluminum tube for more rigidity. If I feel the need to venture into water shallower than 3 feet, I will pull the motor up and paddle.
The rod needed to be shaved down a little so I turned it in my lathe. You could do the same thing with a piece of 80 grit aluminum oxide cloth although it would take some additional sweat.
For the motor, I had to shorten the shaft and give it a better water proofing job in case I get turtled.
I first cut the shaft to 20 inches (from 36) using some of the instructions found on the eCanoe site where a guy modified a 2006 MK Riptide. It is an excellent tutorial for shaft cutting but the insides of an Endura Max are much less complicated than earlier motors or later models with autopilots.
After shortening, I packed the extra wiring into the tube and sealed the tube with Permatex black gasket maker RTV. I could have cut the wires but didn't see the need. I also ran a bead around the outside of the motor joints and assembly bolts behind the prop. This should keep water from getting into the motor if I turtle. I changed the shaft attachment bolt and nut from zinc plated to stainless steel.
In the control head, I did some electrical bonding and waterproofing. While the electronics for the maximizer (PWM) and the battery tester are potted and resin coated, the wires are just crimped with no solder and pushed onto spade lugs. I soldered the female lugs onto the wires for better electrical bonding, coated all the contact surfaces with Permatex dielectric grease and added heat shrink over the entire connection. I could not get to the potentiometer that controls the maximizer so I sprayed the area with silicone spray.
The last two areas of concern were the prop shaft and saddle mount lock spring and hardware and this I coated with LPS 3 corrosion preventative. I also added an anode that subs as a prop nut and just screws on with your fingers.
I ran the motor in a large container of water and it worked fine until it splashed all the water out when I hit high speed.
Now that this is done, I will have time to finish my new yak loader, using suction cups, which should make it easier to put on the car top.
I can't until March.
I decided to go with a freshwater MK 40 Endura Max and a Island Hopper motor mount.
Motor Mount:
This is a case of something that is not exactly as robust as it looks online. If you are a handy person, you can make a better one without too much sweat. I was lazy and decided to spend the money rather than build one but I found that I had to modify this one anyway. Don't get me wrong, it will work as is with a 30#, but it won't last all that long. The method they use to mate the wood engine block to the aluminum tube is the weakest link and I don't think it would ever work on a 55 # motor as they state in their ad.
Motor:
I was going to buy a basic Endura motor and build a Pulse Width Modulator (PWM) but I got such a deal on the Endura Max that I went with it. I picked the 40 to give me a little more power if needed when the current and wind in the Severn are making it hard to get home.
Disclamer:
For those of you who want to keep your warranty intact, you best stop reading now as the work I have done throws the warranty out the window and I have not even put it in the water yet!
Mods I have made:
The Island Hopper mount is basically pieces of PVC, 1" aluminum tubing, a soft wood block and some pop rivets. In order for the aluminum tubes to slide into the PVC, the holes in the PVC are cut pretty wide. There is a lot of slop after the tubes are installed. I filled these areas with pieces of 1" black plastic water line (from HD) which tightened up the fit.
The wood block is drilled for a dowel which is pop riveted to the wood, slipped into the aluminum tube and pop riveted into the tube. With this set up, the pop rivets will probably shear if you hit bottom or a rock. Additionally, the wood is soft, painted pine that won't last long. I bought a 1" x 12" aluminum rod and made a hardwood block to bolt it to. The wood has several coats of Tru Oil and is Poly sealed. Additionally, the aluminum rod is bolted to the aluminum tube for more rigidity. If I feel the need to venture into water shallower than 3 feet, I will pull the motor up and paddle.
The rod needed to be shaved down a little so I turned it in my lathe. You could do the same thing with a piece of 80 grit aluminum oxide cloth although it would take some additional sweat.
For the motor, I had to shorten the shaft and give it a better water proofing job in case I get turtled.
I first cut the shaft to 20 inches (from 36) using some of the instructions found on the eCanoe site where a guy modified a 2006 MK Riptide. It is an excellent tutorial for shaft cutting but the insides of an Endura Max are much less complicated than earlier motors or later models with autopilots.After shortening, I packed the extra wiring into the tube and sealed the tube with Permatex black gasket maker RTV. I could have cut the wires but didn't see the need. I also ran a bead around the outside of the motor joints and assembly bolts behind the prop. This should keep water from getting into the motor if I turtle. I changed the shaft attachment bolt and nut from zinc plated to stainless steel.
In the control head, I did some electrical bonding and waterproofing. While the electronics for the maximizer (PWM) and the battery tester are potted and resin coated, the wires are just crimped with no solder and pushed onto spade lugs. I soldered the female lugs onto the wires for better electrical bonding, coated all the contact surfaces with Permatex dielectric grease and added heat shrink over the entire connection. I could not get to the potentiometer that controls the maximizer so I sprayed the area with silicone spray.
The last two areas of concern were the prop shaft and saddle mount lock spring and hardware and this I coated with LPS 3 corrosion preventative. I also added an anode that subs as a prop nut and just screws on with your fingers.
I ran the motor in a large container of water and it worked fine until it splashed all the water out when I hit high speed.
Now that this is done, I will have time to finish my new yak loader, using suction cups, which should make it easier to put on the car top.
I can't until March.
