Trolling Motor for Lake Fishing

[Mark]

Stu,

Yep, those Royalex Old Town canoes were/are light. That's why I recommended to smithmal earlier in this thread to look for a used one.

I was watching Craigslist myself for a Royalex Old Town Camper but I got an opportunity to snag an Ultimate 14.5 for an excellent price.

Wikipedia says there was only one manufacturer of Royalex in the country and they shut down production due to low demand. It has not been available since 2014.

The hull of my Old Town Discovery 174 was made from was three layers of plastic. It was definitely not Royalex. Old Town used to advertise that you could run over the boat with a car and it would bounce back. It was indestructible but also heavy.

Anyway, it's good to see canoes get some love on this forum. They are excellent fishing platforms in the right conditions.

[HJS]

Thanks guys.

Bignose, and others. - If you look closely at my canoe seats you'll notice that I raised them a couple of inches. I took out the spacers. Also, I store my canoe under a porch and the canoe nevers sees the sun while in storage. Only when it's on the water does it get sun, so it still looks good. The canoe must be registered due to the trolling motor but the registration is free in MD due to its short length. Transporting a canoe on a trailer also limits where I can launch. Fletchers does not allow trailers. Same with a couple of launches on the Severn and elsewhere too. But hey, I get by.

Howard

[smithmal]

Mark,

I know of someone selling an OT Hunter (14'; 53lbs; weight capacity 500lbs) made of Royal-EX for $680. Is that a good price for this canoe? Looks to be in real good shape.

smithmal

[Mark]

Mark,

I know of someone selling an OT Hunter (14'; 53lbs; weight capacity 500lbs) made of Royal-EX for $680. Is that a good price for this canoe? Looks to be in real good shape.

smithmal

Not bad. I've seen the larger OT Camper in Royalex, which offers a lot more capacity go for $600 on Craigslist. But that's the exception. Most sellers ask between $700 and $900. The Hunter looks nice too and I believe would be a safer boat for what you want to do than the Ultimate 12.

I found this link on-line that gives a user's perspective of the Hunter:

http://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.co...-old-town.html

[smithmal]

Mark,

Thanks for the link. I came across that yesterday as well when doing research. Makes you wonder why OT ever stopped producing the Hunter....

For that matter, its surprising that no one makes boats out of Royal-Ex anymore (see this link) since it seems a big fan favorite in terms of durability and weight.

I guess my only concern is that the boat is almost 30 years old and it other in similar age are still going for as high as $600 - $1000. My 2017 U12 new was less that $1000. I guess Royal-Ex canoes really keep their value?

smithmal

[bignose]

There is still a demand for the Royalex boats, so they do keep their value. I think I paid about $800.00 for a new old Town Camper back in 1990 or so. ( Joe Bruce had his fly shop in the back of the Old Town store!). I recently purchased a 10 year-old Royalex Pack canoe for about it's original retail price.

Royalex is a nice material to make a canoe out of, as it has an inherent flotation as a part of it's multiple layers. It's light and flexible, and bounces off of objects that aluminum would get dented from and fiberglass would crack.
It's major drawbacks were it scratches easily (my boat is covered with scars), doesn't take complicated shapes well in the molding process, and had a higher material cost.

The Hunter and Camper hull shape, as I understand, were adapted and became part of the Discovery Series boats with are made out of the much heavier, but essentially indestructible polyethylene. The Penobscot, which is comparable to the Camper, is 20 pounds heavier.

[Mark]

Mark,

Thanks for the link. I came across that yesterday as well when doing research. Makes you wonder why OT ever stopped producing the Hunter....

For that matter, its surprising that no one makes boats out of Royal-Ex anymore (see this link) since it seems a big fan favorite in terms of durability and weight.

I guess my only concern is that the boat is almost 30 years old and it other in similar age are still going for as high as $600 - $1000. My 2017 U12 new was less that $1000. I guess Royal-Ex canoes really keep their value?

smithmal

There's still Kevlar.

http://wenonah.com/Canoes.aspx?id=12

A bit pricey to say the least.

[smithmal]

So I bit the bullet and got a 4 year used Nova Craft Pal (16' in Royalex). It's 58lbs and is high on many canoe fishing enthusiasts list due to its weight, stability, maneuverability both in solo and tandem. I purchased it from a CL seller who just moved here from Wisconsin and did a lot of "tripping" so he had lots of experience lake fishing in Upper Wisconsin and Canada. He said he was thinking about getting back into lake fishing and ask if I knew anything about the Native Ultimate (small world).

In any event I'll use my Native for solo excursions outside of Liberty and my NC for Liberty. Thanks for everyone's feedback!

[Mark]

So I bit the bullet and got a 4 year used Nova Craft Pal (16' in Royalex). It's 58lbs and is high on many canoe fishing enthusiasts list due to its weight, stability, maneuverability both in solo and tandem. I purchased it from a CL seller who just moved here from Wisconsin and did a lot of "tripping" so he had lots of experience lake fishing in Upper Wisconsin and Canada. He said he was thinking about getting back into lake fishing and ask if I knew anything about the Native Ultimate (small world).

In any event I'll use my Native for solo excursions outside of Liberty and my NC for Liberty. Thanks for everyone's feedback!

Congratulations.

Let us know how the canoe works for you.

[smithmal]

Okay, so now that I have a canoe and can now add a trolling motor to meet Liberty Reservoir regs, back to my initial question, what trolling motor/battery combination would you suggest for a canoe on flat water (lake fishing).

I've heard a lot of great things about the Min Kota C2. What size shaft should I get? My canoe is 13" deep. I'm thinking 30" would be plenty but thought I'd ask.

In terms of batteries, I've been looking at DIY battery boxes and thought this lithium battery/DIY box combo was really interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfaSSCgnTRM&t=31s

The poster uses a 30AH LiFeO4 lithium battery that he purchased from eBay (link here) for $250 shipped. The battery comes with overcharge protection built in. He purchased a simple ammo box from Harbor Freight. In the box he wired a 80A circuit breaker, a momentary switch and a digital voltage meter. He also discusses two different chargers he recommends (about $20-$30 each). He mentioned his battery box can pretty much go all day if he's going @ half speed and the box with the battery only weighs about 10lbs. He also mentioned he uses a PWM controller which may have increased his efficiency.

Thoughts?

smithmal

[bignose]

I just bought a Minn Kota C2 30 lb thrust motor with the a 30" shaft for my little Pack Canoe. It was about $90.00 thru Amazon with some discounting. Not bad, it seems a little rough as vibrates a bit at full throttle. It seems to be enough.
For your 16 foot canoe, I'd recommend a 40-55 lb. thrust motor.
I know HJS has a 40 lb. thrust trolling motor of his 16' Old Town, and I'm running a 55 lb. thrust Minn Kota on mine. These are not available with a 30" shaft, but the 36" shaft is fine, just have to adjust it up a bit.

I have been using a heavy 27 series deep cycle battery with the bigger canoe, but I just purchased a 50 ah L-Ion battery from Water Blade. It came with a charger.
It was cheaper buying directly from them then thru Amazon or eBay.
I ran it for 2 1/2 hours last week with the smaller trolling motor and it was fine, but I don't know if it would last for an 8 hour day.

[smithmal]

BG,

Thanks for the response. What kind of box are you putting that battery in? The Water Blade battery is a little too rich for my blood. Why did you decide to go with them for your lithium battery?

Would 55lb thrust overpower this canoe? It only weighs 58lbs.

Thanks!

Sent from my Moto Z2 Play using Tapatalk

[bignose]

I am not putting the battery in any box. I kept the foam packaging as a container to cushion it.
I bought the Water Blade after it was recommended on Snaggedline.
I am rehabbing from shoulder surgery and was thinking that this would be easier to lift than the 50 pound+ Deep Cycle battery.

The 55 lb. thrust motor is fine, it does not overpower the boat. My 16' Camper weighs about what your boat weighs. (I tried to lift it today, my shoulder was not happy, so I'm sticking with my little canoe for a while longer.)

I tried a 2 hp Honda many years ago. Now that overpowered the boat!

[smithmal]

So I gave Minn Kota a call (800.227.6433) to discuss motors and batteries and this is what I was told in terms of lake fishing on a canoe:

For Motor:
1. Suggested I go with an Endura Max as the motor has variable speed
2. Suggested that 55lb might be overkill and to do more like a 45/50
3. Indicated that I should go with a 36" shaft
4. Weight is 24 - 28 lbs
5. For trolling speed they indicated that I should go 0.8 - 1.3 mph for water 5'-20'; for deeper water I should target 1-2mph

For battery:
1. Suggested a Group size 27 or larger
2. Suggest a 105Ah or larger battery
3. Would provide 4-7 hours of continuous use

Do these numbers make sense? I was suprised that they suggested a battery so big. A 105Ah deep cycle battery is like 60 - 70lbs in weight.

Thanks,

smithmal

[bignose]

I use a Walmart Deep Cycle 27 series Battery with the 55 lb. motor. I figure it goes about 50-60 pounds. About the same as the canoe.
It is listed at 109 ah.
It lasts for a 8 hour day with no problem. With the Endure Max and the "Maximizer" variable speed control it should last longer.

I don't think you will notice much difference between a 40-50-55 pound thrust motor until you have to fight a 15 mph head wind with 3 miles to go back to the ramp.
I burned up a 30 pound thrust motor trying to return from Fort McHenry to the Harbor Hospital ramp about 20 years ago. Ended up paddling the Canoe into the wind for the last 2 miles or so, across open water. Don't want to have to do that again.

The Endura Max is more than twice as expensive as the C-2. It may give you more running time, but you gotta figure bang for the buck.

I went with the Water Blade Battery soley because it was so light. Had to bite the bullet on the cost, but the repaired shoulder is lot happier carrying that..