Peddle vs trolling motor?

[gliebig]

I'd be all over a 10ft Pro Angler

[dtandrade]

I had not given the Bixpy consideration,, but it looks like it may be the "Missing Link"
I was just about to look for a smaller, lighter, brushless trolling motor.

Now if the Kayak market would calm down and supply of new and used would come back.


---------------------------------------------
Looked at Bixpy,, Don't like that they really do not give much tech info. Brushed or brushless ?? Thrust? amp draw per thrust? voltage of motor?
I like the size, but not the Proprietary battery. It looks like a system for folks that dont own a soldering gun
Search continues

Quickly dug up some specs, the photos I tried attaching were blurry. It is brushless and power output is equal to 32ibs of thrust at 450w max output.

[nhunter344]

Looked at Bixpy,, Don't like that they really do not give much tech info. Brushed or brushless ?? Thrust? amp draw per thrust? voltage of motor?
I like the size, but not the Proprietary battery. It looks like a system for folks that dont own a soldering gun. Search continues....

The thing that draws people to propulsion systems like Torqeedo and Bixpy is the simple plug and play aspect of them. When I first started I researched designing my own system but quickly found that in the end it would cost more money for minimum gain and increased chance of system failure.

[Slackdaddy]

I am very, very particular and out right anal about most everything. For the last 35 years I designed and built the houses I lived/live in.
I tear apart and rebuild/alter most everything I buy.

The Bixpy battery is just to small.
I wish I could by a 12v bixpy motor with a 8' pigtail.

I have found some 65# brushless trolling motors,, but the 3 blade would not fit through the Pod/peddle hole in the deck of most yaks, they weigh 15#,, looking for smaller brushless options.

The thing that draws people to propulsion systems like Torqeedo and Bixpy is the simple plug and play aspect of them. When I first started I researched designing my own system but quickly found that in the end it would cost more money for minimum gain and increased chance of system failure.

[Slackdaddy]

Googled a Hobie Pro Angler 10,, not finding it, not on Hobbe's site either?

I'd be all over a 10ft Pro Angler

[nhunter344]

I am very, very particular and out right anal about most everything. For the last 35 years I designed and built the houses I lived/live in.
I tear apart and rebuild/alter most everything I buy.

My apologies if that came across as a critique. It definitely wasnt intended as one. I know where you are coming from in certain aspects. My wife bought me a tshirt that says "I Void Warranties" due to my penchant for disassembling brand new things that I buy. I have no idea why I make an effort to not do so with my kayak fishing.

As far as the 10' Hobie PA goes, I think they meant that if Hobie made a 10' version, they would be first in line to buy it... or something along those lines.

[Oldbayrunner]

Ok let me interject a few things since I own and have owned the Feel Free Lure for the last 6 years only the 13.5 version. My main reasoning initially for going with the Lure was A. I couldn't peddle a kayak with my bad knees & B. because that flat open deck appealed to me for standing without obstruction. It has served me well. There is mixed feelings with most regarding the peddle drive and mainly the rudder steering. I think a lot of that has to do with the people using and abusing them.

As far as Bixpy they make a pod mount especially for the Feel Free electronics pod and some even make a mod putting a 30 -40# thrust motor through the pod. me I have been strictly a transom mount motor user and wouldn't change that for anything. why? Because outside of the Hobie Mirage drive any peddle drive is restricted on how deep of water one can propel or the difficulty with grass getting caught in the drive unit. Whereas with my transom mount I can tilt my motor and feather propel my kayak through some very shallow water and grass areas most would have to paddle through.

Currently I am using a 65# Brushless motor and @13.4 lbs it's lighter and has more thrust then my old 55# plus it is more amp efficient. With all of my gear my kayak has a lot of weight however for me to troll @ 2-2.5 mph in normal bay wind and current I use 5-6 amps opposed to my previous 55# would use 10-12 amps. For me to cruise @ 3-3.5 mph I use 12-14 amps yet not use more than 40% throttle vs 18-20 amps previously... To try to push it faster then that it will do it but be a waste of battery. Yet I still have plenty of thrust left to pull heavier winds and currents. I tested it when they were running all of the generators at the Conowingo dam @ 90,000cfs and was able to pull the current @ 1.9mph. I went that much thrust because of more than a couple times being in currents with motors that wouldn't pull it forced me to run my motor flat out yet still have to hard paddle to get back to my launch. So this may be overkill to some but it works for me.... I power this with a 100ah Lipo4 lithium battery which weighs in @ 28lbs and I monitor my usage with a Victron battery monitor. This combination I easily stay out on the water for 8-9 hours & yet have less than 60% of my battery left.

[Slackdaddy]

Can you post up a picture of your trolling motor mount on the Lure.
Either peddle drive or motor, for my situation it needs to easily come up and out of the way. Once I am at my fishing spots, I go way up the tidal creeks in some skinny, grassy water. At that point I am 100% paddle.

I like the idea of a peddle drive and my legs are good and like the simplicity of no batteries, cables, etc. ,, But my reservations with peddle drive is when I pull them "UP" while fishing, they look like they are taking up all your deck space and just plain in your way. So I am back to trolling motors.
I like the idea of a small motor drive mounted in the Lure's POD, stupid simple. I will have to get measurements but thinking I could make a "Motor pod" that I could lift the motor "up" into the pod recces, out of the grass.
It would have to be a 2 blade prop.

That said, I have been reading and watching everything I could on folks that have small motors on similar sized kayaks. I have seen "claims" of ~1.5-2 mph on low and 3.5 on high with the small watersnake units.
These are 18# and 24# thrust units. What I am seeing is going much over the 25# thrust on these 34-35" wide kayaks is diminishing returns. The watersnake units are 6 pounds total weight.
What I have not found is a small brushless unit.
So far best I could do is a PWM on the 25# watersnake hoping for ~5-6 amps on low, high speed would be the same at 15-20 amps. The haswing would get me 3 mph at around 7-9 amps ? The Brushed motors realy fall off efficiency at higher speeds.
Like I said, ideal would be a brushless the size of the water snake.

Ok let me interject a few things since I own and have owned the Feel Free Lure for the last 6 years only the 13.5 version. My main reasoning initially for going with the Lure was A. I couldn't peddle a kayak with my bad knees & B. because that flat open deck appealed to me for standing without obstruction. It has served me well. There is mixed feelings with most regarding the peddle drive and mainly the rudder steering. I think a lot of that has to do with the people using and abusing them.

As far as Bixpy they make a pod mount especially for the Feel Free electronics pod and some even make a mod putting a 30 -40# thrust motor through the pod. me I have been strictly a transom mount motor user and wouldn't change that for anything. why? Because outside of the Hobie Mirage drive any peddle drive is restricted on how deep of water one can propel or the difficulty with grass getting caught in the drive unit. Whereas with my transom mount I can tilt my motor and feather propel my kayak through some very shallow water and grass areas most would have to paddle through.

Currently I am using a 65# Brushless motor and @13.4 lbs it's lighter and has more thrust then my old 55# plus it is more amp efficient. With all of my gear my kayak has a lot of weight however for me to troll @ 2-2.5 mph in normal bay wind and current I use 5-6 amps opposed to my previous 55# would use 10-12 amps. For me to cruise @ 3-3.5 mph I use 12-14 amps yet not use more than 40% throttle vs 18-20 amps previously... To try to push it faster then that it will do it but be a waste of battery. Yet I still have plenty of thrust left to pull heavier winds and currents. I tested it when they were running all of the generators at the Conowingo dam @ 90,000cfs and was able to pull the current @ 1.9mph. I went that much thrust because of more than a couple times being in currents with motors that wouldn't pull it forced me to run my motor flat out yet still have to hard paddle to get back to my launch. So this may be overkill to some but it works for me.... I power this with a 100ah Lipo4 lithium battery which weighs in @ 28lbs and I monitor my usage with a Victron battery monitor. This combination I easily stay out on the water for 8-9 hours & yet have less than 60% of my battery left.

[Slackdaddy]

Could you measure the width of the opening in the deck for the Lure's pod?
I looked everywhere, nothing.

Thanks,
Slack

Ok let me interject a few things since I own and have owned the Feel Free Lure for the last 6 years only the 13.5 version. My main reasoning initially for going with the Lure was A. I couldn't peddle a kayak with my bad knees & B. because that flat open deck appealed to me for standing without obstruction. It has served me well. There is mixed feelings with most regarding the peddle drive and mainly the rudder steering. I think a lot of that has to do with the people using and abusing them.

As far as Bixpy they make a pod mount especially for the Feel Free electronics pod and some even make a mod putting a 30 -40# thrust motor through the pod. me I have been strictly a transom mount motor user and wouldn't change that for anything. why? Because outside of the Hobie Mirage drive any peddle drive is restricted on how deep of water one can propel or the difficulty with grass getting caught in the drive unit. Whereas with my transom mount I can tilt my motor and feather propel my kayak through some very shallow water and grass areas most would have to paddle through.

Currently I am using a 65# Brushless motor and @13.4 lbs it's lighter and has more thrust then my old 55# plus it is more amp efficient. With all of my gear my kayak has a lot of weight however for me to troll @ 2-2.5 mph in normal bay wind and current I use 5-6 amps opposed to my previous 55# would use 10-12 amps. For me to cruise @ 3-3.5 mph I use 12-14 amps yet not use more than 40% throttle vs 18-20 amps previously... To try to push it faster then that it will do it but be a waste of battery. Yet I still have plenty of thrust left to pull heavier winds and currents. I tested it when they were running all of the generators at the Conowingo dam @ 90,000cfs and was able to pull the current @ 1.9mph. I went that much thrust because of more than a couple times being in currents with motors that wouldn't pull it forced me to run my motor flat out yet still have to hard paddle to get back to my launch. So this may be overkill to some but it works for me.... I power this with a 100ah Lipo4 lithium battery which weighs in @ 28lbs and I monitor my usage with a Victron battery monitor. This combination I easily stay out on the water for 8-9 hours & yet have less than 60% of my battery left.

[Slackdaddy]

Oh good Lord what a rabbit hole I have gone down
There are guys experimenting with custom props (3D printers) , they are making props for trolling motors that are getting the same speed but much less amp draw.
Short story is a trolling motor/prop is made to push a 2000# bass boat slowly, they are making props tailored to a 200# kayak.

Slack

[john from md]

I use a model airplane propeller on my Watersnake TM on my small Vibe.

[ronaultmtd]

Yep, rabbit hole for sure...the entire reason I went to kayak fishing was for simplicity, quick, cheap, grab it and go on five minutes of notice with next to no preparation...no gas, no oil, no hooking up a trailer, no hooking up trailer lights, no trailer license, no state inspection, no DNR registration and yearly stickers...

[Mark]

Yep, rabbit hole for sure...the entire reason I went to kayak fishing was for simplicity, quick, cheap, grab it and go on five minutes of notice with next to no preparation...no gas, no oil, no hooking up a trailer, no hooking up trailer lights, no trailer license, no state inspection, no DNR registration and yearly stickers...

I agree Ron. At some point in the equation of balancing the area you intend to fish, how you fish, the distance you must travel on the water and your desire for mechanized propulsion, a power boat becomes an option to consider.

But I like the simplicity of my kayaks. In fact, I prefer paddling over pedaling on most of my outings. I'm fortunate, because the productive tidal areas I have nearby allow me to paddle or pedal without traveling excessive distances either to the water or on the water.

[Slackdaddy]

Ron,
I am in 100% agreement. We have 6 kayaks and have been kayak fishing/camping for 15 years. I always spoke down about loading a kayak up with complications.
Throw it in the back of the truck with a paddle, PDF and go. I even have 2 rods and a Plano box for each type of fishing, so grab 2 rods and one box.

Even though I live on the PAX, I never much fished this area. A couple times a year I would hit rt 4 bridge, most of my Kayak fishing was VA and WV chasing Smallies. or some local areas with short paddles.

BUT, now that my wife wants to start fishing and crabbing again, since they put a kayak launch in at the end of our street,, I am faced with making a "Craft" for her.
She and her sister (Mid 50's) love kayaking here, but very limited on range due to the Tide. They need to be able to move UP or DOWN the river 1-2 miles, against the tide at times.

So here I am building a powered kayak, or finding the right peddle kayak,,
Somethings never change,, for over 40 years a women/girl ends up talking me into doing something I know better than to do.

Yep, rabbit hole for sure...the entire reason I went to kayak fishing was for simplicity, quick, cheap, grab it and go on five minutes of notice with next to no preparation...no gas, no oil, no hooking up a trailer, no hooking up trailer lights, no trailer license, no state inspection, no DNR registration and yearly stickers...

[Slackdaddy]

We had a 16' CC boat, and use of a private launch 3 minutes from the house.
We lost use of the private launch (changed hands) and sold the boat as the closest launch was 30 minutes away. also the Boat did not allow me to get up the creeks to chase fish.

Then last year they County installed a kayak launch at the end of our street. we have been kayak fishing from it 2+ times a week and loving it. And that is using are kayaks tailored to my smallmouth rivers.
But as I mentioned, with the tide, the women (and I) are very limited on distance.

So in a sense, I am building her a "personal Boat" based on a kayak.

I agree Ron. At some point in the equation of balancing the area you intend to fish, how you fish, the distance you must travel on the water and your desire for mechanized propulsion, a power boat becomes an option to consider.

But I like the simplicity of my kayaks. In fact, I prefer paddling over pedaling on most of my outings. I'm fortunate, because the productive tidal areas I have nearby allow me to paddle or pedal without traveling excessive distances either to the water or on the water.