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I want to have a spare motor setup. I had a Honda 2.5 but it’s heavy. It’s a nice little engine, started right up after a year in storage with fresh gas. I can’t think of a way to mount it though.
I thought about an 85lb thrust electric motor. This would be used to navigate the cuts in Florida Bay. I can’t sail this boat through them reliably. That’s the only thing that spooks me about the engine conking out.
I’m not sure how I could mount the trolling motor. However I thought about powering it with the starter circuit on the main engine. After all, it would be not working. Thoughts?

Ix

I have a 55 lb Newport vessels trolling motor that I use for my dingy. It will not move my 26x against a tidal current of one knot.

A 86 lb trolling motor is the equivalent of approximately 1.5 horsepower. It will require a 24 volt battery or battery bank.

I might be able to set up its own battery bank and solar panel. I may also grade to LION batteries at some point which means I can have a larger bank due to lighter weight.
Also thought about installing a jet drive in the bottom of the boat but I think I’d need a 5hp motor for that, the batteries and electronics for that are too complex though.

Could you use a dinghy with that Honda motor and lash it to the side of the mac as a "tug"?

I could do that. It’s a tedious operation to place the motor on the dinghy while underway though. Even if the boat is effectively stopped. Only possible in calm water.

Hi Ixneigh!

The SOP is a spring assisted swing down engine mount (or some type of a slide ) to mount a trolling or dingy motor to the side of the transom.
Some folks try to steer with the motor (vectored thrust) for ‘tighter maneuverability’ and some folks ‘lock it in-line’ and steer with the opposite side rudder (often the deployed trolling/dingy motor is in the way of the rudder on that side). Some have also placed an attachable link to connect the rudder/main-engine steering to the trolling/dingy motor.
Remember it will be really awkward reaching over the rear seat/stern to actually get to direct the thrust of the engine/motor while still seeing forward to navigate and observe your surroundings like say in a marina… so connecting to the steering or using a rudder makes a lot of sense.

With gas motors often the throttle is “set” at a desired power level as it is really awkward reaching over the stern.

With an electric trolling motor one can get/make longer extensions such that when deployed into the water te control handle/throttle is up high enough to ‘comfortably’ reach above the stern.

Another thing that might be helpful, especially in a marina when docking is some sort of readily accessible ‘disengagement’ or ‘reversing’ and/or ‘kill-switch’. (It’s not too hard to imagine the scenarios where coming in under power to a slipway or dock such a function would be worth its weight in gold to avoid any number of possible collisions… a 3000# MacGregor gliding in at a knot or three is still gonna leave a mark )

Just some things you might want to consider…..

Best Regards
Over Easy

Russ wrote: ↑Sun Oct 13, 2024 6:27 am Could you use a dinghy with that Honda motor and lash it to the side of the mac as a "tug"?

Tried to do that a couple of times and it's a royal pain in the butt. The inertia of the big boat is too great. Now maybe the crew did not know how to steer the Mac while I was puttering alongside in the dinghy (someone has to be blamed). I tried to tug the Mac by the whiskers. It worked eventually, but there's a lot of fine-tuning involved (low power on the small engine at first, until the rope gets taut, then keep it aligned with very small bursts of power, until we managed to get close enough to the dock that I could jump in and pull the Mac by hand, but only when I could touch bottom) A lively experience while the coast guard (or the river police) was watching the spectacle which, no doubt, they found amusing. They didn't want to get involved on account of liability issuers
Over Easy is right with his caveats. I am also planning to add the auxiliary on starboard side, in the back, fully aware that the shaft is short and the engine will be useless when it comes to wavy seas. Nevertheless, it might get us home to the point that I could dock it somehow.

Fun is fun!
Beats using a kayak paddle!

Currently we’ve just dropped anchor and called TowBoat…
One of our better subscriptions rating right up there with AAA!

Note: I believe I once saw an auxiliary rigged up with steering pull ropes run through eyelets and a broom stick taped to the throttle grip….

March wrote: ↑Sun Oct 13, 2024 9:58 am

Russ wrote: ↑Sun Oct 13, 2024 6:27 am Could you use a dinghy with that Honda motor and lash it to the side of the mac as a "tug"?

Tried to do that a couple of times and it's a royal pain in the butt. The inertia of the big boat is too great. Now maybe the crew did not know how to steer the Mac while I was puttering alongside in the dinghy (someone has to be blamed). I tried to tug the Mac by the whiskers. It worked eventually, but there's a lot of fine-tuning involved (low power on the small engine at first, until the rope gets taut, then keep it aligned with very small bursts of power, until we managed to get close enough to the dock that I could jump in and pull the Mac by hand, but only when I could touch bottom) A lively experience while the coast guard (or the river police) was watching the spectacle which, no doubt, they found amusing. They didn't want to get involved on account of liability issuers
Over Easy is right with his caveats. I am also planning to add the auxiliary on starboard side, in the back, fully aware that the shaft is short and the engine will be useless when it comes to wavy seas. Nevertheless, it might get us home to the point that I could dock it somehow.

Good point. Ixneigh is usually single handed and in retrospect, that wouldn't work at all for him.

Our son did PUSH our Mac in the dinghy for quite a distance with no wind/waves. I was amazed how fast that 2.5 outboard on the inflatable dinghy could push us.

However, as you stated, it required 2 captains to pull it off.

I'd like to see what Ix comes up with as I have that 2.5 motor in the garage and it would be nice to have a backup plan like he's suggesting.

Sure! We toyed around with a different approach: a "cage" on top of the main engine, and the auxiliary attached to it. It would solve plenty of problems (like, reaching for the throttle, turning the boat, even filling up the tiny gas tank while en route...) The problem is the short shaft. It will never reach the water. We were even thinking about making it glide down on two rails... but too much work for too short of a useful life-span
But it would sure look cool!

March wrote: ↑Sun Oct 13, 2024 12:28 pm But it would sure look cool!

Indeed.

I thought of mounting the motor on the engine cowling also. I feel the Honda is too heavy. (Extreme weather and waves) even though I devised a way to hypothetically do it, which would involve alterations to the Honda which is brand new and I’m not sure I’m going to keep. I’d really like to
have a push button electric motor that would take no more than a few seconds to deploy. I could probably run a 24 volt motor from my existing batteries using a step up converter. Let’s say a 600 watt 24 volt motor. I can use an old lower unit from a small outboard, easily found on eBay. Attach a 3 inch aluminum pipe to that, as long as needed, with a shaft extension inside. Create a bracket that allows the unit to slide up and down two feet. Hang that on the opposite side as the swim ladder. In the down position it should be 16 inches below the boat, with the power head a little above the stern light (this is all for M model remember) rudder clearance may be an issue for some users. However I frequently use my boat in shallow water with the rudders in the horizontal setting. One could also just pick up the port side rudder entirely.
So in the up position, the lower unit of the kicker would be out of the water. The power head would be 16 inches above the stern light. Not great for clean looks, but my boats already cluttered back there. A pin would hold it up. Pull pin, pull up rudder, press button. It doesn’t come up quite as easily since at the lightest the kicker will weigh at least 25 lbs. maybe I could rig a two part light tackle on it.
Another option is to mount this extended shaft motor on the corner of the stern maybe on the stanchion. It could pivot to lie along the side of the boat so then we would have, pivot, slide down, switch on, and switch off, slide up, pivot forward in the Stowed position. This is probably more practical but sullies the refined and modern look of the boat
Either one of these options could employ a weed wacker style mini-4 stroke power head instead of an electric motor. All it has to do, for my use, is ghost the boat against mild conditions. Sometimes I’m sailing these cuts and I just can’t make it around a bend, or more usually, the exits almost always have winds shifting into the cut. It’s just the way the wind interacts with the topography. Even if the wind had been predominantly astern, you’ll be headed at the exit.

For the truly capable engineers, a mini azipod under the bow would also double as a very handy bow thruster. This could live in a recess in the hull and drop down for operation. It would need to be controlled from a joystick in the cockpit, and have a motor that could remain submerged. That is certainly beyond my abilities, but would be pretty awesome

I’d

Placing a trolling motor on an is more difficult than on an .There is much less space on the stern of an . Highlander compensated by making a mold of the curve and then making a plate to fit, so as to extend the flat surface needed for the auxillary motor to be beyond interfering with the starboard rudder.

Hi Ixneigh!

For the truly capable engineers, a mini azipod under the bow would also double as a very handy bow thruster. This could live in a recess in the hull and drop down for operation. It would need to be controlled from a joystick in the cockpit, and have a motor that could remain submerged. That is certainly beyond my abilities, but would be pretty awesome

Yeah that would be a neat engineering feat!

There have been a few DIY attempts at bow thrusters and such over the years.
They in themselves were accomplishments just to get sideways thrust.
Would love to see someone successfully work out and actually implement an azipod!
That would be the cats meow!

Meanwhile there are a couple of trolling motor auto deploy long shaft remote control electric trolling motors available.
While many are rigged to the bow there’s no reason one couldn’t mount it elsewhere if so desired.

Here is a link to one by Minnesota called Ulterra:


It’s about as close to an azipod as one can reasonably ( aside from the $$$$ ) get …..

Best Regards
Over Easy