cobrar543
4/20/2016 8:51:00 AMIm glad you mentioned the Battery longevity. Its the same complaint I have. It will last me about 5 hours if I treat it very gently. I wish I could charge it off the main somehow. Where do you stow your second battery?
Fish Dawg
4/20/2016 9:53:00 AMThanks for the report! It was good chatting with you at the captains meeting on Friday. I too own a Smokercraft and have been thinking about a bow mount electric trolling motor. Was curious how much battery would be necessary to keep it cooking along all day. Have a friend that has a similar set-up on his Smokercraft and he has also installed an onboard battery charger. BTW like your fish dog (even if he did lock you out of your truck)!
Rocketvet
4/20/2016 10:47:00 AMI plan to strap the extra battery in the space between the captain's seat and passengr seat. Just makes the step up to the bow deck a little further aft. The running battery is wired to the box in the bow. Still room for vests there. Easy enough to change out and only have to do once per outing. I want the ability to take it out too so not wiring to a switch box. I generally don't run the outboard long enough to make a charging system worth it and I have multiple chargers at home for bikes and boats. My cranking battery runs everything else and it's in the stern. So yeah, lots of batteries on board. I love the how quiet trolling is with this motor. No kicker for me. No vibration on lines either. I'll spend the money on electric. I went with a power drive v2 12v system, only 1 battery to change out. I doubt a 24v wouldn't last all day either. 55lb is plenty to push my 16ft with 3 people, a dog, 2 coolers.....ran at about 40-50% to maintain speeds of 1.0 to 1.1 mph and it did it very well in varying winds on cruise control. I tapped up and down to mix up speeds for lure enticement rather than a lot if zig zagging. Matched data on my Garmin Echomap exactly. Used the anchor lock a few times while waiting to load/unload. Pretty cool motor I'll have to say!
Good meeting you too Dawg. Kaiya is the boat dog in the family. Flies off docks to catch frisbees and sleeps while we fish. My Great Dane prefers to stay back at camp! Have fun this season!
Good meeting you too Dawg. Kaiya is the boat dog in the family. Flies off docks to catch frisbees and sleeps while we fish. My Great Dane prefers to stay back at camp! Have fun this season!
mymannin
4/22/2016 9:43:00 AMI'm taking the family to Chelan in August.. Is there a decent Kok bite that time of year or too late in the summer?? We are staying at Best Western next to where the plains and tour boats go out. How long of a haul is it to 25 mile area where everyone fishes?? I was thinking of driving to Wapto and to launch and doing the trek in the lake from there.
Rocketvet
4/23/2016 1:07:00 AMMymannin - I'm no expert on Chelan but according to at least 1 local guide I trust you can catch Kokanee all year there. Summer brings a big boating crowd but I imagine an early morning troll might not be too bad. Lakers can shut down in the heat of the day and pick back up in the evening. Always rainbows and cutthroat too. Smaller nearby lakes have good trout fishing, even catfish. Spring is best for Kokanee but it's a big lake with a lot of fish! Took me about 30 min to get from Mill Bay boat launch to 25 mi Park but I'm no speed demon at 26-27 mph. There are other closer downlake spots to fish. Trick is knowing just where to fish on any given day.
fishin2
4/28/2016 9:45:00 AMI run a 16' smokercraft with a bow mount ipilot. I run two batteries. I troll all day with 2 batteries. I have a on board smart charger so I just plug it in when I am not fishing. I love the set up.