front trooling mount for a canoe

[smeltking]

 I have a front mount trolling motor and would like to be ale to use it on my canoe has anyone ever done this before and if so can u tell me how to attach it. if i see a picture  of one then i can copy it.

[Drifter_016]

Lets see a pic of your canoe so we can make some suggestions.

[tdogg]

If you are still interested in this question, email me at timhall1#sbcglobal.net.  I set up and used just such a righ from1988 to 1995, with great success.  I called it my thousand dollar bass boat.  It was an Osagien aluminum canoe (the same specs as the classic Grumman) with a 36-lb thrust Motor Guide manual steering trolling motor on it.  I constantly stood up in it, ws able to do all the bass boat stuff except run fast and go on rough waters.

[Gambler]

I used a piece of leather with a couple pieces of wood attached with screws. The leather hung over the gunwales and the trolling motor clamped onto the wood and held everything in place. The only drawback is you will need some kind of rudder because with the trolling motor up front the canoe becomes very hard to maneuver with any precision. A rudder is very easy to make and attach also. I will look for my old mount and rudder setup and if I can find it I will post some pics.

[tdogg]

What you do is mount the (hand-operated) trolling motor just in front of the rear seat, then put a cooler in front of the rear thwart (which is in front of the rear seat).  Then you sit facing the rear and control the trolling by hand, and fish.  Believe it or not, you can actually easily stand up (provided you are in a standard aluminum canoe) with the backs of your calves against the rear thwart and fish.  I did it for years and never once came close to falling out.  If you want to travel a distance, you turn around and sit in the rear seat and turn the motor around so that you go forward.

For all this you need a big deep-cycle trolling motor, which you should wire so that it sits in the bow of the canoe, to act as a ballst, a counter-weight to your weight which is all in the stern.

This is extremely easy to control and there is no need of a rudder whatsoever. 

[tdogg]

I meant a big trolling motor battery, which you mount in the front of the canoe, the motor itself in the rear.