Trolling motor sideways install

Hey guys I'm looking at getting and installing a Minn Kota Edge 45 trolling motor on my Lowe 1648 tunnel hull. I was wondering if instead of mounting it straight forward and backwards where it would be in front of the bow, if I could mount it sideways left to right, so that it deployed over the side? I ask because I have a light bar that runs across the bow.

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For (hopefully) obvious reasons mounting a trolling motor as close to the centerline as possible would be the best practice. In actual practice, very few are mounted right on the centerline. The farther you get from the centerline the more you are going to veer away from the direction the boat is pointing. In my mind, while you will have to compensate for the large offset, it will work to move the boat around.

I understand, unfortunately I really don't have the option to mount it in the center, because I would have to build an 8 inch mount just to get it to clear the LED light bar, and honestly I'm really only going to use it to maneuver around in small areas not troll all day with it

You should be fine. Go for it.

The only issue I could imagine is using some excess battery power by trying to keep the boat going in the direction you want. When electric motors are way off center, a little more power is needed by the motor to pull the boat in an awkward direction.

LDUBS said:

You should be fine. Go for it.

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Awesome, thanks for the help.

airshot said:

The only issue I could imagine is using some excess battery power by trying to keep the boat going in the direction you want. When electric motors are way off center, a little more power is needed by the motor to pull the boat in an awkward direction.

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I didn't really think about that, but like i said it only gonna be used to get into small areas maybe 5 minute run times at most.

Seems like the priority between the motor and light bar would be the motor.
Can you remove the light bar, install the motor in the best spot, and then remount that light bar or change it out for 2 smaller ones, one on each side of the motor?

-CN- said:

Seems like the priority between the motor and light bar would be the motor.
Can you remove the light bar, install the motor in the best spot, and then remount that light bar or change it out for 2 smaller ones, one on each side of the motor?

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Unfortunately I can't the light bar runs the full length across the front, and I don't have the disposable funds to buy new ones.

Perhaps you can build a mount for the motor to raise it above the top of the lights.

Another point on side mounting is that it may interfere with docking on that side of the boat.

Still Afloat said:

Another point on side mounting is that it may interfere with docking on that side of the boat.

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This is a good point. Mount the TM so when fully stowed nothing is hanging out the sides.

Joshua Stansbury said:

Hey guys I'm looking at getting and installing a Minn Kota Edge 45 trolling motor on my Lowe 1648 tunnel hull. I was wondering if instead of mounting it straight forward and backwards where it would be in front of the bow, if I could mount it sideways left to right, so that it deployed over the side? I ask because I have a light bar that runs across the bow.

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I've seen it on canoes a bunch. Unless it's a square stern, that's the only option .

If you hull has decent strakes they will keep it "straight enough" for what you want to do.

I think you will be fine.

I'm going to be the dissident here. I don't see any difference whatsoever in performance between front and center or to the far right or left. I'm not sure where the "it must be centered" thing comes from. Very few boats can have that setup anyway.

The performance difference comes in as you move further and further back from the front. To the extreme, if you center the TM between the bow and stern, it's almost impossible to turn, and it simply tries to pull the boat sideways. I actually did this on a canoe, and it moved just fine, so I locked the motor straight forward and used an oar to turn like a rudder. It was tricky but worked, and it kept the balance that I needed in that situation. That being said, they make a clamp-on mount for TM's that you can make at home that works a lot better.

Play around with it and you will figure out what works for you.

I agree with thill...i had an old 30lbs thrust on the side(bow)of my current boat (1652) ...worked fine