hand control tm

[hipster dufus]

cant seem to find an ansewer so ill try here. thinking of selling my 55# foot control and going to a bow mount hand control. anyone done it? am i better off just buying a hand control bow mount or getting a transom mount and making a mount for the front. reverse the head. know difficult to deploy, i know it wont be as easy as a bow mount, but my problem is front deck space. the dang pedal and cable take up a lot of room on the foot control. transom mount is cheaper and has a bigger variety of shaft lenghts. appreciate the help

 

[Ictalurus]

I went from a foot control bow mount, to hand control bow mount, then finally to transom mount w/ head reversed used on the bow. Hands down the transom mount on the bow is best for me and how I fish/use the boat. It's not difficult to deploy.

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

If you run a trolling motor like me...you need a bow mount. Transom mount can't take the same beating. Flipping a transom mount can be a work around solution when you don't have a deck that will accept a bow mount without modification. Transom mount is also cheaper. For frequent use, I would rather have a bow mount.

 

[PsychoXP18CC]

I agree with RBO on the bow mount being designed to take the abuse of being mounted on the bow, where a converted transom mount might not. And like the OP, I also don't like having the foot pedal on the deck of my boat. However, I have no input on the practicality of converting a transom mount to a bow mount to save room. I guess I can see how that might work, but for the fishing I do I could see the mount getting broken while taking a beating across a choppy lake (which is a fairly regular occurrence for me). I haven't even mounted a FF on the bow for that reason.

But either way it goes, I do love my hand control TM's. Never liked a foot control, for a few reasons.

 

[oldude]

What kind of bow mount tm do you have? I might be interestd if you decide to sell. I've been wondering if the opposite can be done. Foot control bow mount to transom mount. If I stay with remote steering it would be hard (i think) to reach a hand steer transom tm.

 

[rednecknproud21]

I flipped the head on my transom mount minn kota c2 40 pound because I wanted it on the front of my boat. I didn't want to have to build a mount for a bow mount trolling motor because I have a completely open bow in the front and no deck. I already had the transom mount trolling motor and I have hit stumps with it and it survived great. The minn Kota's have that flex shaft that supposed to be unbreakable. It works great for me on my boat don't think I would do it any other way.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[turbotodd]

I went wireless. Biggest reason is that my dad and I fish together, and he sits in front. He don't use the trolling motor. So I do, from the back of the boat. Love the thing. It takes some getting used to, though. Used foot steered motors (cable and electric) as well as bow mounted hand control motors for years; and they all worked for their purpose. If it weren't for needing the wireless, I'd probably just have another cable steer bow mount foot controlled motor; which frees up both hands for fishing.

 

[riverbud55]

had transom mount on my G3 that I used off my old boat then got one of these https://universalmania.com/minn-kota-1358740-powerdrive-v2-55-i-pilot-no-foot-pedal-12v-55lb-48-inch/ ,,,,, best thing I have done to the boat for add ons,, no foot pedel to deal with,,,,, follows tracks and never need to touch it if your fish the same area, links to my fish finder,,,, transferring the weight from the rear to the front was the biggest plus on my boat,,,,biggest thing about having a hand oparated TM up front is how comfortable is it going to be to use it, needs to be within easy fast reach,,,,,had somthing like this on a old boat and it worked OK https://universalmania.com/minn-kota-maxxum-55lbs-thurst-52-shaft-freshwater-bow-mounted-trolling-motor/ but for $300 more ill take the power drive,,, if ya can use a bracket up front and be able to reach I would sure give it a try,,,, ol Bill Dance make it work on his little jon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmFyo8j-2GQ

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

I hate fumbling with remotes in the heat of the moment.

 

[riverbud55]

I hate fumbling with remotes in the heat of the moment.

ya I here ya,,,, got a wireless foot pedal but haven't been able to get it to link yet,,,, think n the dude at bps bs'd me,,,,I didnt think it was going to work,,,, on my tin bass boat have cable steer , so much faster then the power steer, also faster/easier to pull the rope to stow ,have Terrova on my North River like its wired foot pedal because of how small the front deck is and can also run it from anywhere on the boat by a remote,,,having a fairly small deck on my G3 is why I went with the powerdrive just couldn't see spending 300 more on another Terrova ,like the mount much better on the Terrove then the PowerDrive

 

[onthewater102]

If you've got a minnkota transom mount you can order the Edge series bow mount bracket separately directly from them and bow mount it cleanly. Most transom mounting brackets are a fiber filled nylon plastic where as the bow mount brackets are aluminum. The shaft material is all the same, so the durability is in the mount.

I don't care for hand control TM's up front-tried it & went back to a foot - but I will say this - converting the transom mounted TM for use on the bow worked out better than my friend's bow mount hand control as my transom mount TM had 3 reverse speeds which his bow mount did not.

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

I would give anything for someone to make a TM that could be easily switched from a hand control to a foot control and back. The way I primarily use my boat makes a hand control the best option. But, there are times that I wish I had a foot control.

 

[richg99]

Wow...lots of differing opinions listed above.

I presantly have a 45 lb cable controlled, bow-mounted MinnKota on my 16-foot boat.
It's OK, except that I feel the d#$% thing takes up a lot of my time and attention.

Back when I had a hand controlled "flipped head" trolling motor on the bow of my other 16-foot boat, I really thought that I had total control at all times. Yes, I had to reach out and touch something. But, I didn't have to pay much attention to it when I wasn't using it a lot.

Adding a Big Foot on/off switch was a large step forward.

To each his own. I was happiest with the hand-controlled model.

richg99

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

I agree with your points, rich. With a hand control...you can steer with your elbow...your knee....you don't have to look at it to know what direction you're going.

 

[lovedr79]

I would give anything for someone to make a TM that could be easily switched from a hand control to a foot control and back. The way I primarily use my boat makes a hand control the best option. But, there are times that I wish I had a foot control.

That would be sweet!

 

[hipster dufus]

putting a 1200 tm on a 16 ft tinny seems like overkill. i have an old bow mount from a previous motor. the transom mount have a thinner shaft. i would have to make a sleeve to cinch the transom mount down and then remove the transom mount. any opinions on this?

 

[richg99]

Try it. What do you have to lose.

richg99

 

[flatboat]

I agree with the transom mount not holding up on the front . Pain to deploy if you move a lot , bow mount is a lot easier . I think If the motor head isn't laying horizontal it will beat the seals out ,a friend of mine trashed 2 motors with water in them , he's had better luck with a bow mount