The canoe was recently returned to me from my father-in-law, who I gave it to about 10 years ago, when I became sponsored by Bell Canoes. This was my first ever paddle craft, so I have come full circle.
Along with the canoe my father-in-law gave me the Minn Kota Riptide 55lb trolling motor he had bought to use with it and two deep cycle batteries. He had not used the canoe in many years so it was pretty roached when I got it, but nothing that couldn't be fixed.
I had a Native Ultimate 12 when I got the canoe returned to me, I really like the Native, but never felt comfortable standing in it, sure I could stand but didn't feel confident poling or fishing while upright.
After taking the canoe out for a days fishing with a buddy of mine, I remembered just how great this canoe was poling, and with two people paddling it moved pretty well, but solo it was a bear to paddle, at 39" of beam it took a lot of moving, hence the trolling motor.
I decided I would rig up this canoe to the max and use it to fish the flats, river and canals, and even some freshwater lakes for bass and bluegill, standing is so easy in it, it's perfect for fly fishing out of.
So with all that I wanted to do, I sold my Native to finance the project, I was told I was making a mistake in getting rid of the Native but I am not so sure. I can still get where I got with the native, only now I can use a motor to get me to the fishing spots, and then once there I can lift the motor and push pole my way around the flats. in water just as skinny as I could get with the Native, but be much more comfortable standing and fishing.
The batteries were shot, so a new battery had to be bought, after much research and on the advice of my friend Bayport Bob I went the Sears, DieHard Platinum Deep Cycle Battery, it's a Gel battery comes with a 3 year full replacement warranty is built to military grade specs and for the money is the best battery out there. At $270 it's not cheap, but compared to a $100 battery that's going to die every year or so and require constant maintenance, it's worth the money. Its capacity will power the trolling motor at full speed for approximately 2.5 hours, so should be plenty for a fulls days fishing. That gives me a range of about 10 miles or so, I've not fully tested that out yet, but I have covered 6 miles and had plenty of juice in reserve.
I also switched out the blade on the trolling motor for a Kipawa 3 blade prop, I'd heard great things about these props and certainly made a marked difference in performance compared to the old prop. My speed went from a top speed out at about 5.2 mph to almost 6mph with the new blade, and also now I can use slower speeds on the motor when fishing, which again helps with the battery range.
First job was to pressure wash it and remove the old wring harness he had installed, install a carry handle up front, and take out the rotted out thwart and motor mount.
Carry handle I made from 3/4" EMT conduit, just flattened then ends in a vice and mounted them under the gunnel lip.
One great thing about these canoes are the gunnels, they have two hollow compartments in them which make great raceways for running wire.
To access the compartments along the gunnel at the relevant points in the canoe I simply cut the PVC away with a dremel tool. Once all the holes were cut I pulled in Jet lines, two in each large compartment and a single line in each of the smaller compartments.
Using the jet line as pull strings I pulled in one pair of #16AWG cable in each of the large compartment from bow to stern. These would serve the nav lights and an LED courtesy light for the passenger, for when night fishing.
All wiring willl be marine grade fully tinned wire, all connections will be crimped or soldered and heat shrunk to protect from corrosion.
From the position of the thwart I pulled in another pair of #16 AWG cable to stern for 12volt receptacles, these will power the fish finder/GPS and any other accessories I may use, phone charger, maybe even a Livewell!!! Heaven forbid!
From the position of the front seat I pulled in one #4AWG in each large compartment to the stern, these would be big enough to power the motor, without any noticeable voltage drop or losses from the cables getting too hot. I would also use these cables to bring power to a small switch panel to control lights and accessories.
Once all the wiring was in place I rebuilt the motor mount,I have used regular ply for right now, as I has some laying around, but once I am done with the rigging and feel I have it all as it should be I will change this out, it will either be marine ply and fiberglass or starboard, I am still undecided. I also added a Trolling motor Receptacle in the mount, to allow for easy disconnect and removal of the motor.
Next up was to install a new thwart, same thing here I have use some scrap wood I had available, and once all the layout has been done i will change that out to some red oak, which will be fully painted and primed.
Once the thwart was in place I added the first piece of equipment, a Stick-It Anchor pin, it comes with two mounting clips, one I placed on the front seat and the other on the gunnel.
I will add more later this week, to show the progress.
