American Eagle Canoe - A journey to the Dark Side!

[JoeS]

Looking forward to the update John...... the Motor mount is of extreme interest to me......I am going to put one on my 16' Mohawk......

[JoeS]

John as for the motor mount I was thinking of mounting a flippable type mount...this would prevent bent motor shafts, broken mounts, and damaged boats, ect ect.......just me thinking out loud......
Obviously not this but the same concept......
http://store.springcreek.com/Canoe-Acce ... p1418.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TRKpoker]

forget where i saw the instructions (years ago) but I made a "part" that would fit my trolling motor so that it wouldnt lock in the down position....rather easy to make out of some scrap plastic for the motor I used to have.....attached a small string to it and the motor...anytime i was in shallow water of any kind I would insert this plastic piece and it would keep the motor from locking down and hurting the shaft if I ran aground....bought my father a motor a few years back for his jon boat that had a flex shaft...just enough bend if you hit something that it wouldnt damage the shaft.

[John]

I don't think you truly have to worry about breaking the shaft on a Minn kota, It's not like you're going 20mph when you strike bottom.
So I don't see the need for a flipping style mount.

I like the idea of it not locking down, but does the motor stay in position, I.e. not ride upward under full power.

Anyway I am heading to the shed, will update in a few hours, going to remove the mount, to work on the electrical rigging, so will take pics if It's construction for you guys.

[Rik]

I like the idea of it not locking down, but does the motor stay in position, I.e. not ride upward under full power.

It won't ride up in forward. It definitely will in reverse.

I had a lock override on the Endura 30 when I had it on the canoe. Always forgot to remove it when I put it in reverse. You find out pretty quickly.

[John]

First off apologies, I went into shed to work on the canoe, but I needed to clean up my work bench first, that's when my ADD kicked in and instead of just tidying my work bench I did the whole shed, all 500sqft of it.

So not as much progress as hoped.

Anyway, here's some pics of the mount, you can see the bracket is mounted via 4# 2" 1/4-20 Stainless Steel bolts, secured with nylock nuts, it is mounted to 2# pieces of 3/4" plywood sandwiched together.












The ply is then mounted to the canoe under the gunnel lip, with 4# 2" SS Screws, through the hull.

[John]

I will post more as I progress with the next stage, which will be to add another piece of plywood, 1/2" this time, a facial panel to house the switch panel and circuit breaker.

I removed a 1/2" from the bottom piece of 3/4" to accommodate the facial panel.

[John]

The final pieces will likely be made of Starboard, so all the ply I am cutting now will become my templates.

The hole you see in the motor mount base is for the trolling motor receptacle.

The switch panel I bought has 5# switches and 1# 12 volt plug, I am going to rewire the panel so one of the switches controls the plug.
The plug will be used for a bilge pump, the bilge will be removal (for car topping) so will be wired using a 12 Volt plug.

The remaining 4 switches will be for, running lights, fish finder, stern light and another 12volt plug on the thwart. This will serve as additional power for a phone charger, Searchlight or heaven forbid a live well!!

The fishfinder will be a combo GPS unit, I have my eye on a very nice Lorance, color unit, it is due to go on sale end of this month.

I intend the fishfinder to primarily be used for fishing lakes, rivers and canals.

[galletaloco]

What kind of seat do you have?I'm. Rigging up an eagle 12 like the idea of a back rest

[John]

The seats are from Walmart, Ozark Trail Stadium seats, only $17, great seats for the money very comfortable.

[galletaloco]

Thanks

[chuckm310]

Hi,
With you, the batt. and motor in back, what kind of bow rise do you expect when fishing alone? Not talking about acceleration but just sitting still.

Thanks Chuck

[John]

Battery is up front, in front of the front seat, cables are long enough that I can move it to behind the front seat if I have a passenger upfront.

Even with the battery upfront, the how still sits high, so I put 2# 5Gallon water bags up front, which puts another 80lbs upfront and keeps the bow down in the water.

[John]

Finally got some time to work on the canoe again, with the crappy weather I decided to finalize the mount.

Thanks to Rik I found a place that sells off cut Starboard Pieces, managed to get a 12" x 24" piece of 3/4" in white for $20, this will become the mount for the trolling motor bracket to sit on.

Also got a piece of 1/4" to make the console, the console will house the fused switch panel, trolling motor plug, 50Amp circuit breaker and the Ground bus bar.

Using the pieces of ply as templates I cut and shaped the starboard, man this stuff is great to work with, skill-saw goes through it like butter and sand easily.

I also painted the metal bracket, with white advanced Rustoleum, not sure how well it will hold up, but so far it had 2 good cots and I will add 2 more before final installation.

Here's a pic of the pieces, mocked up, still have the wiring harness to complete, behind the console and install the bilge pump.
Hoping to get those done this evening.

The console held in place by screws into the motor mount, so access will be easy if I need to get behind to reset the breaker.

I thought I would need to reinforce the console, but the starboard is so rigid, just being screwed along the top holds it solid.



The switch panel has 5 switches and a 12volt receptacle I have reconfigured it so the the receptacle is controlled via one of the switches, this mean I can have the bilge pump on a 12 volt plug into the receptacle and simply flick the switch on and off as when I need it.

Bilge will be mounted at the base of the console, for right now the outflow will just go over the side, but I may configure a permanent port in the side that I can attache the hose to, still working on that one.

After I complete the wiring harness the thwart is the next job. I am anxious to get this done as my toy arrived in the mail, after being on back order since Xmas, my gift from my wife finally arrived.



This thing looks slick and before everyone says you don't need a fish-finder on the flats, I intend to use it primarily for lakes and rivers, although the GPS feature will be used on the flats.


http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Marine ... ite-4-DSI/

[John]

Finished the console wiring last night, all connections were soldered, crimped, and heat shrunk.






Installed the bilge on a removable bracket, (I want to be able to keep the canoe car topable ) wired via plug and receptacle, heat shrunk the wires between the bilge and plug.

[DaveR]

Fancy Shmancy!