So, fishing last night on a reservoir with lots of submerged stumps, and bumped hard into a stump, causing the shaft on my minn Kota rip tide to crack, it doesn’t appear to be cracked all the way through, and the Damage is about 5-6” long. I’m curious if anyone has done a repair on these ( epoxy and sand?) or if I should plan on just replacing the whole shaft. I’d hate for water to get down into the motor, and I’d hate even more to snap the shaft in half during a tournament, however things raw tight these days and if I can get away with repairing it, I’d like to. Thoughts??

 

 

P.s. I’m trying to post pictures however it says my file is too large so I need to mess with that to see if I can get pictures up 

Replacement shaft is your best choice.

I don't know what rigid composite polymer the shaft is made from? 

You could drill a1/8" hole at both ends of the crack, grind a V groove between the holes along the crack. Without knowing the polymer it's impossible to suggest what epoxy to use that will bond to it? Maybe contact Minn-Kota and ask them for a repair procedure.

Tom

Don't their shafts carry a lifetime warranty?  

Unfortunately it’s a two year warranty, and the motor is 3 years old. What’s worse is my gear guard from bass pro expired a month ago (doh!) 

 

looks like the the shaft is pretty cheap, and it can be replaced, so I’ll be attempting it Sunday 

Wow...I've smacked my TM into a lot of underwater stuff, and at decent speed sometimes (like 3 MPH +) and never seen a problem like that.

 

I just checked the Minn Kota website: https://www.minnkotamotors.com/support/warranty/freshwater-trolling-motors

 

MINN KOTA LIMITED LIFETIME WARRANTY ON THE COMPOSITE SHAFT

JOME warrants to the original retail purchaser only that the composite shaft of the purchaser’s Minn Kota trolling motor will be materially free from defects in materials and workmanship appearing within the original purchaser’s lifetime. JOME will provide a new composite shaft, free of charge, to replace any composite shaft found by JOME to be defective during the term of this warranty. Providing a new composite shaft shall be the sole and exclusive liability of JOME and the sole and exclusive remedy of the purchaser for breach of this warranty; and purchaser shall be responsible for installing, or for the cost of labor to install, any new composite shaft provided by JOME.

 

 

8 hours ago, Further North said:

defects in materials and workmanship

Does not apply to smacking a stump.  

I did find the limited lifetime on the composite shaft, the question is was the shaft defective and that’s why when I hit the stump it snapped? Guess that is minn Kota’s call, I also have to send it (at a charge to me) to them, which would probably cost me more than a new shaft is anyway. 

14 hours ago, TOXIC said:

Does not apply to smacking a stump.  

I would think that it would...as I mentioned I've smacked into lots of things at 3 MPH + and never had a problem.

10 hours ago, Big Mike in Fl said:

I did find the limited lifetime on the composite shaft, the question is was the shaft defective and that’s why when I hit the stump it snapped? Guess that is minn Kota’s call, I also have to send it (at a charge to me) to them, which would probably cost me more than a new shaft is anyway. 

I would guess that any local service center could make the call about why the shaft broke.

 

Minn Kota has been very good to me, they replaced a bent motor shaft that I told them I ran into a rock with.