Hi.

I have a 2005 Motor guide bow mount, 45lbs of thrust.

I HATE THIS THING

1) Broken down both times iv'e used it( it a long story)

2) this is the most annoying. You can't EVER LET YOUR FOOT OFF IT, NEVER. EVEN AT SETTING ONE, WITH EVERYTHING TIGHT IT WILL JERK TO LEFT OR RIGHT IN 2 SECONDS MAX.

3) IT SUCKS DOWN THE BIGEST BATTERY( AND NEW) THAT I CAN GET. Try switching the leads to the outboard battery in the middle of a windy lake.

4) MELTED, YES MELTED THE FUSE/CONNECTION YESTERDAY.

5 Lastly the "connection cable from motor to box is  major pain. can't find a decent spot to mount it and the cable is not very forgiving

 

I am new to bow mounts. My last boat was a 13 foot aluminum row boat from wards with a 4 hp Minn Kota 24V electric. That was great until I finally burned up the last switch they made ( I constantly got pulled over for having an outboard)

 

I'm really looking for hints, instructions, what you can and can't expect, stuff like that.

If there are other brands that are better and I don't have to concentrate on steering all the time it would be nice.

That 4 hp rear mount was great, fast but also I could set it at a creep and it didn't turn on it's own.

 

Now I have a 17 foot crestliner with at least 10 gallons of fuel, 50 HP mercury  seats, empty live well ect. Man is it slow for doing any resevore fishing. I don't expect the same performance out of a 12 V with 17 foot of wire but it has become a major pain in my butt.

 

Any input would help. I'm installing Farm knife switches on both batteries and might be able to run 4 10AWG wires to front( not sure yet about the wires)

 

Thanks

 

Oh forgot... on way back I gave up. Sat in front seat with foot controller on my lap driving with hands and it was still a constant adjustment. also yes I played around with the trim, but didn't make a difference as long as the tail piece was in the water.

this controller seems to take a lot of force to move it and it's almost impossible to do very small corrections.

 

Please a Bow Mount 101 would be great

I live my MG the biggest things I dislike were how quick it would turn on its own. I fixed that by building a rubber sleeve that connects main shaft the the steering shaft and is tightened down to tighten the steering. TH marine sells a purpose built one for 25 or 30 bucks I built one for 6. 

 

The other thing I dislike is that the motor goes to what ever speed your on instantly. That you just have to get use to if your on higher speeds. 

 

 My motor is super strong and super easy on batteries So I love that 

Thanks, I think I have an old inner tube I can use a piece of.

Look in the mirror and you will see the problem with your MG TM, operator error.

1. Use 6 gage stranded copper wire to power the TM. Do not use knife switchs.

2. Mount the foot peddle.

3. Bow mount TM's are used to control the boat not propel it.

I have a 2005 MG Digital pro 82 lb 24V bow mounted TM on my TR175  bass boat since it was new without any handling issues and still runs and operates perfectly.

Tom

@WRB covered almost everything I was going to post.

Only one thing I would add.

My previous boat was  similar to your setup.

It had a 45 pound thrust motor when I bought it used.  this worked fine in calm water, but was not enough power in the wind. running it on high most of the time quickly depleted the battery.

I stepped up to a 24 volt 70 pound thrust motor and had power to spare. the batteries also lasted much longer.

adding an onboard charger also ensured the batteries were always charged correctly.

Ahhh. I'm a retired electrical engineer and I never did like that run of 10 AWG wire they used. Hopefully they are lose inside the cover and I can pull some bigger wire or 4 10 AWG's through it.

The knife switches are so I don't have to switch wires. Most of the water around here is drinking water( electric only), . But they are all pretty big reservoirs for an electric.

 

I kill the one battery getting a mile out to the rocks so it will save me some time, my outboard battery is also a big deep cycle. Plus something happened to that lake, it was a trophy bass lake and very good. now just millions of 3 inch minnows. We had a bad drought awhile back and it was turned into a 2 foot puddle.

 

Once I get 20 gallons of gas out of it, it should do better

 

I'm going to head south to VA and AL this year. Guntersville near Huntsville is massive with ramps every 1/2 mile.

 

Thanks

@Russ E

 

Yep... got into the wind and went 1/4 mile backward.

 

I came close to dropping the outboard and paying the ticket.

Run the 2 12V battles in paralell no need for a switch.

1 gage wire is smaller diameter then 2 10 gage wires, the circular mil area or numbers of strands is greater with less resistance. 

The issue with open switches vs marine sealed switch is corrosion from the battery gases. I realize you all the above being a engineer.

You are disgruntled with your TM and suggest you get a 24V MinnKota 70 lb thrust

The smaller thrust MG bow mounts are flimsy, they have Gator mount  that is stronger your motor fits. I am not suggesting you put money into a TM you hate.

Tom

Nah...been retired for 10 years now.. I forgotten 99% and the 1% I don't care.

 

I'll have to check to see if the outboard is grounded to the boat if not it should work.

 

Don't know yet, I'll call and see what would happen if I used the outboard to get back in. Either that or put in a small garden tractor battery as a spare. 

 

Thanks.

 

PS: hey, now I remember, skin effect on wires....crap now I'm an engineer again  Does this mean I have to go back to work?

@WRB

Sorry had a senior moment for awhile.

I ran 2 6 AWG wires from outboard battery over to trolling motor battery. Put them in the plastic protection stuff and put bolts with wing nuts on the connectors then taped them up.

 

Now I have 3 options.

1) Parrell

2) Switch over to single

3) maybe go to 24V ( yes I have another 24V motor with a VERY LONG SHAFT ( I missed that spec when I ordered it 25 years ago).

 

I have to dig it out, might be able to rig it next to outboard and use its steering.

 

I meant to go out yesterday and silicon down the bunk boards but my back and legs said no way, oh well.

 

Thanks for the electric knife suggestion, we used to use them on the farm on tractor batteries with solar panels on the shed roof. We had two with bad designed and leaky electrical systems ( don't ask  ). That's why they came to mind.

 

Thanks a ton, you've saved my butt on these reservoirs.

Shakedowns almost done, need to solder the spade connectors on the trolling motor( that thing had to be built on a Monday morning or  Friday afternoon, everything has come loose), look into using my 24V Stern Motor other than that it was a really good day even with fixing the loose spade connectors.

 

I readjusted the motor and it works much better now, much easier to control and it did fairly well.

I'll look into using my 24V stern Motor later this week, saw three boats with them today.

Well turns out I was just a little off in my expectations. I. measured the distance on Google, it's not a mile......its 2.5 miles to the good spots. Not what that 46 lb was built for.

 

Little too much for a 46lb 12V. I measured its top speed in calm water, 2.8 mph @ approx 20 Amp draw. I can do it now but 1 hour out and 1 hour back in at best.

 

I'll look into that 80 lb 24V for Christmas around $700 now. Even though it's a Motor guide ( for me manufacturing problems) the Minn Kotas range $1,000 to $3,000. My 24v?  I either loaned it out or sold it, I can barely remember now. 

 

Thanks to all, you've  all been a great help.

 

PS: A guy ripped the bow hook off his brand new bayliner, why? Didn't know about safety chain. it's stuff like this that make me feel good that I'm not the only boat idiot around.