Since the first fishing trip with my boat, I noticed the Motor Guide trolling motor that came with the boat was not powerful enough for my 21ft Fish Master boat. It worked well in charm waters, but didn’t have enough power to control the boat in strong winds or tides. This caused me to use my anchor more than I would like. Also, the shaft was too short for my boat. In rough waters, the prop would often come completely out the water. After 5 years struggling with it, I decided to replace it with a Minn Kota Riptide SF 80lbs trust with a 62″ shaft trolling motor.
Below are pictures of the existing Motor Guide trolling motor.
Deployed Motor
Deployed Motor
Stored Motor
The first step was to remove the Motor Guide. It was simple. There were only 4 bolts attaching it to the beck of the boat. I also cleaned the area once I removed the old motor.
Cleaned Deck
The next step was to mount the new Minn Kota trolling mount. This also was very simple. The Minn Kota mounting bracket has mounting screw locations that line up with the Motor Guide screw holes. Therefore, I just had to line up the holes and insert the 4 bolts. The Minn Kota installation guide recommended using 6 bolts. Therefore, I had to drill two additional holes and insert two additional bolts. Then, I installed the motor to the mounting bracket. That is not the recommended order. However, it was too hard to install the bolts with the motor attached to the bracket.
Minn Kota Mounting Bracket
New Motor In Stored Position
The new Minn Kota shaft is so long it was challenging to deploy the motor under my carport. The motor kept hitting the ceiling. I had to actually lower the motor completely to clear the ceiling, however then the prop was hitting the ground. I’m sure the extra length will make handling the waves much easier.
Deployed Motor
Deployed Motor
The differencing in the shaft length is obvious. What is not so obvious is the addition power.
Motor Comparison
The job would not be complete without a brand new set of batteries to go with my new motor. I installed 2 new Optima D27M deep cycle batteries for the trolling motor. I should be able to go the whole day with the trolling motor losing any power.
New Optima Batteries
I can’t wait to try this baby out.
