Mounting trolling motor on pontoon boat

[pauldbennett]

I want to mount a hand controlled trolling motor on the front of my pontoon boat and was wondering how you guys did it. Concerned about cables and mounting transducer. Does any body have pictures are can you guys offer any advice. I will also be using a FishMark 380 or 480 as a fish finder. My first post so please be kind.

[Jerry Blake]

Hey Paul:

Welcome to the board. Do you already have the trolling motor or are you going to purchase one? They make TMs expecially for mounting to the front of pontoon boats. The brackets are designed to mount to the deck and have a quick release so the whole TM can be removed when not in use and for storage/security.

http://www.minnkotamotors.com/produc...nt/pontoon.asp

I've always had problems in the past with TM mounted transducers - sooner or later the transducer cable gets damaged and the transducer has to be replaced.

TighLock makes a memovable/clamp on transducer mount that may work for you.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...89769?v=glance

[pauldbennett]

No I haven't bought a tm yet. I was also concerned about ware and tare on df cables.

[Woohdog]

I used to use a tm with our pontoon boat. Attached a mounting bracket to the front of the boat and attached the transducer to the bottom of the trolling motor with a big hose clamp. The fishfinder was mounted to a piece of 2x6 that could easily be carried on/off the boat with the motor. If I were you, I'd get all the thrust you can afford. I had 48 lbs on a 26 ft. boat, and if there was much wind, it got pretty hard to keep up.

[Tight Line Fever]

I put a Minn Kota 55PD trolling motor on my pontoon last year it is not a hand controll. The plate that come with it works very good easy to take off at night to have it out of the floor an not hanging off the boat in the way.: