Minn Kota Autopilot?

[treepotato]

Hi everyone , I just purchased a skeeter boat and it has a Minn Kota Autopilot foot controlled trolling motor on the front. I cannot figure out how to run the cable from my Eagle depth finder to the motor of my Minn Kota without leaving a lot of slack wire hanging that Im afraid would get caught on stuff. Because of the way the trolling motor shaft runs through the mounting bracket it makes it impossible to wire tie the cable to the length of the shaft. I was wondering if any of you use an auto pilot or are familiar with a good way to mount a transducer to it? What are some of your thoughts on the autopilot as I don't have an owners manual to it and no experience with it at all. Thanks ...........treepotato

[Shellback]

I've been running an AP and or a Powerdrive for a number of years now. Here's how I do it. I wire tie the cable to the shaft just above the motor, then run the cable thru the handle, and wire tie it again at the top of the shaft, leaving just a little slack in the cable. If you want to get fancy, you can also run the cable down thru the center of the coil that runs from the head to the base. I don't bother with that step myself. Pretty sure the directions given with the motor specify running it the way I said.

[Moose1am]

Make sure to leave a loop of extra cable so that the motor can turn 360 deg and not rip the cable up and break it. I forgot to do that on my Minkota Trolling motor All Terrain and it broke the Humminbird Transducer cable that was attached between my trolling motor transducer and my humminbird LCR 8000. I was lucky to find another transducer at Humminbird to use as a back up. I fixed the break in the wiring inside the cable and then it broke at the L connector again.


The part of the trolling motor that does not spin where it meets the shaft that does turn is where I have left more cable in the form of a loop. That way I was able to cable tie the transducer cable ot the shaft and then fix it with some cable tie loops to not get in the way when I raise and lower the trolling motor. There is another way to cut the transducer cable. ie get it caught between the trolling motor and the storage mount.


I wish I had a trolling motor that has the transducer built right into the motor housing with the wires running up inside the shaft and designed for use with my particular depth finder.

I've been running an AP and or a Powerdrive for a number of years now. Here's how I do it. I wire tie the cable to the shaft just above the motor, then run the cable thru the handle, and wire tie it again at the top of the shaft, leaving just a little slack in the cable. If you want to get fancy, you can also run the cable down thru the center of the coil that runs from the head to the base. I don't bother with that step myself. Pretty sure the directions given with the motor specify running it the way I said.