Thread: Motor Guide I5 Problems

Originally Posted by Woodworker42

Hopefully some of you guys can help me out. I was out recently with a friend that has recently acquired an I5 and it seemed to be working great UNTIL we were under a bridge and he hit the anchor button and it immediately made a sharp left turn and slammed into the bridge pillar at full speed. We went around to the other side of the pillar and when he hit the anchor button it tried to do the same thing. Got any idea what's going on with this malfunction?

It may have lost its GPS coordinates for Anchor. The Trolling Motor Shop in Broken Arrow works on them.

I have read here on CDC, that it is loosing its GPS signal by being under the bridge. Just food for thought.

Another thing to watch out for and that's the fast correction. If someone is standing in the front of the boat, it can cause them to fall over board. Bobbys XI5 did this once last summer when in open water with no obstructions for the GPS signal. I'm glad I was sitting down.

I do lots of bridge fishing and have never had that happen to me. How close were you to the pillar? They do seek and correct for location, especially as soon as you hit the anchor button and especially if you were moving at any speed when you hit the anchor button. The first time I hit anchor I was moving at a pretty good clip and, if I had been standing up, I would have been thrown from the boat. I was told to anchor from barely moving and it's even better if your nose is into the wind. Then jog into the position you want to hold. When you hit anchor it wants to correct immediately to get to the anchor position. Mine's worked perfectly since doing that. Love mine!

i don't think the xi5 losing gps signal under rock solid concrete is considered a malfunction. that's just how gps works. depends on cloud cover, trees, how many satellites are in your location, whats over your head etc.

Originally Posted by IkenI

I do lots of bridge fishing and have never had that happen to me. How close were you to the pillar? They do seek and correct for location, especially as soon as you hit the anchor button and especially if you were moving at any speed when you hit the anchor button. The first time I hit anchor I was moving at a pretty good clip and, if I had been standing up, I would have been thrown from the boat. I was told to anchor from barely moving and it's even better if your nose is into the wind. Then jog into the position you want to hold. When you hit anchor it wants to correct immediately to get to the anchor position. Mine's worked perfectly since doing that. Love mine!

My experience exactly. Hit anchor at very low speed and facing into the wind.

Thanks for all the input. The boat was barely moving and facing into what little wind there was and was facing with the current. The nose of the boat was about even with the outer edge of the bridge and about 3 ft from the pillar. He hit the anchor button and it just made a hard turn to the left at full acceleration.