[PSUBS-MAILIST] Re: looking for trolling/thruster motors

["Michael B. Holt" <mholt@richmond.edu>]

Captain Nemo wrote:
> 
> MK had an aluminum prop for the 4HP (just a model designation, not a power
> rating) about 15 years ago, but it kept burning up lower ends, so they
> canned it and went back to the plastic weed whacker.  The trouble is the RPM
> ranges and loads that the lower end is designed for don't correspond well
> with larger heavier props.

Well, why are those motors that fast?  What is the advantage of 
a high-speed screw when one's boat is a full-displacement hull,
as most bass boats are when they are under the power of the little
trolling motor?

>  If you could find a big, coarse prop intended for slower RPM that would fit
> on your MK shaft, when you kick the potentiometer up to Warp 9, the load is
> going to fry the motor after not much use.  So then guys start thinking
> about gear drives; but if you're going to do that, why start with an MK?

I was kinda hoping I'd find a low-speed trolling motor.  
 
> Really, the thing I like about trolling motors is that they are something
> you can pretty much just bolt on and run (compensation notwithstanding).
> And they aint bad, by and large.  But if I'm not satisfied with performance,
> I'm not going to mess around trying to adapt a gear reduction to an MK, I'm
> going to piece together a much more powerful motor / reduction / prop/
> controller setup, and run the shaft outside through a watertight coupler.

Their ease of use certainly does argue for using trolling motors.
It never occurred to me to add a reduction gear to a trolling
motor, partly because it's already ready to go and stuffing added
hardware in the case does take a lot of extra resources that I
don't want to expend.

Thanks.



Mike