Trolling Motor on New Pontoon

[C_M_25]

Hey guys! This is my first post, and me and my wife just bought a new pontoon. We have never boated before, but we absolutely love it. We bought a 20 ft Sweetwater with a 90 HP Yamaha. The thing runs like a dream, and with the top down, I can get it up to 26 mph which I thought is pretty good. Anyway, I ended up settling on a cruiser even though I love to fish. I just thought the seating arrangements were better for when we had a couple of people with us. Luckily for me, it has a front deck outside the railing that is about 18 inches wide, so I can stand out front to fish, sit in the lounge and cast over the side, open the side gate, and sit on the tanning table thing on the back of the boat, so there are plenty of places to fish from. The only problem I ran into was that when we were idling up a narrow part of the lake, we quickly went from 4 ft water depth to 2 or less (not sure cause my depth finder started glitching out.) Unfortunately, only 200 yard up from that point was one of the best bass fishing spots ever with submerged trees and giant bass jumping out of the water.

I would like to mount a trolling motor to the front decking (outside the rail). However, I do not want the motor to lay down into the boat when it is not in use. I don't really want to have a half front gate. I would rather it lay along the front decking outside of the railing, i.e. across the width of the boat, not along the length of the boat. Does anybody know if a trolling motor can be mounted like that? Does any of that makes sense? I will upload pictures when I get home later today.

[Mosnowman]

I have a 25 foot Harris that sounds similar. I mounted a Minn Kota Pontoon trolling motor outside the playpen and on the right side of the deck. It folds down across the deck outside the playpen and has a quick disconnect to remove it when not in use. Unfortunately I was going to test it out last weekend but my trolling motor connections wouldn't fit my portable marine battery.i just ordered the MinnKota power control battery box to make things easier. I am assuming it will work with a little practice not being in the center of the deck. I too did not want it blocking or in front of my center gate...

[jediger]

I've used a Minn Kota Terrova on a quick release that should mount that way pretty easily. The stowed mounting wouldn't be my first concern. I would worry more about the effect that having your trolling motor offset to one side might have on ease of use. There's a reason we center the outboard on the back of the boat. You might have some pull to the left or right as a result of putting the motor on the outside of one toon.

You could always put two quick release pucks on the boat and move the motor between stowed and deployed but that would be a pain too. I suspect it will require compromise either way. Centered off the front will be easiest for use but will put it in the way when it's not in use. Stowed left to right and deployed off the side will keep it out of the way, but make for slightly more care required when in use. It will also take up a good chunk of your front casting platform when not in use. If you plan on doing a lot of casting when your not trolling this might be an additional trip hazard. Hmm. Choices.

[C_M_25]

Yeah, it seems pretty simple if you want to have it drop off of the side of the toons. Isn't that kinda how they are mounted on the bows of bass boats or fish & ski boats?

Is it possible to mount the bracket at a bit of an angle and have it drop of the front of the toon somewhere in the middle?

[NonHyphenAmerican]

I have a buddy that's an "Old School" machinist.

He'd be able to fabricate a mount that could be set Center, and then Stowed to alleviate your issues.

I'm betting that you could find one in your area and have them do the same thing.

For instance, why not have a sliding plate for the mount that would slide back under the decking between the toons.

Wanna fish? Slide it forward, lock in place, lock trolling motor to it.

Gonna be tooning with a group of people, stow the trolling motor and slide the mounting plate back under the decking with a pin at the very front of the decking to keep it in place.

[C_M_25]

Here are some pictures of the front of my ride. There is plenty of room to put something up there. Do you guys think a manual trolling motor would be best since they just stand straight up and down?