Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

My wife and I are in the process of purchasing our first pontoon boat. We want to be able to use it for cruising around with people (my wife's first choice) and also fishing (my requirement). I am looking for advice on mounting a trolling motor that will allow the fishing part, but not mess up the cruising part. The boat we are looking at does not have much exposed deck space in front of the railing. Any ideas or lessons learned will be really helpful.

First of all get a remote one, you have so much space to be on a pontoon for a foot petal to keep you in one spot.

What a lot do is set it up so they can remove it when just crusing

Years ago I had the same desire. To cruise and fish without fishing interfering with cruising.
I had a piece of square 2" aluminum tubing ( kinda like a hitch receiver) and another piece ( forgot size) that would slide inside 2" mounted under floor and off to side so it didn't interfere with loading. I had a piece of flat aluminum welded to smaller slide in piece and mounted trolling motor to it. I used a clevis to hold them together
When we wanted to fish I just slid in the trolling motor and off we went

You can get a mount that is made for a pontoon boat. The plate mounts under the front deck. The shaft holding bracket is attached to the plate and fits just outside the front deck. The bracket is a gate type that opens and closes around the trolling motor shaft with a screw knob. This mount comes with the corresponding screw down fitting that is attached to the trolling motor shaft. This allows the trolling motor to be removed easily when not needed and the motor is not taking up space on the deck. With this set up you can use either a remote trolling motor or tiller type. I would believe that any dealer either has this type mount or has the ability to order. Another important factor in purchasing a trolling motor (other than thrust power) is to get a sufficient shaft length that will get the propeller at least 12 inches under water from your operating/holding position at the bow.

Here's another option:
http://www.lencomarine.com/joyridedualdigit.html

MrGadget wrote:Here's another option:
http://www.lencomarine.com/joyridedualdigit.html

Was going to mention the one's you can add onto the motor, but that rig looks like the best I have seen, nice video on the toon.
doc

That Lenco is a nice set up if you want to spend $2600+ not including installation. Also, not a practical set up for fishing when you are fishing from the bow. It would seem to be ideal for close quarters maneuvering.

I won't argue that it's expensive. Conceptually I like it better than a trolling motor stuck to the bow, having to take it on and off or lay it down on the floor and cut the gate for it. I can envision where a bow trolling motor might interfere or compete for placement with a really good anchoring system (roller, windlass, anchor) and I want that on my bow more than I want propulsion there.

They do have foot pedal controls, micro joystick control, panel switches, and a wireless control.

In both the case of the Lenco or any trolling motor, one still must work out where to put the extra batteries and how to handle the wiring.