Trolling Motor- Rudder Question

[Dave R1]

Last night I finally got a mount for the trolling motor fitted to the transom of Julie K. After the varnishing is finished, I'll put it on for good.

I've been thinking about how to deal with the possible conflict between rudder and prop. I'm also thinking it would be nice to steer the motor with the wheel along with the rudder. That would prevent the prop from eating at the rudder, to.

Here's a quickie sketch of the idea I have for linking the two. Sorry, it isn't up to my usual standard. I just eyeballed the location of the motor.

Anyway, I'm thinking of some sort of linkage like I've shown. I haven't figured out how this sort of thing would work with raising the motor and removing it while sailing.

I have been considering modifying the motor by removing the head and moving the control inside the boat. I've been trying to come up with a way to keep the motor from interfering with the mainsheet.

Anyone have any thoughts they'd like to share? Thanks.

By the way, does anyone have the link to the pictures of the Stevenson's motor mount? I couldn't find it on their site.

Dave

[Bill Paxton]

Dave, you might want to contact Jeff Tam. At one of our messabouts I noticed that he has a trolling motor that turns with the rudder using a rig very similar to your drawing. I think he has already invented this wheel. Write me offline if you need his email address.

[Tim Diebert]

Now why would you wanna go and do that Dave? :shock:

If you can lock yer motor in the dead ahead position, then just steer with the tiller or wheel or whatever.

I do it this way with my giant gas motor....I would assume it would work the same way with one of those little electron jobs.

I just leave the tiller untended, adjust the motor until the boat tracks perfectly, then steer with the rudder.

The only time I use the motor to steer is in real tight situations.

Man, those renderings kill me.

[Dave R1]

Tim, I guess I just figured I'd have better control if the motor moves with the rudder. Problem is, I think the rudder will hit the prop in a left turn.

[Tim Diebert]

Problem is, I think the rudder will hit the prop in a left turn.

Oh....right.....I hadn't thought of that. My motor is on one of those stainless, springloaded rascals that puts the motor further aft. Yours would be hard up against the transom more or less...

My Bad. :oops:

[Dave R1]

No sweat, Tim. I had a thought though that if I add a bit of thickness to the top of my motor mount, I might be able to shift the motor aft enough to get the rudder to clear it in a left turn.

[kydocfrog]

Hmmm...gotta think on this. I have one of those spring mounted things too, but my gut check when I test fitted the motor is that I put it too far inboard and I'm going to have discussion between the prop and the rudder. My initial thought was pull the rudder up and steer with the motor, but I like this linkage idea.

DocA

[Dave R1]

Doc, I was originally thinking of one of those mounts but every one I found cost more than the motor. I ended up with a piece of white ash that I had laying around bolted to the transom.

[Dave R1]

Doc, I was also thinking along the lines of this.

The idea is that the motor could be raised and lowered vertically while the linkage is connected. Still have to work out the trick of pivoting the motor up.

[Barry Pyeatt]

This is the link to the Stevenson's electrick motor ideas. http://www.stevproj.com/EMotorIdeas.html

If the motor is mounted to the far left of the traansom it should clear under normal use. The only issue as far as hitting the prop would be if the tiller turns more than about 35 degrees.

The articulating arm almost has to disconnect when raising the motor to work. The Geometry just doesn't work for a fixed shaft to connect the two. The big issue as I see it is the motor would still need to pivot thru the normal travel of the tiller when connected regardless of its position, in or out of the water.

Disconnecting the connecting arm eliminates that issue when raised. But it is a bit of a physical stretch to get there to do that. One other idea that was thrown my way was a two part articulating arm with a lock on it that allowed it to swing with the tiller and allow the motor to just set inplace when raised. This could be a slider, tube in tube or an angled two part arm. Then lock the arm when the motor is down to tie them together. Still means a bit of a reach to get to things and awkward.

I"ve pretty well decided that it will be a straight ahead design for me but with a tension lock on the shaft to allow it to pop up if it hits something solid. This will take care of the motor lifting and the prop coming out of the water in reverse. Bungee cord to keep it down maybe? :idea:

Now, what to do with the control head? :?

[kydocfrog]

Dave in RI

Lost the link on your last post to the dreaded little redx.

[kydocfrog]

never mind, it just appeared.

[kydocfrog]

My mount pivots up and the motor (my much maligned seagull, I add) also pivots up to a trail position. Just off the top of my head I would see a linkage that was permanenty attatched on a universal of some sort to the motor and then, when the motor was down, swung over and dropped over a pintle arrangement on the back of the rudder box.

what do you do those wonderful sketches in?

DocA

[Dave R1]

Barry, thanks for the link. That's what I wanted to see.

Doc, you're thinking along the same lines as I am. BTW, the sketches are done with a program called SketchUp. Easy as pie. Thanks for the compliments. Evidently they kill Tim which worries me a bit.

[PAR]

A few years ago I made a mount for a friend's Catalina 22. It has a transom hung rudder/tiller and the trolling motor is mounted to the rudderhead. It turns with the rudder, pivots up and out of the water when not needed or can be removed very easily. The powerhead (controls and handle) is mounted to the underside of the aft end of the tiller. When you swing the rudder the motor steers with it. It can't hit he rudder as it's mounted directly behind it and locks into position.

I've since made another for my sailer and it works without the worry of a linkage or the rudder getting eaten by the prop.

It boils down to a small plate screwed to the rudder head, where the motor shaft has a pivot and locking pin located. The plate has two holes (one each for down and up) and a third for the pivot. The pivot is a pin passing through the motor shaft and plate. A captured ball style of pin is used to hold the shaft in it's up/down positions and the pivot. The control/power head (the part that has the switches and twist grip) was cut off, the wires extended to a bulkhead connector and then screwed to the underside of the tiller. I also had to bend the shaft to get around the shape of the rudder head.

It's a very simple device, it has few parts, most don't move and is easy to operate. I have added a second plate, sistering the one on the rudder head so the pivot is "sandwiched" and I've installed a lifting lanyard on the shaft, because I have a small aft deck, making reaching over the stern cumbersome.

I see no reason it couldn't be adapted to work on the rudder box of a Weekender/Vacationer.

I have a rough drawing, though nothing as elegant as Dave's work, but detailing the arrangement. It's a bit distorted, but you can get the idea.

[Dave R1]

PAR, thanks for that idea. That is intriguing. Wish I'd seen that before I drilled holes in my boat.

Actually, I had thought of mounting the motor on the rudder box.

There was a fellow in Hayward, WI who had bought an old Weekender that had no sails. He couldn't wait to take the boat out and clamped a motor to the rudder box. I wonder how the eyebolts and their holes would fare with the added weight of a motor on it.

Hmm....

[Barnacle Jim]

Hi Dave,

Maybe someone else has already mentioned this, but what about simply mounting the motor to the rudder proper?

By that I mean, simply encasing the motor so that motor and rudder become one entity. The drawback to this approach would be the resultant drag which PAR's suggestion eliminates altogether.

I think a boat design called China Doll has an encased trolling motor in its rudder.

What size motor were you thinking about using?

[JTam]

Hi all,

I linked my trolling motor to my tiller/rudderbox. I did this for two reasons: 1. The power unit on the trolling motor is very long and did hit the rudder, and 2. moving the motor and the rudder as a unit increased my control and decreased my turning radius when motoring.

I combined two designs found on the following websites:

www.geocities.com/thomas_m_stockwell/TillerToMotor.html and http://dragonfly-trimarans.org/d920_motor_link.htm.

I also converted my weekender from a wheel to a tiller. So my rudderbox is taller than the plans show. This made constructing the linkage simpler

I'll try to post some pic's of what I did later.[/img]

[Dave R1]

Barnacle Jim, I know the boat you're talking about. It is Devlin's Nancy's China DC. The idea is interesting but as you say, the drag would be a drag. If it was possible to get a folding prop or the existing prop would freewheel, that might not be as much of a problem.

Drag or no, I don't think the conventional rudder and rudder box from the plans is suitable for the added weight. Perhaps a re-engineered rudder and box would be in order.

I got a good deal on a new but previous model Minn Kota 47lb thrust motor. The motor is fairly weighty with an aluminum shell around it. Almost all the weight is there since the shaft is carbon fiber and the head is plastic and air.

Another thing that I'm trying to avoid is moving the CG of the boat aft. The battery will be in the forepeak which will help counter the weight of the motor aft but I think the Weekender would benefit from a bit of weight up front to balance lard (mine) in the cockpit. I won't get as much benefit from the Group 24 battery up front with the addition of the motor in the back.

[Dave R1]

Thanks Jeff. I'll have to take a look at that first link at work. My computer at home doesn't like the Java app used there. The other link wouldn't come up for me.

Dave