I thought about doing it last year but didn’t get around to trying it. It will take a couple trips just playing with it to learn it good enough to be comfortable with it. The one time last year I was going to try it while we were running poles, the tide was really ripping in the sound and I could barely make headway. We did use the spotlock while waiting on the bait to soak, though.
'06 Mckee Craft
184 Marathon
DF140 Suzuki
I finally got a chance to get the boat out and play with the trolling motor. The spot lock didn’t seem to hold the 5 foot radius that they claim. Maybe 10-15 foot. The wind was gusty though and the tide running hard.
I ran it for a good hour on 10 running on big bay creek. The batteries were showing 3/4 tank when I got home. The heading hold seemed to work decent. I did get a fair amount of drift and had to correct it in the creek some.
I did try and keep the trolling motor mounted in the center but it is offset some. Maybe that makes it harder to correct? I didn’t have it all the way down either, maybe a foot under the water surface.
Hydra-Sports 22 Bay Sport
225 Rude
14’ Stumpnocker
15 Rude
make sure the boat has lost headway (stopped) before hitting the anchor button.
I’ve been told that minimizes the radius.
quote:
Originally posted by stickmanmake sure the boat has lost headway (stopped) before hitting the anchor button.
I’ve been told that minimizes the radius.
I will try that next time. I also wonder if it learns how much power to use the longer it’s run. It seemed to me it was trying to hold still at .5 to 1.5 for a long time then it would gas itself up to 4-5 and take off.
I am wondering if I should have bought the 36v motor. I know I had a 15-20mph wind and stiff tide, but it would only run 2mph. When I was going with the tide it was 4.5-5mph. Brand new batteries 100% charged.
I am soon out of my 30 day return window so if I decide I need bigger I have to get the ball rolling.
Hydra-Sports 22 Bay Sport
225 Rude
14’ Stumpnocker
15 Rude
Matt, that’s been my experience with mine in a stiff wind and current as well. 10’ radius is about what mine does in those conditions. On calmer days it still moves around a good bit, but not nearly as much. It still beats pulling an anchor, though!!
The way the tides rip around here and the size of your boat, the 36v might not be a bad idea.
'06 Mckee Craft
184 Marathon
DF140 Suzuki
You need a bigger motor.
One tip that I use while looking for fish and using the anchor feature is this. I idle around looking for my spot, either structure or when on the lake it’s fish. When I find the spot I want to be, I hit the anchor button. Now here is the key. The trolling motor is still stowed away. I wait until I see the prop spin, and make sure I am still over the spot I want to be. Hit cancel. Then drop the motor, and hit the anchor button to return to that saved spot number. It will probably be 1 unless you have another saved anchor spot that you are trying to keep stored. The boat will return right to that spot and lock in.
Much better than trying to drop the motor, and then hit anchor after you already drifted 10-15 feet past your spot. Or watch the motor to a hard reverse.
“Banana Pants”
Indigo Bay 170
90 Johnson
Wilderness Ride 115
My motor will not do anything while stowed away. The remote will not even turn on.
I talked to Minn Kota today and they said even with getting an additional 40% thrust with the 112 motor I might gain .5mph in the same scenario. I asked if there was a different prop I could use as I don’t need the weedless prop and they said that the weedless 2 was the best.
I will just use it as is. That was honestly about the worst current I encounter. Just drifting with the tide my Garmin showed 2.5mph. Hopefully this weekend I will see how it holds over structure at the edisto 40 or 4ki.
Hydra-Sports 22 Bay Sport
225 Rude
14’ Stumpnocker
15 Rude
Geronomo is right on…I use his method and I also deploy the motor with it facing straight ahead while I’m idiling around the lake looking for fish. When I mark enough fish to fish for, hit the spot lock and start baiting up…a great help to get on fish quickly…
Fishing is a prefectible art…in which nevertheless, no man is perfect – Gifford Pinchot
Ice Blue Pathfinder 2200
“Kemosabe”
<’}}}><
You are the first person I have heard of say the remote doesn’t do anything while stowed. Must be a new feature. Sucks for everyone that buys a new one if that’s the case as I can’t see using it any other way.
.5 mph will be the difference of moving forward in that current and moving backwards. My dad has a 112 thrust Minn Kota on a 22’ Ranger, heaviest 22’ bay boat I know of, and he has yet to encounter a current that he can’t motor against.
“Banana Pants”
Indigo Bay 170
90 Johnson
Wilderness Ride 115
My remote will come on and almost immediately turn off if my trolling motor is not deployed. Here’s another tip for those of you that record routes to return to and fish. Deploy the motor but slide the collar all the way down so that the motor is sticking up in the air and completely out of the water. Start recording your route using your outboard motor to run it. This saves a lot of time over just using the trolling motor to run the route and recording it. I have not tried this with the boat on plane, just at fast idle. This works great for people that bass fish.
Molon Labe!
Until you have loved a dog, part of your soul remains unawakened. - Anatole France (paraphrased)
RIP my “Puppy Dog” 10/15/2004 - 1/14/2013
quote:
Originally posted by BowhunterMy remote will come on and almost immediately turn off if my trolling motor is not deployed. Here’s another tip for those of you that record routes to return to and fish. Deploy the motor but slide the collar all the way down so that the motor is sticking up in the air and completely out of the water. Start recording your route using your outboard motor to run it. This saves a lot of time over just using the trolling motor to run the route and recording it. I have not tried this with the boat on plane, just at fast idle. This works great for people that bass fish.
Molon Labe!
Until you have loved a dog, part of your soul remains unawakened. - Anatole France (paraphrased)
RIP my “Puppy Dog” 10/15/2004 - 1/14/2013
BRILLIANT!
“Banana Pants”
Indigo Bay 170
90 Johnson
Wilderness Ride 115
quote:
Originally posted by Geronimoquote:
Originally posted by BowhunterMy remote will come on and almost immediately turn off if my trolling motor is not deployed. Here’s another tip for those of you that record routes to return to and fish. Deploy the motor but slide the collar all the way down so that the motor is sticking up in the air and completely out of the water. Start recording your route using your outboard motor to run it. This saves a lot of time over just using the trolling motor to run the route and recording it. I have not tried this with the boat on plane, just at fast idle. This works great for people that bass fish.
Molon Labe!
Until you have loved a dog, part of your soul remains unawakened. - Anatole France (paraphrased)
RIP my “Puppy Dog” 10/15/2004 - 1/14/2013
BRILLIANT!
“Banana Pants”
Indigo Bay 170
90 JohnsonWilderness Ride 115
What he said!
I’ve had the iPilot for a year but haven’t tried either of these tactics. Great advice guys. Thanks!
Dave
2000 SeaPro 170CC
Yamaha 90 2-smoke
Used my iPilot for the first time on Sunday. The Spot Lock featured worked great holding in the current of an outgoing tide, however there was very little wind to affect drift. The prop never throttled above 2. It was also cool to have the ability to control the boat while away from the helm. I fished for about an hour on an inshore spot that is an ‘anchor eater’ and caught a 32" redfish. Didn’t throw the hook out once the entire day. Looking forward to trying it out bottom fishing.
It’s a great life, if you don’t weaken…
Another little tip for recording a route with the outboard is record it backwards from your intended fishing path. When you stop recording, you are now at the “beginning” of the route. Just use your trolling motor and run it “backwards”. This will save a little time, especially on long routes, from having to drive back to the beginning.
Molon Labe!
Until you have loved a dog, part of your soul remains unawakened. - Anatole France (paraphrased)
RIP my “Puppy Dog” 10/15/2004 - 1/14/2013
I have a 80#/60" on my 19’ TwinVee. You might think hard about the bigger model for your boat, if you can afford it get the bigger one. The 80# is good for about 6 hrs on my boat running it hard (24v) using 360ah batteries. I’d also invest in an two/three bank onboard charger and wire it in ($120-ish for PS2 Dual model). I LOVE MY iPILOT and Humminbird linked in with it. I can go fish alone a LOT easier now.
I have the MinnKota 2 bank on-board charger, so I’m hoping that won’t be a problem. I really didn’t want to give up the space an addtional battery would require.
It’s a great life, if you don’t weaken…