One electric or two (for NPD mainly)

[Nog]

I see alot of you blokes with both a bowmount and a tiller steer on your dam tinnies.

Is there any advantage by having a tiller steer in addition to a bowmount.

I have a 55lb bow and the option of getting a 225aH battery which should do me for a mornings fish. I also have the option of getting a 30lb tiller steer.

Norm

[faulked]

i had 2 motors on mine more for raw horsepower in the wind as mine is a big old quinnie she really catchs the wind

the other reason was safety i allways figured if 1 motor went id still have the other 1 however the day 1 motor shit itself the other 1 died 20 mins later but at least we were back near the ramp by then only a half hour paddle it could have been far worse

jason

[shortie]

reasons why people do this.

They usually purchase a cheap tiler steer first then upgade to a bow mount. So why not leave both on.

Have control at both end of the boat depending on where your fishing.

[elops]

I have two as my bow mount is a cable steer manual, very reliable without all the extra servos ect and very easy to manouvre. But its pretty tiring standing on it for the long runs in the dams or trolling.

Steve

[Nog]

shortie wrote:

reasons why people do this.

They usually purchase a cheap tiler steer first then upgade to a bow mount. So why not leave both on.

Have control at both end of the boat depending on where your fishing.

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm mainly thinking about extra junk and batteries I might not need in my 11ft tinny.

If I get the tiller steer as well I'll end up with about 90kgs of battery plus me.

Just seems a bit excessive when I'm happy with my MK happily chugging along on autopilot.

But then I haven't encountered a really stiff breeze yet so maybe buying the tiller is a good option?

Norm

[Feral]

Bow mount will give you the grunt, great for the long hauls. But you cant beat a tiller steer for maneuverability and ease of use.

[Plastic Man]

I fish a lot of bass electric comps and i use one 54lb bow mount and two 54lb tillers and i run four batterys this gives me good speed and great range

Feral sorry but how can you say a tiller has better maneuverability than a bow mount ? When standing and casting you cant beat a bow mount

[Feral]

Because it is more maneuverable. You can spin it around in a second,reverse the motor, do what you want with it. An bow mount electric is course controlled,(difficult to smoothly control the turn and how far it turns)and slow to turn. They are great for holding position, moving the boat slightly, but not manouvering the boat. (Try using a bow mount to back down on a red claw pot you missed on the first grab and you will understand what I mean)

[fishingnut]

same as rear steer in a forklift.....same deal

[rayke1938]

Coming into the ramp is a real pain if you only have a bow mount as you have to muck around adjusting its depth and you risk damaging your prop and more so if its windy. Whilst with a stern mount all you have to do is adjust the tilt.

Running a bow mount only you also really need a rudder to provide some stability in your steering as unless your boat has a decent keel the boat will yaw a lot.

You do pick up a bit of speed using both motors but not much. i do 4k with bow and 5.3 with 55lb bow and 46 stern and 3.7 with stern only.

I do most of my running and trolling on the bow with the stern only on no1 or 2 setting which is enough for the boat to track true.Stern mount fixed straight ahead with a occy strap and the bow on autopilot but for manouvering picking up pots ets turn off bow and use stern.

The 30lb stern would be very handy for coming into ramp and wouldnt drag much from the battery.

Cheers

Ray

[Plastic Man]

Feral wrote:

Because it is more maneuverable. You can spin it around in a second,reverse the motor, do what you want with it. An bow mount electric is course controlled,(difficult to smoothly control the turn and how far it turns)and slow to turn. They are great for holding position, moving the boat slightly, but not manouvering the boat. (Try using a bow mount to back down on a red claw pot you missed on the first grab and you will understand what I mean)

i know what you are trying to say but a cable drivin doesnt turn slow at all anyway i just feel say if i was trying to get around a hole heap of structure chasing a bass or say barra i could do it a lot better using a bow mount rather then a tiller just feel i have better control over the boat from the front

Ray its pretty easy i get close to the ramp give it a little bit then pull the bow mount up never had a prob

[elops]

Feral wrote:

Because it is more maneuverable. You can spin it around in a second,reverse the motor, do what you want with it. An bow mount electric is course controlled,(difficult to smoothly control the turn and how far it turns)and slow to turn. They are great for holding position, moving the boat slightly, but not manouvering the boat. (Try using a bow mount to back down on a red claw pot you missed on the first grab and you will understand what I mean)

Feral the best thing about a cable steer is that you CAN reverse push the pedal all the way forward or back and presto instant reverse IMO a cable steer bow mount is the the most manouverable of bow mounts when in structure or fighting fish. With a bit of practise you can go as fast in reverse as you can forwards.

Steve.

[Brian D]

I run two tiller 54's cause I don't know how to fix a bow mount to the tinny and I don't have any friends to help me!

Nice exchange there Andrew and Andrew, good example on how to have an exchange without getting nasty.

[Feral]

Oi, does that mean you think I get nasty!

I think we use the motors different ways for different things, so they work for us different ways.

Dont get me wrong I love my bow mount! Now if only they would put the auto pilot switches on the controllers instead of the head off the motor! The first mob to do it will sell a squillion!

[Nog]

Well I did me dosh and forked out for a 32lb tiller to help the 55lb bowmount and aid in tracking. Also picked up two 6V 225aH batteries. I'm JUICED. Once again great exchange of views. The only reason I got an autopilot instead of cable is that I'm lazy and fly fishing is a slower method than spinning so I set a course and put the leccie on 1 or 2 and mooch along. Cable steers are much better for getting in and out of places...all the tournie boys use 'em (who am I teaching to suck eggs )

Norm

[Dinodadog]

When starting out you will probably go through several types of setups, I know I did and now I have the setup that suits me for the style of fishing that I do. As I mentioned in a post a long way back, we all have diff requirements, as for our size of boat, how the boat is outfitted, meaning heavy decks, or as is which means it will be a lot lighter and your batteries will last longer, also do you have to get from the start line to the fishing area in a hurry if so you need more power than if you are just cruising. It all comes down to trial and error and your style of fishing. We usualy get a bit of the trial and error at the start of each new year out at NPD people who have not planned properly and go to far on limited power.

[Feral]

Yeah I remember all the talking about how far down it was to the boundary, and how people run out of juice. SOme certainly do!

However I was kinda surprised on how short it was (about 4.5k, about 45 minutes running time flat out) compared to some of the runs I would normally do on other dams, but then again mine is a big dam boat and I've always had more battery power on board than the duracell bunny!