Question Installing The Ipilot On Runabout Boat.

[livaio]

I am looking to get a Minn Kota for my Boat.

4.4 Stessl Runabout 50HP.

I have decided to go with ipilot 80Lb thrust 24V.

Question:

Is there anyone here that fit a electric on a runabout and the position of it. 

Where would you place the location of the batteries?

What are the brands and price of the batteries recommended?

Is there someone/shop whom you would recommend to purchase the ipilot and batteries?

Cheers

Richard.

 

[samsteele115]

If you posted pics of the bow of the boat it might be easy for others to visualise and work out what might be best for your boat and how to get that leccy fitted  

[livaio]

I will upload better quality of picture this evening when i get home..

 

[samsteele115]

Not sure where you would put batteries but I imagine you would have to get a mounting plate made and cut a section of the rail for the leccy to fit

[Doyley]

Unless it is a bad camera angle there doesn't look like much room between the bow rail and anchor well. Your best option may as Sam said to get a bracket welded on and cut the rail.  If you took it to an engineering mob they could weld a plate on and also weld a bracket for the battery under the bow.  There is a guy on eBay selling the brackets for under $100. 

[rayke1938]

By the look of your hull you will need a 54 inch shaft motor. You will probably need to mount the motor at an angle to clear both the anchor well and the windscreen. If you are on the northside Battery Value at Everton park are hard to go past for price,service,advice and a fair dinkum 2 year warranty.

Cheers

Ray

[livaio]

It been awhile since i been active in this forum.. Thanks Sam Doyley and ray...

Sam, i am still undecided on where the location of the minn kota. The direction it should face  which work best for the function.

Doyley, I found the customtinnieparts at Upper Coomera selling the plate on ebay  for $105. Will contact him soon in regards to the cutting and welding of the plate.

Ray, Battery Value has some decent price on the batteries offering 2 years warranty. i was wondering should i go for 100ah or 125ah. My style of fishing is i will drive to a spot and spot lock for several hours. usual fishing time is between 5-8 hours.

I managed to find some picture on the web which gave me some idea of how it will look like. What do you guys think?

[samsteele115]

Yeah something like the first two pics I reckon.

[livaio]

Thanks Sam.. Trying to get it organised.. 

[livaio]

Does anyone have a friend or someone that can do welding as there will be some welding required? Any estimate cost of this type of project?

[rayke1938]

A couple of things to think about.

How do you wish to mount the motor.

If you are going to bolt it permanently to the hull you have the advantage of it being reasonably theft proof but mke certain bolts are accessible so you can remove motor if any maintenance is required. It is a bugger of a job if you have to remove side plates and cut off the bolt heads with a grinder.

If you use the slide type of mount it is very easy to remove the motor but the motor is only secured by one 1/4 inch bolt. I use this mount with a self tapping roofing screw as additional support and it firms everything up but i only fish the fresh so electrolis nis not a problem for me.

I have never used the polypropelene type of mount but they do look ok

Couple of tips for recovering the motor if it is hard to reach when deployed.

One is to just push the motor release leaver and then give a burst of throttle and the motor will lift itself and tilt so that you can grab the head and then stow it.
If you are not confident doing this just push the release lever and use a gaff hook around the head and pull the head up.

With the batteries i think that unless you are consistently operating in strong currents and winds the smaller batterys will be adequate.

When you are on spot lock your motor only runs for short intervals and very rarely on full power.

You will have to work out the best position to mount the batterys depending on the trim of your boat. The weight of 2 batterys and the motor will add the equivalent wight of another person

Cheers Ray

[Doyley]

3 hours ago, livaio said:

Does anyone have a friend or someone that can do welding as there will be some welding required? Any estimate cost of this type of project?

maybe you could contact you local boat dealer and see if they have someone who does repairs for them.  At least that welder would have some idea of what you wanted.

[livaio]

On 14/04/2016 at 7:50 PM, rayke1938 said:

A couple of things to think about.

How do you wish to mount the motor.

If you are going to bolt it permanently to the hull you have the advantage of it being reasonably theft proof but mke certain bolts are accessible so you can remove motor if any maintenance is required. It is a bugger of a job if you have to remove side plates and cut off the bolt heads with a grinder.

If you use the slide type of mount it is very easy to remove the motor but the motor is only secured by one 1/4 inch bolt. I use this mount with a self tapping roofing screw as additional support and it firms everything up but i only fish the fresh so electrolis nis not a problem for me.

I have never used the polypropelene type of mount but they do look ok

Couple of tips for recovering the motor if it is hard to reach when deployed.

One is to just push the motor release leaver and then give a burst of throttle and the motor will lift itself and tilt so that you can grab the head and then stow it.
If you are not confident doing this just push the release lever and use a gaff hook around the head and pull the head up.

With the batteries i think that unless you are consistently operating in strong currents and winds the smaller batterys will be adequate.

When you are on spot lock your motor only runs for short intervals and very rarely on full power.

You will have to work out the best position to mount the batterys depending on the trim of your boat. The weight of 2 batterys and the motor will add the equivalent wight of another person

Cheers Ray

That is some very good consideration... Too bad there isnt anyone in this forum that does similar stuff like mine.

[livaio]

On 14/04/2016 at 8:52 PM, Doyley said:

maybe you could contact you local boat dealer and see if they have someone who does repairs for them.  At least that welder would have some idea of what you wanted.

Had the boat builder contact from the boat dealer.. Still waiting for feedback from them.. Hope it all works out.. Thanks.

 

[livaio]

Does anyone here have any contact with Stessl as i wound need to get a meter of bow aluminium from them?

[Doyley]

2 hours ago, livaio said:

Does anyone here have any contact with Stessl as i wound need to get a meter of bow aluminium from them?

I was talking to a guy from Marine Tune a couple of months ago when looking for a new boat.  They said that Stessl were not operating anymore.  Don't know if it is true?

[livaio]

13 hours ago, Doyley said:

I was talking to a guy from Marine Tune a couple of months ago when looking for a new boat.  They said that Stessl were not operating anymore.  Don't know if it is true?

I tried calling them but their number is invalid and email them but no reply.. 

[Doyley]

maybe have a look online at other boat companies and find a close match to yours

[livaio]

Horizon boat just bought over stessl boats. Getting it welded over the weekend. Will update on the finish boat.

 

[Mrboajangles]

On 13 April 2016 at 0:27 PM, livaio said:

I am looking to get a Minn Kota for my Boat.

4.4 Stessl Runabout 50HP.

I have decided to go with ipilot 80Lb thrust 24V.

Question:

Is there anyone here that fit a electric on a runabout and the position of it. 

Where would you place the location of the batteries?

What are the brands and price of the batteries recommended?

Is there someone/shop whom you would recommend to purchase the ipilot and batteries?

Cheers

Richard.

 

Hi richard, I am in the process of putting an ipilot on my Stacer at the moment. 

I purchased a 12v 55ST a few days ago for $1999 from Stones Corner marine. That was the best price I could find anywhere, and none of the Northside shops would match that price.  

I am getting Ark Marine (Geebung)  to fabricate on a bow mount plate in a week.

Still looking around for battery at this point. 

[livaio]

On 5/12/2016 at 9:24 AM, Mrboajangles said:

Hi richard, I am in the process of putting an ipilot on my Stacer at the moment. 

I purchased a 12v 55ST a few days ago for $1999 from Stones Corner marine. That was the best price I could find anywhere, and none of the Northside shops would match that price.  

I am getting Ark Marine (Geebung)  to fabricate on a bow mount plate in a week.

Still looking around for battery at this point. 

Hi Mrboajangles,

I got the plate custom welded from Jarod from ebay selling the plate custom welded for $220. He did a amazing job. He even help me patched some holes from my old sounder at the back FOC.

I got mine Riptide 24v 80lbs with the 60" shaft for $2599 at Keogh's Marine on the southside.

Got it air sprayed with paint from John's paint shed $80. 

I am getting the wiring done this weekend.

I am also looking around for battery at this point. At the moment  Battery Value is the cheapest. still looking.

[Mrboajangles]

Looks good, 

I called Battery Value the other day and am picking up a 110 amp one off him tomorrow. I've read good reviews about his batteries from other forums. 

[livaio]

6 hours ago, Mrboajangles said:

Looks good, 

I called Battery Value the other day and am picking up a 110 amp one off him tomorrow. I've read good reviews about his batteries from other forums. 

I will consider getting two from him as there is warranty if **** happens.

[livaio]

On 5/17/2016 at 3:12 PM, Mrboajangles said:

Looks good, 

I called Battery Value the other day and am picking up a 110 amp one off him tomorrow. I've read good reviews about his batteries from other forums. 

How did your setup go? 

[Mrboajangles]

9 hours ago, livaio said:

How did your setup go? 

Really well. Unfortunately my welding work cost about double yours but I am really happy with the outcome.

I ended up painting it myself with a can of Stacer touch up paint. It actually came out better than I was expecting.

I spent Saturday painting it and wiring it all up. The whole wiring setup cost about $70. 

Took it out for a spin for 6 or so hours on Sunday and ran the minn Kota non stop for that time. It was pretty windy and a strong current. After the 6 hours, the battery status on the Minn Kota still showed 4 out of 4. 

Overall I couldn't be happier with the setup and performance. 

[livaio]

On 5/23/2016 at 8:24 PM, Mrboajangles said:

Really well. Unfortunately my welding work cost about double yours but I am really happy with the outcome.

I ended up painting it myself with a can of Stacer touch up paint. It actually came out better than I was expecting.

I spent Saturday painting it and wiring it all up. The whole wiring setup cost about $70. 

Took it out for a spin for 6 or so hours on Sunday and ran the minn Kota non stop for that time. It was pretty windy and a strong current. After the 6 hours, the battery status on the Minn Kota still showed 4 out of 4. 

Overall I couldn't be happier with the setup and performance. 

 

Looks good man... The new minnkota is amazing. My battery didnt drop a bit and still 4/4 after running on average speed of 7 last weekend.. 

Where did you place the battery for the minn kota? I still need to setup the additional bracket for the battery to balance the boat.

[Mrboajangles]

5 hours ago, livaio said:

Looks good man... The new minnkota is amazing. My battery didnt drop a bit and still 4/4 after running on average speed of 7 last weekend.. 

Where did you place the battery for the minn kota? I still need to setup the additional bracket for the battery to balance the boat.

My boat already had a welded battery holder area under the front deck. 

The battery fitted here nicely and had easy access to run the cable to the Minn Kota. 

I also hard wired the ctek charger connection to the battery which makes charging really easy.