Trolling motor first test

solent clown

solent clown

RIP
Joined
13 Oct 2017
Messages
1,953
Location
solent
Visit site
We bought this little cheapie motor last week, 50 odd quid brand new. 20lbs thrust. We were fairly doubtful about it, but after testing on the Hamble yesterday in a breeze, and against the tide in an 8 ft inflatable, I can report we were very pleased with it.
Progress is sedate, but steady, it is very good for steering, we were two up in the bat, with a toolkit, two batteries, and a 4.5hp inboard, full tank, and various other stuff, so well loaded and it didnt miss a beat. After about 45 ins the battery was still reading 100%


43823217_272808353363910_1962543962552008704_n by mark punksteel, on Flickr

43636865_533200457123359_3976731917541179392_n by mark punksteel, on Flickr
 
That W-20 is the smallest on the page I linked to just now.. 20AH battery recommended!

I'd not really looked into these recently... I'm quite surprised by the next model up. It has five forward speeds (instead of two on the smaller one) and it'll run for 2.5 hours on a 105AH battery!
 
MikeBz said:
It's a lot more than 45 ins to my mooring :)
Click to expand...

smarty pants! That was an unfortunate typo. After today I wish it was inches. We tried it against the flood tide, and very strong wind - in a bit of a chop too. It held its own most of the way but gusts stopped us in our tracks a couple of times. For severe weather next size up maybe. In all seriousness, it was a pretty unpleasant day to be bouncing about in a flubber on the Hamble so I wouldn't see us having that kind of issue again. I will be buying a second one, maybe run them together on the flubber. Can't wait to try it out on the little kayak, that will fly with it on. They run almost silently, so far the only issue is that it does not clip into the elevated position very well unless you make an adjustment to the shaft depth before you lift, as all the weight is in the motor, and the clip is just plastic.
No biggie but makes flipping the motor up as you approach the slipway a bit more of a faff.
 
If you mean the green eye indicator on the battery,that is not very accurate it will show green when the battery is well discharged ,measure it with a multimeter to get a more accurate reading.
 
peteK said:
If you mean the green eye indicator on the battery,that is not very accurate it will show green when the battery is well discharged ,measure it with a multimeter to get a more accurate reading.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Pete, but no, I was referring to the battery condition indicator on the motor itself. Of course it could be wildly innacurate, but a series of LEDs in a voltage indicator are generally not bad.
Battery indicators housed within the battery casing themselves are often useless in my experience.
 
solent clown said:
we ran it at full chat for another hour today, on the same battery as yesterday, still showing 100% on the indicator
Click to expand...

I suspect the LED indicator isn't especially accurate, but it looks to be a good little motor for fifty quid. The Haswing spec says it draws 17A at full power, so your Lucas AGM battery should last about 3 hours until it's down to 10.5v.

The main problem with these trolling motors is that most (including yours) are designed for freshwater use only, so it would be an idea to rinse it thoroughly after each use.
 
pvb said:
I suspect the LED indicator isn't especially accurate, but it looks to be a good little motor for fifty quid. The Haswing spec says it draws 17A at full power, so your Lucas AGM battery should last about 3 hours until it's down to 10.5v.

The main problem with these trolling motors is that most (including yours) are designed for freshwater use only, so it would be an idea to rinse it thoroughly after each use.
Click to expand...

Yes on most of that. As for the LED indicator, they generallywork n a very simple way, so unless it is wired wrong it should be half right. Maybe I will strip it and examine the circuitry to see. One never knows if it is just a pretty light show. For 50 quid it does not seem worth it. But then again it needs to work, so I will have a look.
 
solent clown said:
smarty pants! That was an unfortunate typo. After today I wish it was inches. We tried it against the flood tide, and very strong wind - in a bit of a chop too. It held its own most of the way but gusts stopped us in our tracks a couple of times. For severe weather next size up maybe. In all seriousness, it was a pretty unpleasant day to be bouncing about in a flubber on the Hamble so I wouldn't see us having that kind of issue again. I will be buying a second one, maybe run them together on the flubber. Can't wait to try it out on the little kayak, that will fly with it on. They run almost silently, so far the only issue is that it does not clip into the elevated position very well unless you make an adjustment to the shaft depth before you lift, as all the weight is in the motor, and the clip is just plastic.
No biggie but makes flipping the motor up as you approach the slipway a bit more of a faff.
Click to expand...

Even the Hamble taxi was struggling a bit today!

I wonder if it would be possible to run one of these engines for a reasonable time off a recharging pack?
 
pvb said:
I suspect the LED indicator isn't especially accurate, but it looks to be a good little motor for fifty quid. The Haswing spec says it draws 17A at full power, so your Lucas AGM battery should last about 3 hours until it's down to 10.5v.

The main problem with these trolling motors is that most (including yours) are designed for freshwater use only, so it would be an idea to rinse it thoroughly after each use.
Click to expand...

The ad specifies suitable for Salt water use. I would still want to give it a good rinse after use!
 
oldharry said:
The ad specifies suitable for Salt water use.
Click to expand...

The ad says that, but if you look at Haswing's own site it says in the warranty wording that "This limited warranty does not apply if motor is used for commercial, professional (i.e. tournaments) applications or degradation due to saltwater corrosion, ....", so a good rinse is definitely recommended.

https://haswingoutdoor.com/trolling-motors/w20-37.html
 
Another smarty pants, in the nicest possible way, should be suggesting that with not too much effort a device like this should be reversible - and used to produce power, as with WattnSea?

Jonathan
 
Neeves said:
Another smarty pants, in the nicest possible way, should be suggesting that with not too much effort a device like this should be reversible - and used to produce power, as with WattnSea?

Jonathan
Click to expand...
funny you should say that, as we came by the stern of a large yacht on Marcury marina Karen spied what she thought was one of these motors, it was in fact a Watt and sea unit folded up.
Of course one could have a go with one of these units, but I dont know if they would spin fast enough. Something else to have a try with. They would make a good basis for a little wind turbine with the right blades added though. 50 quid for a motor in a nice housing already on a pole isnt a bad price as a donor
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top