Trolling Motor Blues

Post by **Tonyb** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 1:03 pm

I have a 35 lb Minkota trolling motor for an 18 foot boat. i know it is probably underpowered but it came with the boat. What has happened is that the fuse (Canadian Tire one) became so hot it blew and melted the plastic container that the fuse comes with. Is this a problem with my trolling motoer or does it need a bigger fuse? I believe it is 25 amps, the fuse that is? Any ideas?"

TonyB

Post by **Cancatchbass** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 7:23 pm

Here's what you do-

Call Jim or Tim at the Prop Shop (Authorized Minn Kota Repair Centre) at 613-634-7033.

Tell them what's happened and they'll tell you what to do. Good guys!

Tell them Tom Lusk referred you and they'll probably give you a new motor. (Just kidding).

CCB

Post by **Tonyb** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 8:24 pm

Thanks, I'll do that on Monday. In the meanwhile I took off the blade on the trolling motor and discovered a real crows nest of fishing lline wrapped around the shaft behind the blade. It must have been there a while. Put a new fuse in and will see what happens tomorrow. If any problems I call your buddies for sure.

Post by **Seaweed** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 10:37 am

Tony you are not alone.

Any time a trolling motor gets overworked it will pop the fuse. I had mine cut out while I was back in a swamp on the Ottawa river. After polling out with paddles and them big motor I got home and discovered the same problem. Mine though was double-faulted. I guess someone had tried to take the battery out without removing the cable and the wire had actually cracked and the connection was intermittent depending on where the cable was being pushed or pulled too. Turns out the bottom of the fuse had arked in place... welded to the connector.

Well a short visit to the NAPA Autoparts store in Manotick fixed my problem.. they had a nice replacement and connectors with shrinkwrap to waterproof the whole thing. I just tested her out and I am back in business.

Should your trolling motor be too small Tony I have a 50 lb thrust Minn Kota left from my old boat and I had it up for sale here for $250. It has the extenstion handle and is a transom mount model. It will push your boat along quite nicely.

Post by **Tonyb** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 8:07 pm

Thanks Seaweed,

You are right. I tired out the trolling motor today and no problems. Once I got the line out of the gears, it seems to be working just fine. My trolling motor is a bow mounted and I'll keep it going for a while yet, but thanks for mentioning your Minkota.

TonyB

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