Fish-Hawk.Net

Is it normal for lots of water to come out of the head of a bow mount trolling motor when it is in stored position .. after use?
I have a bow mount minn kota trolling motor and each time I use it and put it in stored position and get moving forward water dumps out of the head all over deck and it is starting to take on reddish colour .. rust. The unit was purchased last spring.

It depends on the amount. Water will and can get trapped behind the blade. Mine usually drains for about ten seconds but it has never been rusty. I would pull the prop and check your seals as well as look for any fishing line. I usually pull mine off at least once a season to check.

mine does not do that, or seem to retain any water at all

Have you performed any kind of regular maintenance on your trolling motor?
What I'm alluding to is removal of trolling motor propellor, a couple times a month.
If you haven't, you may find a lot of discarded fishing line wrapped around the motor shaft.
This could bust out the seals on the motor and allow all the extra water to get into motor.
If it's not fishing line, could be chewed up weeds which got wrapped around the prop shaft.

toned wrote:mine does not do that, or seem to retain any water at all

If you have a Minnkota, chances are you just haven't noticed. I haven't seen a MK that hasn't done it. Next time you pull your motor out of the water, wait for the water to stop dripping and before you lock it in place, point the prop to the ground and use the pedal to move the unit left and right and watch the amount of water that comes out.

Thanks for the suggestions.
I will have a look at it tomorrow and the next time I use it I will try this.

lape0019 wrote:Next time you pull your motor out of the water, wait for the water to stop dripping and before you lock it in place, point the prop to the ground and use the pedal to move the unit left and right and watch the amount of water that comes out.

I already move it around and watch the water come out, but next time I will rotate the head and see what happens.

I just bought the boat (two weeks ago) so am thinking the previous owner likely did not do much maintenance with the motor. Maybe some water froze in it as well.

Thanks

lape0019 wrote:

toned wrote:mine does not do that, or seem to retain any water at all

If you have a Minnkota, chances are you just haven't noticed. I haven't seen a MK that hasn't done it. Next time you pull your motor out of the water, wait for the water to stop dripping and before you lock it in place, point the prop to the ground and use the pedal to move the unit left and right and watch the amount of water that comes out.

you might be right, I'll check it out next time I'm on the water

It turns out the rear seal on the foot was not in properly and water was pouring into the unit when it was being used.
I contacted Minn Kota with pictures of what I discovered upon opening it and they said that someone has opened it up since leaving their facility as they pressure test every unit. It is not that I don't believe them, I just find it hard to believe that every motor is tested to the same standard. I worked in manufacturing ... one in 5 may be tested depending on day of week or what the priorities are.
Oh well. $30 in parts from J & S Service, including a new bearing which is almost seized, it should be back to normal.
I will put it back together tonight and hope I get a chance to get out on the water again soon to test it out.

Glad to hear you have got it all sorted out. Hope it works out for you when you get to testing it.

Adam

I know that you are likely having this changed by a service center, but if you ever have to do it yourself... I have changed quite a few seals on TMs. There are 5(Maybe more on other models) in total to keep everything in there dry:

1 - The main flat white one... that one will sometimes bind up like a kicked carpet when mating the sleeve to the face plate. By the look of that picture, it looks like that is exactly the seal that failed.

2 - There should be a more "O Ring" type one the goes into a groove on the outside of the face plate. This one seats easily, but the channel that it sits in HAS to be clean and clear.

3 - Prop seal. SOB to tap out of the face plate and it can look like it is ruining the face-plate. It is a rubber O ring type thing sitting in a metal cup. Once it is out, putting the new one in is easy. Just tap it in slowly, evenly and carefully.

4 and 5 - O rings for the two long thin screw/bolts that seal the holes in the face-plate. These two are easy to miss, but don't skimp out and not buy new ones.

Dry out the inside thoroughly.

If you are brave and depending how much corrosion and silt and garbage made it in, you might have to do what I did, pull out the armature. I cleaned it up and cleaned up the magnet walls. I used a wire brush and had to be VERY careful that I did not leave any stray wire brush sheds behind.

Don't skimp on ANY of these. If you have had water infiltration, and had to change the points and clean it all out, it would SUCK if you had to open it all up in 3 months and do it all again because you decided to save $5. I have had my TM fail due to MY negligence before on the water and it is quite maddening!

Easy peasy. If you do it yourself, be careful not to cross thread the face plate threads to the sleeve/bell part. Thin threads make it easy to cross thread.

CPRINCE -
I ended up doing it myself and bought the entire kit and replaced all the seals and bearings. It was quite easy to do.
It cost me less than $30 for the entire repair kit.
I tore it right down to the end where the armature sits and pulled everything out and cleaned it. I "polished" the armature to get rid of residue rust and crud and also brought the armature into the house for a few days to ensure there was no moisture left in it.
I plugged it in and it works - which is a plus; but I have put the boat away for the season so have not water tested it yet. I will do that next spring.
I definitely hope to get out fishing a lot more next season.
Bill