Trolling Motor on 215

[LSUTIGER1947]

Hey Jergofish, USC plays out there in that "wine and cheese" league, they would'nt stand a chance down here in the "beer and bar-b-que" league!

[jergofish]

Isn't barbecue sauce salsa without the kick? USC, in the land of the Habanero and Jalapeno!

[braley]

I just finished installing a motorguide 75# wireless trolling motor on my 215. It will stow and deploy with the bow rail attached. I will try and post pictures when I get a chance to take them.

[braley]

Some pictures of the trolling motor mounted on the 215 with bow rail in place.

[Allied]

braley - that looks like a nice installation. I have a some of questions I would like to ask. (1) How much clearance do you have between the bow pulpit and the bow rail? (2) How hard is it to deploy and recover the trolling motor past the rail? (3) What did you do with the bow navigation lights?

I am seriously thinking about buying a 195DC and the mounting of a trolling motor without removing or cutting the bow rail is one of a couple of issues I am trying to resolve before plunking down a bunch of money.

Thanks for any help.

[braley]

Allied:

I followed the directions from jergofish for the most part they are located in this thread.

Trolling Motor Options

As to your questions 1) I have 16 inches of clearance between bow rail and pulpit. There is about 1 inch to spare when deploying the trolling motor and about 2 inches when the motor is fully deployed. Make sure the 195 has the same clearance between rail and pulpit.

2) It is fairly easy to stow and deploy. The motor will swing up and down on an arc and you can raise or lower your motor shaft as you do this.

3) I followed jergofish's great advice and moved the bow light underneath the bow pulpit and reversed the lense. I did have to delaminate the top layer of the bow plulpit to get enough wiring to move things around.

If you carefully align things you will also be able to open and close the hatch to the anchor locker. It just takes abit of measuring before you drill.

[Allied]

Braley, thanks for the info. I thought it looked like the 215 has more bow rail clearance than the 195 so I may have a problem there. The 195 has about 12" I think. If I buy the boat I may have to cut the bow rail and make some S/S adapters to make the cut section able to be taken in and out. Oh well, I can do it, I just hate to cut that nice rail. I thought I could see the bow light hanging underneath, but the picture was a little dark down there. Trying to buy a one size fits all boat can be a problem. Thanks again for your help.