Coof - power/pontoon upgrade help...

[wave97]

Hey Coof,
I have two fish-n-dives here in Newport. They're great for fishing especially "out front" in big water. I'm considering upgrading one of them with a trolling motor
Q: What type of trolling motor do you use?, Battery?..
Q: WHere did you get the pontoon system?
Thanks
Chris

[Coof]

Chris-


The outriggers came from a guy out west. His company, RM Specialties really took off after the government saw his product and gave him a contract for his outriggers. I think you can order online at rmspecialties.com I will say that most situations do not require the use of pontoons/outriggers. They are however handy to have for a few reasons..... If yer going with an electric motor, the weight balance/distribution
becomes lopsided (consider you've got a motormount, motor and your own ergonomics all to one side of your skinny vessel.(of course you've centered and secured your 12 volt!) A pontoon to that side can help support all that offset additional weight. Also, I have found that pontoons help alot when climbing back into your yak after swimming. (notice I said swimming NOT spilling!) The additional support keeps the yak from leaning towards the swimmer and helps maintain a supportive horizontal platform to hoist yourself back onto. Another plus is additional counter-balance when I hoist up and sit to fish on my cooler. It's an awesome platform as site -line is increased up there, however, any time you "raise the weight" you raise the tip-over factor.
Pontoons help there and make for a very stable fishing platform. Yaks are not made to stand in...even in the calmest of waters, you must maintain a constant alert about balance and that has to detract from your ability to outsmart those scaley bastards! If you want to stand, buy a Whaler! Chris, I did create an additional cable structure to hold the entire outrigger structure in place. I can give you more advice on that later if necessary.Motor-MotorGuide/ GreatWhite 42lb thrust. It's a nice no maintenance, Saltwater model but a bit heavy, especially for a Yak.
Any non-salt motor will be short-lived in the salt! One more thing here..........Always CLIP your cables to your battery. NEVER thumb screw!
More on that later. Ray

oops! kinda long-winded....

[Coof]

canoeoutriggers.com

[wave97]

Thanks for the info Coof.
I'll let you know how the upgrade proceeds.
Chris

[Coof]

Chris

Here's a better angle on the cable set-up to strengthen the outrigger gizmo. A picture tells a thousand words!........