Thought I would put in my two cents concerning bow versus transom mounts for electric trolling motors. I use a flat bottom wooden skiff, actually it was designed as a Ketch, but was never rigged as such, with the biggest 12 volt electric I could find on its transom. Everything works great when there is little wind. Speed through the water is 4 MPH as checked with my GPS. Keep in mind, that a sailboat inherently is usually very easy to push. When the wind kicks up, things are still fine if heading down wind. However, it becomes a bitch to keep ones heading with a transom mounted electric heading against a cross wind. It can be done, but one has to be vigilant 100% of the time just to maintain one's track. Since the whole purpose of me being out there is to fish, screwing around keeping on track is a real bother. A bow mounted electric would pull the skiff through the water, and would seem to eliminate most of the problem of keeping on track. Never used an electric with an auto pilot built into it, but they do sound like a good idea for the above type of conditions.
__________________
"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go" by William Feather |