....a fire in the trolling motor. (with apologies to Deep Purple)

Not quite a fire, but plenty of smoke. I was flipping some docks on Lake
Lanier this afternoon. Had a hit on a crankbait under a covered dock, saw the
fish spit the bait before I could set the hook. Went to resposition myself for
a better cast, further under the dock. Step on the trolling motor pedal.
Nothing. It had been working a few moments ago. Battery is charged. I switch
speeds. Motor responds on highest setting only. Play with the switch, still
nothing on the lower speeds. OK, so I figure I'll just have to use the
trolling motor for short bursts of high power until I get home and see whats
up. Wrong. I'm casting again when I notice smoke coming from my foot. Well,
maybe not my foot, but the trolling motor pedal sure is spewing. And the
trolling motor head. Quickly unplug the motor, check the bilge to make sure
the problem is above deck only.

It needed to be retired anyway. It had suffered some abuse at the hands of the
previous owner. But I didn't expect it to go out with a bang. Off to BPS
tomorrow for a new one. Motorguide or Minn Kota? Minn Kota or Motorguide?


-- Rich Stern
www.nitroowners.com - The Nitro and Tracker Owners Web Site
www.mypontoon.com - The Pontoon Boat Web Site
www.fishingreportdatabase.com - The Fishing Report Database
www.mysporttrac.com - The Sport Trac Web Site

(Rich Stern) wrote in message ...
...a fire in the trolling motor. (with apologies to Deep Purple)

Not quite a fire, but plenty of smoke. I was flipping some docks on Lake
Lanier this afternoon. Had a hit on a crankbait under a covered dock, saw the
fish spit the bait before I could set the hook. Went to resposition myself for
a better cast, further under the dock. Step on the trolling motor pedal.
Nothing. It had been working a few moments ago. Battery is charged. I switch
speeds. Motor responds on highest setting only. Play with the switch, still
nothing on the lower speeds. OK, so I figure I'll just have to use the
trolling motor for short bursts of high power until I get home and see whats
up. Wrong. I'm casting again when I notice smoke coming from my foot. Well,
maybe not my foot, but the trolling motor pedal sure is spewing. And the
trolling motor head. Quickly unplug the motor, check the bilge to make sure
the problem is above deck only.

It needed to be retired anyway. It had suffered some abuse at the hands of the
previous owner. But I didn't expect it to go out with a bang. Off to BPS
tomorrow for a new one. Motorguide or Minn Kota? Minn Kota or Motorguide?

I've had very good luck with my MinnKota. Motorguide is nice, but I
think you pay a lot for the name. My neighbor's Motorguide is okay,
but what it doesn't have that my MinnKota has is a switch position for
constant on. So, when fishing shoreline and docks quickly, I can set
the speed down slow, leave it on, and just steer a little. Kind of
like drifting.
I've not had very good luck on Lanier this year. I figured with all
the water, it would be great. I've heard people saying though, that
the hot weather fishing will be very good because of depth of points
on the main lake. Haven't been in a month.

On 18 Jul 2003 03:06:55 GMT, (Rich Stern) wrote:

...a fire in the trolling motor. (with apologies to Deep Purple)

Not quite a fire, but plenty of smoke. I was flipping some docks on Lake
Lanier this afternoon. Had a hit on a crankbait under a covered dock, saw the
fish spit the bait before I could set the hook. Went to resposition myself for
a better cast, further under the dock. Step on the trolling motor pedal.
Nothing. It had been working a few moments ago. Battery is charged. I switch
speeds. Motor responds on highest setting only. Play with the switch, still
nothing on the lower speeds. OK, so I figure I'll just have to use the
trolling motor for short bursts of high power until I get home and see whats
up. Wrong. I'm casting again when I notice smoke coming from my foot. Well,
maybe not my foot, but the trolling motor pedal sure is spewing. And the
trolling motor head. Quickly unplug the motor, check the bilge to make sure
the problem is above deck only.

It needed to be retired anyway. It had suffered some abuse at the hands of the
previous owner. But I didn't expect it to go out with a bang. Off to BPS
tomorrow for a new one. Motorguide or Minn Kota? Minn Kota or Motorguide?


-- Rich Stern
www.nitroowners.com - The Nitro and Tracker Owners Web Site
www.mypontoon.com - The Pontoon Boat Web Site
www.fishingreportdatabase.com - The Fishing Report Database
www.mysporttrac.com - The Sport Trac Web Site

Rich- a side question: What size fuse or breaker is in your trolling
circuit? Sounds like your windings melted down or the switch went
bad, and the amp draw smoked the foot switch. A dead short can be a
real problem. Glad you were quick to unplug it.

Merlin's Law: All electrical devices operate on "Magic Smoke". If
you let the smoke out, they cease to operate, and there is no way to
get the smoke back in. )
noah




Courtesy of Lee Yeaton,
See the boats of rec.boats
www.TheBayGuide.com/rec.boats

Noah,

Could also be that he had a kink in the cable and those electrons
going so fast couldn't make the curve and went flying through the
insulation. :^)

-Jim


noah wrote:

Merlin's Law: All electrical devices operate on "Magic Smoke". If
you let the smoke out, they cease to operate, and there is no way to
get the smoke back in. )
noah

On Sat, 19 Jul 2003 00:34:58 GMT, Jim
wrote:

Noah,

Could also be that he had a kink in the cable and those electrons
going so fast couldn't make the curve and went flying through the
insulation. :^)

-Jim


....gotta watch those curves. That's one of the reasons I bought my
first boat! )


noah wrote:

Merlin's Law: All electrical devices operate on "Magic Smoke". If
you let the smoke out, they cease to operate, and there is no way to
get the smoke back in. )
noah


Courtesy of Lee Yeaton,
See the boats of rec.boats
www.TheBayGuide.com/rec.boats

Rich- a side question: What size fuse or breaker is in your trolling
circuit? Sounds like your windings melted down or the switch went
bad, and the amp draw smoked the foot switch. A dead short can be a
real problem. Glad you were quick to unplug it.

60 amp fuse, which did go pop. The problem turned out to be in the pedal,
where one of the leads melted it's insulator and came in contact with a nearby
terminal. Perhaps repairable, but the unit had enough other problems to make
it not worth pursuing. Too hard to get all of that smoke back in.

Replacement is a Motorguide Pro Series 5200. More thrust, better mount (Lil'
Gator #16). It's a pleasure to use in comparison to the old unit.

Of course, the fish don't know any of this, so they are being typically
uncooperative.



-- Rich Stern
www.nitroowners.com - The Nitro and Tracker Owners Web Site
www.mypontoon.com - The Pontoon Boat Web Site
www.fishingreportdatabase.com - The Fishing Report Database
www.mysporttrac.com - The Sport Trac Web Site