Motorized Jackson Big Rig testride

Well,as you read in my last post I had a Minn kota Powerdrive V2 mounted on my Big Rig and now everything was ready to finally make a long awaited test ride.
Weather was perfect for a first ride,sunny,warm...no,it was hot and barely no wind at all.
Always nice to be able to try out new things without worries about the weather even if this motor is mounted for tough conditions,there probably will be some wind sometime....

Made a small video of my ride which was a success in all ways,I Pilot remote control was pretty cool.Spot lock was maybe the coolest thing of all,no anchor or anchor ropes in your feet.
Just push a button and lock yourself on a spot and start fishing,yet need to be seen if and how it works in hard wind.
Recording tracks yet need to be tested even if it's a feature I will not often use.
Tried also to paddle with the engine down and up from water,surprisingly it wasn't completely impossible to paddle with the engine in drive position either.
If there's anything to complain about it's that this is a bow motor which is mounted on back of my kayak which in turn mean that the remote control works incorrect,when I want to turn right I have to push on left button.Need to see if there's anything to do about that.

Next thing which need to built is a robust rack for the battery and also make all wiring nicely done,hoping to get these things done in couple of weeks but here is a link to the video I made,enjoy...

http://jacksonkayak.com/blog/2015/08/23/big-rig-minn-kota-power-drive-v2-testride/

Remote controlled Jackson Big Rig.

Hello folks.Couple of my last trips have been blank draws pretty much because of hot weather but even more because of exploring new venues so not much to tell you about my fishing.
But I have not been totally inactive,have tied some new flies only meant for these new venues which I will come back to in some later posts.
Have every now and then run into videos or pics of motor mounting on kayaks with not much of interest but this season has been very windy and my Big Rig is very heavy to paddle so slowly but surely my interest was on the raising side.

Because I just wanted to try if I like it or not I didn't wanted to spend a lot of money on it so I came to a solution were I was to use parts I already got.
A Minn kota powerdrive V2 bow motor.
Study and measuring by myself was first step after I didn't find any info from internet of this kinda mounting.
Got a clear vision how it should be mounted after a week long thinking so I contacted my brother who is technically talented and also got the right tools and soon,much sooner than I thought everything was ready for a test.
Have not been out on water yet with this motor but want to share some photos from mounting.

First step was to remove the rudder.

Next step was to get a flat surface for the motor

The sheet for motor and planning a extra support

So far so good

So far mounting was easy.Troubles started when I needed bolts and screws,I live in Europe and we use millimeter size and my Jackson BigRig comes from United States were they use inch size.
Inch size bolts are not sold in every shop here and when I not only wanted precise size I also wanted them stainless they seem to more rare than chicken tooth...well,I was a bit impatient too.....

Anyway,what you don't got you have make yourself or find out another solutions.
Could not find countersink screws in right size so I came to this kinda solution-

This motor got a quick snap on/off feature so next step was to mount the plate for that.

But even for that I had to make some "customized" screws to get this project going on.

Two shorter screws was needed

Everything was ready for trying the motor on but we noticed that the extra support plate was needed,just in case.

Using the pre-mounted bolts for rudder for the support. 

So...Motor mounting was ready,time for electric work.

Because this motor is a remote controlled it was actually only to unite the engine with a battery,well of course a 60 amp fuse between them but an easy gig anyway.

There are still some things that need to be done like a robust rack for the battery and also need to find a easy solution to flip the engine up from water when not needed.

Engine weights 18 kilo and battery (Optima bluetop 75 ah) 24 kilo so a total of 42 kilos which mean I have to mount the battery in front hatch to get some balance.

Some of you might ask why I have done this.Of course it would be easier to just mount a Torqueedo UL403 which might even be mounted on my battleship in future but when I got the motor and battery ready and could mount it without having to drill any extra holes I just found it funny to try this out.
Hey....I got a remote controlled yak,I can record tracks which mean that in theory I can go out fishing and when I'm done I can by pushing a button be transported back to shore...(don't believe in that myself either) Satellite anchor etc,etc....

While writing this a test on the water is still to be made and will be done probably forthcoming weekend and IF I survive I'll be back for some review.