Quick Minn Kota trolling motor question

[Crazyboat]

Am I the only one who though we were going to be talking fast electric motors? I was ready for a racing thread on FAST Minnkota's.

 

[airshot]

I had that happen at my fathers house years ago and a neighbor found some of the loot they left behind when they were approached by a late night neighbor coming home from work; Cops did nothing, said they couldn't find them, well neighborhood watch was started and within 2 weeks we had them cornered and screaming for the police as my pit bull dog had them up against a garage just waiting for one of them to move; my Dad told them move and the dog will rip out your throats. I left my pit bull with mom and dad after the 1st break in and "Pete" was a terrific watch dog, let you come in but would not let you leave, was so funny how he would do that.

Nothing better rhan the look on a criminals face when he is staring down a growling dog !! I think they fear dogs more than guns !!

 

[Stand Up]

Nothing better than the look on a criminal's face when he is staring down a growling dog !! I think they fear dogs more than guns !!

I just need a dog that carries a gun and shoots straight.

 

[Douglasdzaster]

I'm a beekeeper also....I have worked commercial beekeeping (1800 hives) and at one point I had 40 hives of my own.....lots and lots of work...
Sold it all because I didn't have time to fish and hunt...all time was allocated to taking care of bees. Now I just have 2 hives....but in all those years of beekeeping I never melted an ounce of wax.....its a golden resource and takes too much for bees to produce it to just take it from them.

I can see them taking a lot of time and care. Bees don’t punch a time clock like the fish business I grew up with.

 

[Douglasdzaster]

I just need a dog that carries a gun and shoots straight.

I had a great Doberman. He was like my best friend went with me every where. I told people that wasn’t my truck it was his truck I’m just his driver.
Very obedient and eager to please. But he knew when to turn it on. That night my wife heard the back doors to my shop rattling. I wen and grabbed what I protect my property with. And as soon as he saw he met me at the back door in the house. I threw the door open and he tour out like a beast. Snarling and growling (he had a deep growl if you heard it in the dark you would think he was big as a bear. I saw a figure clear a 5’ fence in one step and into a little patch of woods that came out on a street behind us. In a couple seconds I heard a motorcycle start and scream down the street.
My Doberman (Gunnar) has since passed. Now we have a female doberman we rescued. She acts like she wished we would get a dog for protection.

 

[David Atkins]

I had a great Doberman. He was like my best friend went with me every where. I told people that wasn’t my truck it was his truck I’m just his driver.
Very obedient and eager to please. But he knew when to turn it on. That night my wife heard the back doors to my shop rattling. I wen and grabbed what I protect my property with. And as soon as he saw he met me at the back door in the house. I threw the door open and he tour out like a beast. Snarling and growling (he had a deep growl if you heard it in the dark you would think he was big as a bear. I saw a figure clear a 5’ fence in one step and into a little patch of woods that came out on a street behind us. In a couple seconds I heard a motorcycle start and scream down the street.
My Doberman (Gunnar) has since passed. Now we have a female doberman we rescued. She acts like she wished we would get a dog for protection.

My Pit Bull owned a 1969 Z-28 Camaro and I got to drive him around all the time in it, He sat in passengers seat, I put special seat belt on him and he sat there just like anyone would.

 

[Douglasdzaster]

My Pit Bull owned a 1969 Z-28 Camaro and I got to drive him around all the time in it, He sat in passengers seat, I put special seat belt on him and he sat there just like anyone would.

That’s awesome. Gunnar would ride in the backseat area with seats up and his head sticking over the main s console . His head would be next to mine. He would nudge me a little every now and then letting me know he was happy l

We live in a small town and we would make our rounds. The girl at the drive through were I’d get my DP would always talk to him and tell him how handsome he was and give him treats.
Everyone knew Gunnar. None of them knew me.

 

[David Atkins]

That’s awesome. Gunnar would ride in the backseat area with seats up and his head sticking over the main s console . His head would be next to mine. He would nudge me a little every now and then letting me know he was happy l

We live in a small town and we would make our rounds. The girl at the drive through were I’d get my DP would always talk to him and tell him how handsome he was and give him treats.
Everyone knew Gunnar. None of them knew me.

yep, just like Pete and I did every weekend, he likes plain hamburgers so he got 2 from hamburger stand every Saturday and the girl at the drive in would also give him treats and he loved her, couldn't wait to see her, he got excited when we turned don the road to the hamburger stand. Funny story, I parked Camaro at local 7-11 went inside to get cup of joe and a deputy sheriff stuck his head into the drivers window (Hat and all) well Pete took offense and came across the seats letting him know to get out of my car. He hit his head on roof line, messed up his hat and everyone in the 7-11 laughed at him, boy was he pissed, tried to give me hell when I came out and I asked him why he stuck his head in the car? Well the Sheriff was coming down the road and heard the call on radio as he ran my license plate (Unknown to him I knew the Sheriff and Sheriff grew up with my Dad, came to the farm for dinners, etc.) Sheriff told his deputy he was lucky that Pete didn't take his head off, all while rubbing Pete's head and saying your a good boy, funniest thing ever happened to Pete and I, still LMAO to this day.

 

[thill]

Kevin,
That's great! I just decided to limit my hives to a dozen for the same reason. It absorbs a lot of time.

Question: what do you do with the wax cappings from extracting?

I never take comb, but capping wax yields a number of pounds per year.

I use some of it for waxing new foundation, but I need to figure out a use for the rest.

 

[David Atkins]

Kevin,
That's great! I just decided to limit my hives to a dozen for the same reason. It absorbs a lot of time.

Question: what do you do with the wax cappings from extracting?

I never take comb, but capping wax yields a number of pounds per year.

I use some of it for waxing new foundation, but I need to figure out a use for the rest.

wish I could be a bee keeper, got stung when I was a kid about 200 times and mom called 911 and got me to the hospital now I'm very allergic to honey bees but love them and need them for my farming/gardening, I would have several hives if I could; beekeepers are special people in my book by what they do. I know several in my county and buy their honey every year.

 

[airshot]

My Pit Bull owned a 1969 Z-28 Camaro and I got to drive him around all the time in it, He sat in passengers seat, I put special seat belt on him and he sat there just like anyone would.

I used to trail ride side x side atv's. There was a gent that had a big dog that rode with him in the passenger seat and had special goggles made to keep the dust and sand out of his eyes. They were called " doggles". Awesome site watching him fly thru the trails with ears flapping in the breeze wearing his doggles !!

 

[Douglasdzaster]

Am I the only one who though we were going to be talking fast electric motors? I was ready for a racing thread on FAST Minnkota's.

I guess I started all this. I just got back from a weekend trip to the lake with my grandson. When I ordered my new Minn Kota Traxxis it was supposed to come with a power prop. Even listed it in the original description that it had a power prop. It came with a weed less wedge 2. After contacting Minn Kota and filling out their claim for they sent me a new power prop.
The first time I hit the floor button it startled me. Way more power and pull.
Went from 3.5 mph with the weed less to 5 mph. We used it to troll for hybrid stripers instead of idling the 2 stroke.
Didn’t put a charger on the new liPo4 battery all weekend. Got home and checked it. Still had 70% capacity left.

 

[airshot]

I guess I started all this. I just got back from a weekend trip to the lake with my grandson. When I ordered my new Minn Kota Traxxis it was supposed to come with a power prop. Even listed it in the original description that it had a power prop. It came with a weed less wedge 2. After contacting Minn Kota and filling out their claim for they sent me a new power prop.
The first time I hit the floor button it startled me. Way more power and pull.
Went from 3.5 mph with the weed less to 5 mph. We used it to troll for hybrid stripers instead of idling the 2 stroke.
Didn’t put a charger on the new liPo4 battery all weekend. Got home and checked it. Still had 70% capacity left.

I swapped mine out over the winter, will bevtesting when the weather breaks. I don't fish anywhere near weeds so a weedless prop was useless, just looking at it you can see there is kess water moving force. Your story makes me anxious to get out and give the power prop a whirl !! MK claims no difference in speed, but just comparing them, I think tgere will be an increase!!

 

[thill]

wish I could be a bee keeper, got stung when I was a kid about 200 times and mom called 911 and got me to the hospital now I'm very allergic to honey bees but love them and need them for my farming/gardening, I would have several hives if I could; beekeepers are special people in my book by what they do. I know several in my county and buy their honey every year.

Please tell the story!

• Where did you live when you got stung 200 times? California or Texas?
• Were they "killer bees", were they "ground bees" (yellow jackets) or other?
• Did they come out of a gray paper nest, a hollow tree, a beehive, or from the ground/somewhere you couldn't see?

Killer bees are just that. Yellowjackets are almost as bad if you disturb their nest, and will sting and sting and sting. White-faced hornets, who come from the big gray nests can sting multiple times, too and really pack a wallop!

That being said, bees and wasps have different types of toxins. My wife is severely allergic to bee stings, and has to go to the hospital. But she is NOT allergic to yellowjackets, hornets or wasps. It hurts and swells, but no major systematic reaction. I know others who are the opposite. You may not be allergic to honeybees if those were yellowjackets or hornets.

Many beekeepers are or become allergic. You will just need to wear your suit and gloves, and then keep an epi-pen in your pocket, just in case. And only keep calm bees from a good source.

Often, when a kid is allergic to bees, it goes away by the time they grow up. But still, be careful if you don't know.

 

[David Atkins]

Please tell the story!

• Where did you live when you got stung 200 times? California or Texas?
• Were they "killer bees", were they "ground bees" (yellow jackets) or other?
• Did they come out of a gray paper nest, a hollow tree, a beehive, or from the ground/somewhere you couldn't see?

Killer bees are just that. Yellowjackets are almost as bad if you disturb their nest, and will sting and sting and sting. White-faced hornets, who come from the big gray nests can sting multiple times, too and really pack a wallop!

That being said, bees and wasps have different types of toxins. My wife is severely allergic to bee stings, and has to go to the hospital. But she is NOT allergic to yellowjackets, hornets or wasps. It hurts and swells, but no major systematic reaction. I know others who are the opposite. You may not be allergic to honeybees if those were yellowjackets or hornets.

Many beekeepers are or become allergic. You will just need to wear your suit and gloves, and then keep an epi-pen in your pocket, just in case. And only keep calm bees from a good source.

Often, when a kid is allergic to bees, it goes away by the time they grow up. But still, be careful if you don't know.

we lived temporarily in home near Richmond, VA. - they were honey bees as my father had 10 or 12 hives, I don't remember the exact count; he worked those hives and sold the honey, I was messing with one of the hives and I guess made them mad so out they came and got all over me, Doctor at Memorial Hospital told my mom and dad I had been stung over 200 times and they took out many stingers from all over my body; I was a baby and it was summer and hot as heck so all I had on was short pants and no shirt, bare foot.

 

[airshot]

Some years back at a gun club I belonged to, we were curting grass and getting ready for a match. One of the guys ran into a hornets nest !! He ran to his truck and drove to the club house about a quarter mile away. They nailed him a couple times, big holes but he seemed OK. After about an hours rest he walked back outside the club house and those hornets were waiting for him, nailed him three more times in seconds. We took him to the hospital this time. One of the old timers said hornets have a memory and they will get back at you at a later time. Never mess with hornets !

 

[Douglasdzaster]

I swapped mine out over the winter, will bevtesting when the weather breaks. I don't fish anywhere near weeds so a weedless prop was useless, just looking at it you can see there is kess water moving force. Your story makes me anxious to get out and give the power prop a whirl !! MK claims no difference in speed, but just comparing them, I think tgere will be an increase!!

I noticed a substantial difference. The reason it startled me I had the motor pointing to turn right and it made me kinda bite a button hole in my seat. It was a little bit above 1/4 throttle when it happened but I was used to the other prop and thinking about something else instead of the new prop. It reminded me I had made a change. When I made the exchange in my shop I noticed the weed less wedge felt like it weighed twice as much as the power prop which is really light in comparison. I remember thinking the motor was going to spin the heck out of it and that it’s either going to spin like heck and not perform or the lighter weight would perform better using less energy. I’m like you and very seldom encounter a need to do any weed plowing.

If you do get close to anything I think we need to be careful with the power prop not to strike anything. I think it’ll damage easily. There was some loose grass and things drifting around in the lake after it caught a lot of run off and the edges of my blades show signs of just a little abrasion. Nothing some super fine sandpaper won’t fix in 2 seconds or just a little toothpaste.
In open water it’s awesome. The only thing which isn’t a big deal for me is it doesn’t turn the boat quite as well as the weed less. But we where out there Saturday with so many boats I took the last parking spot for the truck and trailer at one of many ramps. Wind wasn’t bad but we had big waves from every direction most of the day. It had known problem staying in course. I taught my grandson how to run it and he fallowed my instructions and went the routes I gave him perfectly.
I felt like I had the ipilot and remote control I wanted after all.
Another plus I have the weed less prop in the boat at n/c and if I need to get shallow I’ll swap them out.

 

[Douglasdzaster]

Oh and way way way way back to my original post.
Can’t believe I have y’all going down an off topic rabbit hole along with me.

I had used Armor All that day. It stayed mount on a board inside my shop until this weekend. . When I but it in the boat Friday evening it had collected a little dust but right now everything I don’t have covered will get dust on it in my shop. It still looked great but the shaft felt like plastic again. Didn’t feel slick any more.
I stowed it back in the shop last night and I the shaft showed abrasions.
The spot where the steering adjustment was is white and abrasive.
So a fail on the Armor All. I’ll be moving on to the next product.
I’m going to look at my old shaft and see if the ceramic coating has caused any harm. Meanwhile I may use silicone next.
I’m not expecting anything to last for every just something I don’t have to do every single outing.

I really screwed up yesterday and on the way home took my grandson to a creek that feeds the lake where the white/sand bass have been spawning. It’s part of Texas Parks and Wildlife trails which are many miles at the east end of the lake. Five bucks to get in then drive down close to 2.5 miles of terrain and there’s parking at the creek. Would have been ok if I didn’t have my boat behind me. Absolutely no trailers allowed in the parking lot because of space.
So just before the parking lot I pulled to the side out of the way and we walked to the creek.
Wasn’t thinking about the traffic and all the dust. Everyone is in a hurry to get to the creek and all jeeps and trucks bouncing on the rough path.
We got back to the truck and was talking when a truck went by and I saw my grandson duck his head down and close his eyes. Turned and looked.
A huge thick cloud of dust covered us. I looked at my boat and all my gear and everything had layers of the fine dust covering it.
I have to clean up everything. A lot of the dust blew off coming home.
When I backed in last night and started unloading I couldn’t stand it. I started cleaning the electrical. I remove my Garmin and it rides in a case inside the truck. The cable ends where capped but it was so bad after cleaning when I removed the caps it made its way to the connectors. My plug and play connectors for the sonar battery same way switch panel.
Breaker switch. Even dust in storage and water doesn’t get in there but dust did. Most of it can be blown off. But I was out there last night with a headlamp and a can of Deoxit and a tips because I couldn’t stand the electrical not looking new.
I haven’t looked under the cowl of the Yamaha yet. I may have more cleaning under there since the bugs got in it when night fishing dust will get in too and stick real good to the fluid film it’s coated with.
It lives under the cover at home so I’m used to cleaning everything at different times after so many outings. I get to clean everything at once this time. Even 9 rods which don’t all have reel covers.
I won’t take it out until at least the motor and electrical are done. But I need to run it after this trip. I had no choice but to put ethanol fuel in the tank this weekend and want to run it out and get some ethanol free back in the system.

On a bright side. All the little things I found wrong getting ready for this trip. Cracked fuel line , carburetor drain plugs broken or cracked.
When I started it Saturday morning it idled a lot better I didn’t have to keep giving it gas every now and then. I even had to adjust it because it was purring like a kitten at only 550 rpms. I raised the idle and w away we went.
Grandson 120 lbs sitting towards bow on ice chest. His cousin 126lbs sitting in the rear with me and loaded with gear.
Got passed the buoy’s and I gave it some throttle and the bow stood up. I thought ok I’ll need to adjust the outboard a notch (that means I don’t have electric tilt and trim for you young ones).

After that thought I hit wide open throttle to see what I was dealing with.
The 40 2 stroke old Yamaha bowed up and we shot out of the hole and was hauling tail. Better than ever. I had to watch it because in a matter seconds I was doing 6k rpms and climbing. At 5,500k we were getting it own and the boat was planning great.
When I rebuilt the boat I removed a lot of weight just doing the floor.
Going to all lithium batteries took out a lot of weight. Etc.
Now I need to get a different prop.
Or a different tiny Tach to compare to make sure this one’s accurate.

 

[airshot]

Check that tach for sure before making a prop change!!
I have a 40 hp Merc two stroke that gets up and goes as well, I am turning a couple hundred over max with just me in it, but when I have a passenger or two, it is just right !!

 

[Douglasdzaster]

Check that tach for sure before making a prop change!!
I have a 40 hp Merc two stroke that gets up and goes as well, I am turning a couple hundred over max with just me in it, but when I have a passenger or two, it is just right !!

When I first got it the prop that was on it was real close to 5500 rpms at wot and it was making to boat go fast enough the boat would start walking because it didn’t have enough chines in the water. I’d have to control it by steering the tiller so I wouldn’t go sliding sideways.
I saw some cracks in the blades of the prop and it needed to be reworked. But that would cost double what another aluminum prop would.
For the life of me I coul not find any information on that prop at all.
No stamp nothing. Even brought it in the house and sit in my chair with a magnifying glass. I figured out diameter easy enough. Everything but pitch.
Ended up using an online prop calculator using everything I knew about the boat. When I got the new one it would go over if I let it. Pushed the boat good but wasn’t getting the same speed at 5500. Then I did work to the boat and lost a lot of weight. At the same time was always having to mess with the motor and kept getting decent but different results. Mostly rough idle and hard starting.
Saturday is was putting out and like I said zero to skipping on top the water in seconds.