I converted my kayak to a electric kayak. Thoughts?

Hello,

So after owning my kayak for a year now, I have become bored with my 10.5ft boat. I ordered a 30lb  thrust motor from walmart; took it apart, and installed the motor and shaft to the transom, ran rope to  my foot pegs and allowed them run free for steering. Went to O'Reilly's autoparts and bought a pretty good size marine deep cycle battery, as well as scotty inflatable sponsons to compensate for the weight ordered from the web. The unit looks pretty legit I must say. My question is....   Does anybody have any horror stories for me from doing somthing like this. I know its common to minkota a kayak but what should I expect.  I am planning a maiden tomorrow and if everything works out gna go fishing on Sunday.  Thanks in advance for your input.

-Gills

Haven't heard of any horror stories, but sounds like you have yourself a cool little rig.  Post some pictures for us when you get the chance.

Good luck on your maiden voyage.   Just one thing, have you registered the kayak with DMV yet?  In case you haven't, that should be the first step before your maiden voyage.

It's a cool upgrade for those that like it.

Watch out for jonny law it's got a motor now so needs to be registered.

Good point.....

The first available appointment for this office is on:

Thursday, April 25, 2013 at 11:50 AM

DOh!

 

  How did you secure the battery?  I'm thinking that if you roll and it's not secured in any way, you'll have a rough time trying to right the hull with a 70lb lead weight hanging feet below the hull by the power lines, (That's if they don't rip away and take all connected to it to the bottom)

10.5' boat and you add another 50-75 lb battery. Does not sound too safe. Good luck and wear a PFD or two.

  How did you secure the battery?  I'm thinking that if you roll and it's not secured in any way, you'll have a rough time trying to right the hull with a 70lb lead weight hanging feet below the hull by the power lines, (That's if they don't rip away and take all connected to it to the bottom)

I saw this happen at SWS once.  The battery did rip out and go to the bottom and if they weren't right in front of the beach they would not have made it back.  Tie the battery down and keep a paddle on board just in case.

 

  I got to say this, if you want a motorized water craft (Boat) then get a "Crawdad" or something designed for a motor.  Installing a 30lb thrust motor on a kayak may seem like a good idea, but adding the weight of the battery and motor, will push the weight limits of that small kayak.  I'm picturing, your on the yak, loaded  up with fishing gear, and cruising full speed with the motor, and you make a turn and because the kayak is narrow, and maybe not that stable, it rolls over!  Or a boat wake hits you funny and it rolls.
  I know others have installed motors to kayaks, and my $.02 worth?  I didn't buy my kayak (OB) to motorize it.
  Good luck with it and just be safe when you operate it!

 

Your battery size may be a little bit of overkill.  COnsidering your are pushing maybe 200 pounds, and this was designed to push a larger boat with a couple of people on board.  You could go smaller and not overload your boat.

Sell your kayak
buy an aluminum boat.

you will be safer and still enjoy the fishing, I would not be in any way comfortable with that much weight combine with all the fishing gear.
Have you try to flip that kayak with all that weight on the water? and now you may have a motor and that thing could get away from you...( jetskis are designed to keep on running in circles if you fall, I doubt you put that much technology in your design) and if you swim that fast and catch it, you  may have the spinning  prop to deal with...
it could get ugly real quick...

Hello,

So after owning my kayak for a year now, I have become bored with my 10.5ft boat. I ordered a 30lb  thrust motor from walmart; took it apart, and installed the motor and shaft to the transom, ran rope to  my foot pegs and allowed them run free for steering. Went to O'Reilly's autoparts and bought a pretty good size marine deep cycle battery, as well as scotty inflatable sponsons to compensate for the weight ordered from the web. The unit looks pretty legit I must say. My question is....   Does anybody have any horror stories for me from doing somthing like this. I know its common to minkota a kayak but what should I expect.  I am planning a maiden tomorrow and if everything works out gna go fishing on Sunday.  Thanks in advance for your input.

-Gills

I saw some guy on a similar rig about a month ago while crabbing in HMB. It was foggy with about 150 foot vis and all I could here is a motor approaching me. When he finally broke through the fog it looked like he was riding on a contraption from the movie "Water world". He was also crabbing and seemed to be getting around easily. It did look a little sketchy though.

Be careful out there and make sure you will be able to self rescue especially since it sounds like you will be by yourself. Unless you have a buddy that has one too   

Enjoy the rigging and hope to see a report with some salmon or wsb... might make me consider it. ) Halibu777 has done a god job on his. Check out his youtube videos.

Peace & blessings!

Just get a PDF for the battery!

On a more serious note that alot of extra weight for a 10' yak.  You might want to check the capacity and add all the gear to body weight.

I'm thinking of doing the same with a 13' or larger yak.  My plann is to remove the stepped speed control and use a hobby type variable speed controller.  The stepped controllers waste a lot of power since they use resistors for speed control.   A more efficient motor/controller allows a smaller battery (less weight) with the same run time.