Okay.... now before you all laugh and point, I think I may be on to a good idea here, so hear me out. I may be a fool, or I may be a genius.
I did find one other thread on this, and ironically it started the same way mine just did:
http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/show...light=trolling
I got this idea from my brother in law who runs a trolling motor on his patio boat. It has a primary outboard drive, but he sticks in a small trolling motor to power the boat on the small lake where it lives. The motor is locked in a forward position (stern drive) and never turns. Instead the turning is done using the steering wheel, moving the outboard like a rudder. Amazingly the boat handles quite well on calm days.
There are numerous upsides to doing this:
1) By not running the primary engine, you save fuel and engine hours
2) No gasoline means no carbon monoxide (which also means no FAE needed for slow speeds)
3) Emergency backup motor in case of engine or prop failure
4) No loud engine to spoil a serene afternoon of cruising
5) Use to traverse shallow channels
6) Fishing..... something I don't do, but hey, you could.
I may be unique, but I tend to spend a LOT of my day slowly cruising while sipping my favourite beverage. Running the primary motor makes noise, creates smelly exhaust and runs up the engine hours when doing very little work. I absolutely loved his trolling motor on that small lake.
Now here is where my idea gets a little crazy:
Between the swim platform of a new Tige, and the Convex Vx, there exists about an 11" hole.
This hole would ideally fit a trolling motor such as this one:
Building a small bracket, you could easily mount this little unit in the space (i.e. permanently). At high speed, the Convex Vx does what it is supposed to do and pushes the water down underneath. However at trolling speeds, this little bugger could splash away and produce thrust in the recommended depth of water. Steering would be done the same as before, with the primary rudder on your steering wheel. Thrust would be wired up to a knob on the helm.
The only question is whether or not the motor would produce enough thrust and the water would move past it properly. I think it would. Tige did a nice job of creating smooth surfaces under the swim platform which should channel the necessary water flow.
I think I'm going to try out this project, the only downside is that I will need to put a couple holes in the swim platform and I'm not sure what its internally support structure looks like. I'd also need to run wires through the transom, and drilling holes in my new baby is terrifying. I would also need to wire up some batteries to give me 24 volts, and I don't know how this all works just yet.
Or I could just stop thinking up crazy ideas and sleep at night....
I did find one other thread on this, and ironically it started the same way mine just did:
http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/show...light=trolling
I got this idea from my brother in law who runs a trolling motor on his patio boat. It has a primary outboard drive, but he sticks in a small trolling motor to power the boat on the small lake where it lives. The motor is locked in a forward position (stern drive) and never turns. Instead the turning is done using the steering wheel, moving the outboard like a rudder. Amazingly the boat handles quite well on calm days.
There are numerous upsides to doing this:
1) By not running the primary engine, you save fuel and engine hours
2) No gasoline means no carbon monoxide (which also means no FAE needed for slow speeds)
3) Emergency backup motor in case of engine or prop failure
4) No loud engine to spoil a serene afternoon of cruising
5) Use to traverse shallow channels
6) Fishing..... something I don't do, but hey, you could.
I may be unique, but I tend to spend a LOT of my day slowly cruising while sipping my favourite beverage. Running the primary motor makes noise, creates smelly exhaust and runs up the engine hours when doing very little work. I absolutely loved his trolling motor on that small lake.
Now here is where my idea gets a little crazy:
Between the swim platform of a new Tige, and the Convex Vx, there exists about an 11" hole.
This hole would ideally fit a trolling motor such as this one:
Building a small bracket, you could easily mount this little unit in the space (i.e. permanently). At high speed, the Convex Vx does what it is supposed to do and pushes the water down underneath. However at trolling speeds, this little bugger could splash away and produce thrust in the recommended depth of water. Steering would be done the same as before, with the primary rudder on your steering wheel. Thrust would be wired up to a knob on the helm.
The only question is whether or not the motor would produce enough thrust and the water would move past it properly. I think it would. Tige did a nice job of creating smooth surfaces under the swim platform which should channel the necessary water flow.
I think I'm going to try out this project, the only downside is that I will need to put a couple holes in the swim platform and I'm not sure what its internally support structure looks like. I'd also need to run wires through the transom, and drilling holes in my new baby is terrifying. I would also need to wire up some batteries to give me 24 volts, and I don't know how this all works just yet.
Or I could just stop thinking up crazy ideas and sleep at night....
. Someone has to be the guinea pig. I bet half the hours on my last boat were under 1000 RPM.
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