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Forward or reverse with a gas motor?
#1
We have two options forward or reverse. Just like with an electric motor reverse is best for fishing in my opinion. At slow trolling speeds it just makes more sense.

For travel to or from a spot is the actual topic of this post.

If the water is flat forward is great. you can see where your going and with everything out of the water the boat gets more speed. The problem with going forward is rough water. If you have waves that are of any size at all you get spray off the nose of the pontoons. I am sure that a closed front like the X5 is much better but on a open front the spray from rough water is tough to deal with.

So we go to reverse. When I am in reverse the motor is locked down and I use my feet to steer with. First problem with this and a gas motor. The gas motors have so much power that it could drag you from the boat. As the speed increases the pull on your legs makes it hard to stay in the seat. if you loosen the motor and pull your feet up out of the water the pontoon is hard to control. But in reverse the spray off the toons is much easier to deal with.

My solution so far is reverse and slow down to keep the front from coming out of the water on big waves. 3 MPH seems to keep the "jumping" to a minimum on big waves. The spray is blocked by the motor, seat and gear on the back.

Towing is the next thing to deal with. I have tried several ways. I tried going forward and using a rope to the towed boat. The guy tied to the frame to start with. That was no good at all. The towed boat was all over the place and I could not keep it straight. Next going forward and attaching the pontoons together at the ends. This was another failure. The motor is in the middle and steering is impossible.
I didn't try to tie the ends of the towed boat together and pulling from that. It could work but the problem would you need to pull from dead center or the towed boat is out of control.

What I finally did was went in reverse and tied the front of the towed boat to my frame up close so both boats worked as one. I had to steer with the motor but this worked well. But the problem I had was the power of the gas motor lifted the OEM motor mount about 3" and caused the motor to cavitate. That is another reason I decided to make a new motor mount. I do tow other boats a lot.

There is a lot of differences between gas motors and electric motors. Setting up a gas motor is a challenge. To anyone that is thinking about doing this. You will probably need to change the motor mount. Also you should think about a long shaft motor. I know I have left off some thoughts but I wanted to start conversation in case someone else wants to try this. Ron
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#2
My question on this is, the motors are not designed to be run in reverse for long periods of time, are you worried about that?

I was looking at this PDF. On page 7 it also talks of motor depth

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/se...ent=safari
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#3
That is kind of the owners manual. Here is a better one for the 2.6 hp.

http://colemanpowered.com/en/parts-a-acc...egory_id=2

Actually the 2.6 HP does not have a reverse it only has neutral and forward. You have to turn the motor around. There is a rotation lock in the back. You loosen that up and turn the motor 180 degrees as it is clamped on the mount. You don't have to take the motor off the mount it spins in the assembly. After the motor is turned the throttle arm flips over so you can work the gas. SO the boat is going in reverse but the motor is always going forward make sense?[crazy]
The 5 hP and up have forward neutral and reverse gears I think. In that case that much reverse might not be good. When I found out about how this motor worked for reverse I decided I was going to get one right then.

The height for the mount is going to be difficult for any inflatable. I was lucky that I have a shop available to make stuff. The height now is perfectly where the manual wants it to be in forward or reverse. Before with the OEM mount the only way it was right was forward. Now it is good to go both ways. here is what the manual shows. Ron

[Image: Motorheight.jpg]
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#4
Cool, thanks Ron. I have seen the ones that the handle flips. It didn't occur to me that your motor did not have reverse. Very good, on the clarification.
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#5
It really works like the electric motors in the way that you just turn the motor. How does the one work on the x5? can you turn it around to do this? Ron
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#6
No, it has an external gas tank and reverse/neutral/forward.
http://www.onlineoutboards.com/Nissan-5-...QgodU3IdSQ

We have the 15" shaft.
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#7
So do you think you would be able to run it in reverse for trolling? Ron
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#8
No, I don't think so. I don't tthink it is designed to go long distances in reverse and it is way too fast. That is why I said it is limited. Ultimately, the gas motor to get across big waters, then the electric for trolling.
[Image: x55.jpg]

This is not full throttle:

[Image: th_100_0055.jpg]
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#9
Ok I see. Mine will slow way down it might be because of legs dragging in the water but I can get down to .8 MPH easy if I drop my fish basket in the water and let it drag. My target for trolling for walleye is .9 to 1.1 mph. My top speed on flat water with no wind is just over 6 mph.
What is you slowest speed and highest speed with the 5 hp? Ron
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#10
I will have to take the GPS out, but again can't go in reverse. And too fast for most fishing, but we do fly fish.
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#11
Today I checked out the Coleman 5 hP. It will also turn 360 degrees when it is clamped on. SO a guy could troll backwards with this motor as well.
I think 5 hp is too much for my boat but for a boat like the Steelheader.com or the catchercraft, or the x5 it would work good. Ron
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#12
I see that, handle can flip over. Self contained gas as well...I just prefer Merc, what can I say[Wink]
X5 is only 6" longer, but it is rated for 1000lbs, but I have seen 5 hp on 9 foot pontoons. All in what you want.

Colmen is a single cylinder, the nissan is 2.
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#13
The 5 hp would be too fast for my style of trolling. I have no doubt that the boat it's self could handle the larger motor but It was just be too fast.
The Coleman "Parsun" does have a tank on it but it also hooks to a big tank with a hose connector. Merc is a good motor, I think the Nissan is also a good one. Parsun motors have a good track record but no where as long. So far mine is a good motor. I would like to see them go to a long shaft in a 3 hp. That would be a very nice motor for a pontoon. Ron
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#14
No doubt. Good luck with it.
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