stowing difficulty Minn kota powerdrive

[harderthansoft]

So I went ahead and purchased a Minn kota copilot yesterday. I had looked at a lot of reviews as I always do before making a purchase. I have to say I am pretty disappointed in the difficulty of stowing the unit. I didn't see any discussion of this issue in the reviews. Everything else about it I love. I personally think the traditional mount would of been better. Getting it to slide and lock in to place is the issue.

Now maybe with use it gets easier. Because this unit has been hardly used at all. Its a 2013 model and I paid 400 with the remote. So I felt it was fair price.

I went home and did a Google search for Minn Kota stowing problems. And sure enough I found folks complaining about it.

Has anyone found a way to put them on a gator mount? I don't think it can be done with the servo motor. Or I am considering adding a handle with a locking collar to the shaft close to top. I am getting up there in age. And don't see paying arm and leg for the self deployable unit. But now I see why they came up with that technology.

 

[KKrueger]

Mine was always tough to deploy but is easier now. I have sprayed the shaft with a teflon spray and stow/deploy has become much easier.

Use this as an excuse to fish more.

 

[Fisherking]

I had a real problem deploying and stowing. I took a sander to the front bump in the cradle and it was a lot easier. I had a problem working the foot pedal and could never find the remote even though it was hanging around my neck so I switched to a cable controller.

I did consider velcro'ing the remote to my thigh so it would always be in the same place.

 

[harderthansoft]

So what do you mean you switched to a cable controller? Did you get rid of unit all together?

 

[Fisherking]

Yes. PD gone. I forgot to mention that I found mine noisy as well.

I was introduced to foot controlled trolling motors with a cabled foot pedal. I hated it. My leg would cramp in a seated position and standing is a problem for me. My buddy replaced that one with a new one and it was much better. Turns out something was off in the first one. Bent shaft?

I need to point out that the PD I had, likely had a number of prior owners. It was a "first edition".

 

[j_seph]

Re: hard to deploy minnkota powerdrive

None of those remedies work for long. The problem is the tension pads. If you remove the side covers you'll see a hard, brown rubber pad. These are compressed when the motor is stowed. There is a "U" shaped casting on the back side of the housing which faces downward when stowed. I used a die grinder to remove some of that material. Mine now works fine. The other option is to totally disassemble the motor and trim off some of the brown rubber tension pad. I may have some pictures of this process and will post them if I can find them. This procedure was recommended by a Minnkota rep at a boat show.

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat...ors/183906-hard-to-deploy-minnkota-powerdrive

 

[harderthansoft]

Thanks a lot I will look into trimming those pads.