When dad passed away, I inherited a nice 1648 aluminum boat with a Honda 4 stroke 20hp motor, a Minn Kota 55lb PowerDrive V2 trolling motor with I-pilot, and a Lowrance fish finder/GPS. I just now got around to putting it into the water today. We always had a lake place with a boat house so I've never towed, launched or trailered a boat until today. So for you guys with years of experience, I have some observations and some questions. I purposely went to a 20 acre pond with a ramp to have a controlled environment to familiarize myself with the boat before getting on some big water like a lake or a river.

First the good. I took my brother with me to have an extra set of hands and that was a huge help. Launching off the trailer went off without a hitch and in no time we were floating in the water. The Honda motor ran like a champ. Smooth and powerful. It's a tiller steer instead of having a console and a steering wheel so that's taking some getting used to but otherwise, I liked it.

Now, for the other stuff. I found the trolling motor very cumbersome. It was a real PITA to release the "grip glide lever" deploy the unit. It just wasn't easy at all. Then when stowing it, pulling it back toward the stern far enough for the grip guide lever to engage the collar on the shaft was a real challenge. Maybe the shaft needs to just lubed (insert joke here) to make it a little easier. It has no foot control and only a remote and it must be shot. I installed a new battery but never could get anything to come up on the remote screen. Therefore I was unable to even use the trolling motor once I got it deployed in the water. I tried everything to no avail so I guess I'll look at getting a new remote.

The fish finder works and seems pretty cool even if it's got some years on it. I just don't know what the heck I'm looking at. It tells me the depth and shows stuff on the bottom so with some time, it will be fine I'm sure.

Trailering the boat turned out to be a challenge. It took about half a dozen attempts to line it up correctly. I kept ending up with the bottom edge of the boat resting on the trailer wheel hub. I finally was able to line it up to that it it was centered but it was harder than I thought. Maybe I need to raise the runners on the trailer to make it ride higher?

Finally, when I'm pulling it, I'm really worried that if I make a hard turn the edge of the boat or the trolling motor prop is going to catch my tail gate and scratch it. There isn't a lot of space between the corner of the boat edge or the prop and the back of my truck. I'm thinking I need to get a trailer hitch extension to give me more space. The trailer tongue seems a little short but then again, today was my first attempt at any of this.

I think once I get all these bugs worked out, I'm really going to enjoy having a boat. Any advice y'all want to give me will be greatly appreciated. I'm in Montgomery so if any of you are local and want to come by and put some eyes on it to look at some of my issues, that would be fine too. I can also text some pics tomorrow if anyone is interested.

Thanks guys!

Dr. B

Which model minn kota you got doc?
I have an Ulterra that has both a remote and a foot pedal.
I use the foot control when I get tired of the remote and visa versa.

As for the loading, you may want to try not backing the trailer in as far.

I'm still trying to learn my fish finders too. There are a lot of youtube how to videos with tips on reading them.

For trailering I like to leave about 4 inches of the fender wells above water. With the tiller steer being new to you it will take some time, but I like it over a steering wheel for smaller (40 hp) motors. Also a pic of the trailer will help. If it does not have guides on the side it's well worth the investment. They should be less than $100 at academy and they are easy to install. Pictures would help for towing help as well but most john boats seem to be pretty short on tongue length but are fine once you get acquainted with them.

small boat like that leave your fender out the water a little it takes a little experience with any particular boat but next time you back it in pay attention to how deep the fenders are when it first begins to try and slip off the trailer make a mental note to be a little shallower than that to load it back up i ussually leave about half to a third of my bunk length out the water and dont worry too much with getting it perfectly centered once its winched down up front you can just bump it like a car door that didnt shut good and it will go right into place if its a few inches off. wait until you get a chance to load it about at about 11 am on a Saturday in July on Martin make sure to leave all your guns at home it will be too tempting to not shoot at the 14 people that come by about half throttle with their boat swamped while you're attempting to load up

Gundoc, I edited my post to show it has a 55lb Minn Kota PowerDrive V2.

Dr. B

Pics of trailer tongue would help advise on that. All public boat ramps will have a different slope but the rule of thumb is trailer fenders at of just above water level (at least for my boat). There's one ramp at Guntersville that I have to submerge my fenders about 4 inches.

Was this you Dr. B?

As others have replied, just don’t back your trailer down so far. You will eventually find the “sweet spot.” As far as your trolling motor being difficult to deploy, try pushing down on the head of the motor and then deploy it.

my 75lbs Minn Kota edge used to be a PITA to deploy and to stow the fix was taking a chainsaw file to the retaining cut outs that the spring loaded pull pins lock into and rounding off all the sharp edges and corners then dab some white lithium grease on the pins and retaining cut outs its smooth as silk now i can deploy and stow it without even standing up the grease helped more than the filing did but the filing didnt hurt anything. also there are 3 screws on either side of the TM base (6 total) that hold a plastic cover on if they are threaded in too deep they stick into the channel that the TM lays in when stowed and put it in a bind

As already said, it just takes practice and trying different locations on how far the trailer is backed in to find where it needs to be. A flat bottom trailer has to be backed in further than a Vee bottom, but I'd leave some side runners out of the water. May have to put the fender completely under water.

Side runners barely visible, about 3-4inches out of the water is how our boat loads best.

Doc, thanks for trying to figure this out on a private lake. Most folks would have just brought it to the public ramp and tied it up for an hour.

The downside of the style of trolling motor you have is that it's totally dependent on that remote working. I don't know what to tell you, but at least you can work with it at home until you get it to respond. From my limited experience, I think that the old style trolling motors that use a steering cable are more reliable. A Minn kota Edge still works that way, and they are reasonably priced.

In loading an aluminum, I've always started with the trailer bunks half way in the water. You may find that your particular rig works best with it a little deeper, but you can figure that out quickly. It doesn't sound like you have any guides on your trailer, and I would definitely put some on it. The rig I have now had some on the side, but they were too far out to be of use. I put a shim on each side to center the boat, and C E Smith post guide to help me see the trailer without the boat on it. It looks like this now:



I can drive it on or winch it on and the boat has no choice but to be centered. I can't believe someone used this boat for 9 years the way it was, and I can't believe that the dealer set it up like that.

The short tongue is something to be concerned about, and there is not an easy fix. Take it to a parking lot or somewhere you can test it and see it it will hit the truck during a 90° turn. You need to do something to get the boat further back if it will. It might be that you can move the bunks further back and move the trailer post back. Most of them have some adjustment on the post, but you need to keep the bunks under the transom. My uncle ordered his with a 54" trailer tongue and it is a joy to pull. You have to do the best you can when you get a used one. Good luck with it!

UPDATE:

First let me thank y'all for the comments, PM's, pics, and advice. I really appreciate it!

Starting off with a huge SHOUT OUT to D&M Trolling Motor Repair in Prattville. I called him this morning explaining the problem with the remote for the trolling motor. About an hour later he calls back saying he has a remote that would work for my unit. Someone evidently upgraded and traded in another unit and he would sell me the remote for $50. They run about $150 from the manufacturer. I told him I'd be there in 30 minutes! Got it home and it worked like a charm! So I now have a working trolling motor!

Only thing left for me to figure out is why the stern and bow lights are not working. Not sure if it's a switch. fuse, or a wiring problem. I don't see any corrosion in the sockets so I think the contacts are fine. I bought a new stern light today and it didn't work I know it's not a bulb issue. I'm not sure how to test any of that stuff. I've got a multimeter that I'm sure could somehow tell me if the wires to the sockets have current but I've never used it other than to check the status of a battery.

If any of you have any advice on how to determine the integrity of the wires supplying power to the sockets, lemme know! Thanks!

Dr. B

Don't know what your trailer setup is like, but you will get better with it every time you put it in the water and will know how far the bunks need to be submerged when your getting it out of the water.

I learned how to launch a boat when I lived in Montgomery. Seems like a lot of those ramps are in less than average condition. If you learn on those you'll be in good shape.

I have not had time to measure to compare my jon boat but I'll try to get to it tomorrow. For testing the lights a meter comes in handy for some stuff but a test light will be your best friend. Any autoparts store will have them. They look like a screwdriver/punch with a wire coming out the top. They have a bulb inside it. If you put the wire to any ground on the boat and touch the probe to a hot wire the bulb lights up. Just by hearing how he had the boat laid out with all of the upgrades, I would be willing to bet he had fuses either at the battery side or near the wiring panel. After checking the fuses, I like to start testing the far end from the battery and working my way back.

All trailers and ramps are different. If the ramp is steep and flat ones require the trailer to be backed to further distance. I've seen ramps so flat there was water over my bumper before the boat would float. Launching is a learning process. Ramos in current are a whole nother story. You may find it easier to run new wires for your lights, just pull tie the new to the old wires. The advise to push down on head while pulling rope is dead on. Also, go to hardware store and buy a lawnmower pull rope. The ropes break and having a spare is a plus. Take care, go slow and you'll grasp all of it. There is nothing I love more than having a boat that performs as you desire. You have to constantly maintain one. Enjoy your time on the water. Anytime you have questions there is a lot of experience here to draw from.