Duel trolling motor questions.

[Sherwood]

My wife is photographer and would like the boat exactly perfect to set up shots of Air showes and the practices that happen often around Pensacola. She often wants to move on the fly during the show, so like setting up multiple anchors is not a solution.
My min kota works fine, but the direction the boat is going to settle is going to be dictated by the wind, current ect and swing accordingly. It be nice to lock it in solid. Shallow water anchors that reach over 12 feet would work in the bay, but not for times when we go off shore.
So can I spot lock two trolling motors to lock in a spot and boat orientation ?

 

[paleus]

It might work if one was on the stern and one on the bow. Not sure if the accuracy of the position would be enough to keep the boat orientation locked. I'd guess you'd have a lot of back and forth with the motors fighting to get into their position. I had a Garmin Force and it would oscillate around a position if you turned the sensitivity up too high. Low enough sensitivity to stop the oscillation and it would drift around the position. No idea how 2 would act trying to fight to get the boat where they each think it should be.

Could you set the trolling motor to follow a heading just fast enough to keep the boat oriented in the direction you want?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

If you use two gps based trolling motors to try and spot lock they will probably start to “hunt”, as one pushes the boat one way the other will try and compensate for that…this oscillation will increase, aka dynamic instability, so I’d say don’t even spend the dough to try and do that, plus all the other stuff that goes along with a trolling motor…

Your best bet would be to have a small 5# anchor for the stern, you could put that out and get it set then have the trolling motor spot lock and it would probably be a lot more stable than allowing the stern of the boat to pivot around as the trolling motor pulls one way then the other.. and its way cheaper than finding out with another trolling motor.

You could also try and drop a 5 gallon bucket down off the stern tied to the tow hoop, that would also provide some stabilization and be faster to deploy and retrieve.

But it is never going to be solid unless you were to use two anchors, well as solid as it can be on the ocean, and anchors are way cheaper than shallow water anchors. With a little practice you would get good at setting them and retrieving them.

Is it a sand bottom or something else?


You might think about putting on an anchor roller like I did, it makes launching and retrieving the anchor a lot easier!

 

[Sherwood]

If you use two gps based trolling motors to try and spot lock they will probably start to “hunt”, as one pushes the boat one way the other will try and compensate for that…this oscillation will increase, aka dynamic instability, so I’d say don’t even spend the dough to try and do that, plus all the other stuff that goes along with a trolling motor…

Your best bet would be to have a small 5# anchor for the stern, you could put that out and get it set then have the trolling motor spot lock and it would probably be a lot more stable than allowing the stern of the boat to pivot around as the trolling motor pulls one way then the other.. and its way cheaper than finding out with another trolling motor.

You could also try and drop a 5 gallon bucket down off the stern tied to the tow hoop, that would also provide some stabilization and be faster to deploy and retrieve.

But it is never going to be solid unless you were to use two anchors, well as solid as it can be on the ocean, and anchors are way cheaper than shallow water anchors. With a little practice you would get good at setting them and retrieving them.

Is it a sand bottom or something else?


You might think about putting on an anchor roller like I did, it makes launching and retrieving the anchor a lot easier!

Sand, the times I have used a anchor when my minn kota was in the shop I had play out a lot of line or it would drag my factory anchor easily.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Sand, the times I have used an anchor when my minn kota was in the shop I had play out a lot of line or it would drag my factory anchor easily.

Then perhaps a better anchor is in order, I do not know what anchor you have but the fortress fluke anchors seem to be very well reviewed and they’re lighter than steel.

How much chain do you have on it? You should have at least 20’ of 5/16” stainless steel chain between the anchor and the rode. The chain serves two purposes, it keeps the shank of the anchor as parallel to the sea floor as possible and it keeps your rode from getting abraded by the sea floor..

I have 20’ of 5/16” stainless steel chain, a swivel on the shank of the anchor when is then connected to a stainless steel chain, then a stainless steel clevis which is safety wired that attaches the chain to the rode. Works great!

 

[Sherwood]

Then perhaps a better anchor is in order, I do not know what anchor you have but the fortress fluke anchors seem to be very well reviewed and they’re lighter than steel.

How much chain do you have on it? You should have at least 20’ of 5/16” stainless steel chain between the anchor and the rode. The chain serves two purposes, it keeps the shank of the anchor as parallel to the sea floor as possible and it keeps your rode from getting abraded by the sea floor..

I have 20’ of 5/16” stainless steel chain, a swivel on the shank of the anchor when is then connected to a stainless steel chain, then a stainless steel clevis which is safety wired that attaches the chain to the rode. Works great!

Problem with that is positioning. I have back plan 25 feet of line drift and then if anything happens like another boat gets in the way move really fast.