R21 Trolling Motor?

[BlueDragonfly]

I've decided to look into a trolling motor for Blue Dragonfly next spring. I've put a huge amount of hours on my motor catching lakers at my slowest but actually high end trolling speeds. I know, seems redundant on 30 horses. Does anyone actually use one? I have a number of basic questions;
- Might an electric be simplest and effective? Using house battery?
- What kind of running time on single charge is expected and do normal running conditions recharge larger depletion sufficiently?
- What about a smaller gas motor? What kinda gas source set up?
-What is the best attachment point overall and how did you attach?
Your experiance and maybe pics would be great help. Thanks!
By the way, you tropically based boaters really TUG my jealousy nerves....! Nothing to do here but plan the next season while eyeballing the boat under wrap! (We got snow for Halloween) Have fun and keep bragging. Its a vicarious existance but it'll have to do! 😀

 

[RProffer]

I troll my R-21 EC at idle or just above idle depending upon the wind and tide. That usually puts me between one and three MPH, which I consider fine for trolling. I try to remember to blow out the carbon a couple times an hour by shifting to neutral and revving the engine to max five times, as stated in the manual.

I don't know what I would gain by getting a trolling motor. Usually a person gets a trolling motor because the main motor won't go slow enough. The 3YM30 motor seems to fine at trolling speeds in the R-21.

If you want to use a trolling motor, you might consider mounting it on the swim platform. You could put batteries under the aft bench seat and even connect it up to the boats electrical systems so it will get charged at the same time as the rest of the batteries.

 

[BlueDragonfly]

Thanks for your reply.
I believe I have a different prop set-up. How old is your ranger. From what I've read here on Tugnuts; my top end speeds are slower and lower ends faster than boats just a year older. Recieved my boat in May 2011 brand new. I am beginning to feel like this wasn't the best decision by Ranger to change props. If I had the older prop set up I'd go faster and be able to troll. Maybe Ranger Tugs can speak to this? :cry:

 

[tlkenyon]

Not sure you can have it both ways....a higher idle speed and a lower WOT speed...at least without a variable pitch prop. If the pitch is increased, the idle speed will be higher as will the WOT speed, within the constraint of hull speed. If the pitch is decreased, the idle speed will decrease as will the WOT speed. I do not see how one could get what you are suggesting by changing the prop...or did I miss something?

 

[BlueDragonfly]

I'm not suggesting having it both ways. I was merely trying to comment on speeds and rpms described in earlier pages here. If my ranger tug revs fully and tops out at similar speeds reported earlier by another new 21 owner, then I assume that we have had a factory performance designed change, thinking prop since engine rev parameters stayed the same. We had nearly exactly same top end speeds at high rpm (slower than earlier versions and quite a bit slower than was once advertised) On the other hand, I cannot achieve 2 knots or slower to troll and it takes an effort in piloting into the wind to get close. (usually around 2.2 knots) Only the most aggressive trout will grab this speedy bait at the right time of day. Am I missing something else? Perhaps this points to a bigger problem?

 

[GulfSailor]

I guess as it hasn't been suggested, that it's not possible to fit a trolling valve to the R21's transmission?