Best thing I ever bought for our boat!

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kodiak1

kodiak1

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Posted this on the BigFish side, but thought I might share it on this site as well:


Well, today we finally got to play with our newest addition to the boat while fishing Magic Res. Kali bought me a Trollmaster 2 for my birthday, but admits that it was mostly for her! No more trips back to adjust the trolling motor for her. If you are not familiar with Trollmasters, they are remote digital throttle adjusters. There is a control box in the front of the boat with an on/off button, an "idle" button, and a max speed button. You can adjust your speed with the idle button with great precision, and when a fish hits, you just push the button and the motor immediately goes to the lowest speed. Push it again, and it goes back to the previous trolling speed. If you discover you are heading into rocks, etc. and need full speed quickly, push the max button. Easy as that. I love this control. Every time the wind shifted, or we turned directions, all we had to do was turn the speed nob, and we were back to ideal speed. This was invented by two guys in Culdesac Idaho, but was bought out by a company in Michigan, I believe. They have improved the servo, and a few other positive tweaks
 
TrollMaster

I have to agree....I've had a trollmaster for a couple of years now and I really like the ability to dial in the exact speed I want. The gentleman, Bill if I remember right, was the owner in Culdesac and he was great. I called him one time when I had a question about the installation. The servo was rubbing on the cowling of the motor and stripped the plastic gears the first trip out with it. He suggested a better way to mount the servo and sent me a new servo with metal gears.....no charge. I believe he sold out due to health issues.

Rick
 
Trollmaster Question

Would it work with a main motor? I'd love to have something on my 60 Yamaha 4 stroke that would digitally regulate trolling speed w/o having to constantly fight the slack in my throttle linkage.
 
Hey Burt,
Sorry, but I just checked the Cablela site, and the largest motor they work for is a 20 Merc. They are quite amazing; they get unanimous rave reviews. We tried it out on Magic on a very windy day, and it must have saved us 30 trips to the back of the boat. Speaking of Magic, you need to get over there. We are thinking about heading to Anderson for kokes in the next few weeks. Good to see you back on the sites!! Mike
 
Magic and Anderson

Mike: Both have gotta be good from the reports. Got a new ('er..'94 van) tow vehicle that I can sleep in so I'm ready for a few overnighters. Hope to see you at one of them.
 
I have been using one for close to 5 years now. Great tool for adjusting the right trolling speed. The part number on the servo can be used to get a replacement at a RC store. You'll be amazed at the price difference. 4moremney
 
I have the trollmaster as well. Put it on my honda 8hp. Works great. The trollmaster and a simple rod between my main outboard and the kicker I'm able to sit up front where I can see the fishfinder and stay out of the wind and rain, which I did for a couple years running the kicker sitting in the back of the boat while my fishing buddy's sat under the cover.

I also like the Humminbird fishfinder I bought with built in GPS. I really like being able to mark the spots where I am seeing fish. I've found out that the waypoints I entered last year are still good spots this year.
 
I've been thinking about ordering one of these soon. Based on comments on the websites, it's pretty easy to install. Did you install your own? Any advice?

Thanks, Ryan
 
I installed mine on a T-8. I imagine enough of us have installed them on a different motor to walk you through anything you get into.
 
Just installed one on a older Honda 10hp, I have yet to have it on the lake, but the "running in a bucket test" was great. The biggest draw back for me was the instructions. I have a 1982 (I think) and I bought the "pre 2001" Honda kit. The instructions were a joke, poor copies of hand written sketches and some mostly useless color copies of photos. Useless to me because none of them matched my motor. Even if they did they were so fuzzy you would have a hard time telling what was what. Just a buyer beware, if you need good detailed instructions don't attempt this. I had to do some dry runs with the servo to see how it all worked and then figure out how and where to mount it on my own.

Other than that so far I love how it works, I read somewhere that you may need to be careful with the "max" setting, the servo will actuate farther than the linkage can travel. Mine is one of those, If I turn it all the way up using the dial the throw is about perfect, but when I bump it up using the max throttle button it will try to push farther. I put a small "s" bend in the linkage to give it a flex point, but I am going to grab another small piece to have on hand just in case. They just use 1/16" 316 stainless tig welding rod.

Cant wait to get it out on the water and actually try it out!
 
Just thought I'd add my comments as a satisfied user. Have the Trollmaster Pro II on my 8hp Merc kicker and it's awesome. Had the original Trollmaster on our previous boat and the 6hp kicker. Have to admit, the Pro II is a much nicer unit with way more adjustability than the predecessor and the momentary full throttle is a real nice feature when fishing in the wind.

The company has indeed changed hands, and Trollmaster is now marketed by Marine Tech Products, Inc. in Minnesota.

Recently, I had an occasion to have my remote unit repaired and have to say I was pleased. The digital display had lost some of the pixels and made it real difficult to read. Everything else worked fine, just the display was becoming useless. I contacted Marine Tech and they provided me with the necessary info for returning the display. They repaired the unit and returned it to me at no charge even though it was more than a year out of warranty.

They get kudos from me! thumbsup
 
SuperD said:
I installed mine on a T-8. I imagine enough of us have installed them on a different motor to walk you through anything you get into.
Click to expand...

Got the unit, but have been fishing and playing to much for the install. Now I'm ready and I thought it would a quick install. Not so fortunate. I agree with Mudinchev, the pics, schematics, and discussion aren't to impressive. The Trollmaster throttle rod keeps falling off the Merc linkage and I'm not sure if it's my bad or theirs. Hopefully a call to the company and they can walk me through some of it. Ryno
 
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I wasn't crazy about having 20' of loose cable laying everywhere to get tangled in. I zip tied mine under the gunnel and left about 5' free. I used the mic style clip and have mounted not too far from my standard throttle controls.
 
Ryno said:
The Trollmaster throttle rod keeps falling off the Merc linkage and I'm not sure if it's my bad or theirs. Hopefully a call to the company and they can walk me through some of it. Ryno
Click to expand...
If pics of an install on an 8hp Merc 4 stroke would be helpful I'd be happy to oblige. ;)
 
SilverFox said:
If pics of an install on an 8hp Merc 4 stroke would be helpful I'd be happy to oblige. ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks SilverFox, but I I figured it out. My rod was bumping the engine housing, so I made some minor bends allowing it to move freely. Problem #1 solved. I also had to tighten up my cable (#2 solved) and I did all of this on the water. Once I got it right, I started trolling for kokes and within 1-hour had a limit of kokes and a bonus rainbow in the boat. Loved the ability to hit "idle", fight the fish, hit "idle" again, and get back to trolling. It's really nice when you're solo.

Question for you guys, do you get some change in speed over time or do you just set the control and it just stays at that speed the entire time. Yesterday I trolled about 3 hrs and when I started 22 on the remote was about 2.1 mph on the GPS. By the time I finished 16 on the remote was about 2.1 mph. I wondered if it's heat related being the servo is mounted on the manifold, but was also curious if this the norm. I'll call Scott at Trollmaster again on Monday, but thanks for any input from you experiences too.

Ryno
 
I use GPS and a Luhr Jensen trolling speed indicator and adjust accordingly. A lot will depend on water current/wind speed, my experience anyway. As conditions change, I tweak speed. FWIW, in calm water and no wind, mine stays dead on all day.
 
SilverFox said:
I use GPS and a Luhr Jensen trolling speed indicator and adjust accordingly. A lot will depend on water current/wind speed, my experience anyway. As conditions change, I tweak speed. FWIW, in calm water and no wind, mine stays dead on all day.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it was calm out there so there might be something going on. I can hear the motor rpms move-up too so it's likely something with the servo(?).
 
Thanks for sharing information about this product. I've been telling my wife all summer that I can't believe the outboard motor manufacturers don't have a more precise way to regulate the throttle on a motor that is designed to go s..l..o..w. I was really getting tired adjusting the kicker throttle every ten minutes.

Just ordered my Trollmaster Pro 2 yesterday!
 
OK, I used the Trollmaster Pro II for the first time yesterday and it is AWESOME. I highly recommend it for anybody who is constantly messing around with their trolling motor trying to dial in the right speed. The installation instructions are horrible (as stated here). But, it's actually a very simple device and detailed instructions really aren't needed.

I LOVE being able to fine tune my speed. I also love being able to speed the motor up while turning then slow it back down without leaving my seat. Very easy to use. Best 250 bucks I've spent on my boat by far.
 

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