TOPIC:

I installed a new Terrova I-Pilot 36v on the bow of my boat earlier this spring. It works great, spot lock, speed , wireless remote and etc. My question is, I have read where guys use them for steering when using their kicker motor for speed , if you do how fast or what speed do you set the trolling motor at ? Any other tips or suggestions using the trolling motor for trolling would be appreciated. Thanks Rudey

If you are using a kicker, depends on the speed you need to troll your baits. I use mine primarily when walleye fishing Lk Erie because I need slower speeds. At very slow speeds you kicker will not have enough torque to control your direction, especially w light winds, so you need the added thrust to control direction. It also adds auto pilot control to your kicker from the front of the boat. If you are trolling above 2mph/gps you probably will not use the electric motor. You just have to work up to a speed that puts the directional control with the trolling motor. Easy to learn. You will probably wonder how you got along without it!!

I have 24v ulterra, depending on chop i put 4-7 setting and adjust kicker to get my speed between 2-3mph. It works well but I’m sold on tr1.

I used to use my terrova for an auto pilot it works very well up to about 2.5 foot waves after that you have to help it turn and angle your kicker to help it troll straight. Put the trolling motor on continuous at about a 6 or 7 stetting and use the remote to turn on the auto pilot heading. If I remember correctly there are two auto pilot settings. Use the one with the N without a circle around it. Check your book on how to do it. I believe you hit the auto pilot button and hold it. Use the arrows to turn but do it in small intervals. Hope that helps.

Thanks for the info, it’s not going to be very rough out tomorrow so probably pass on using it. Rudey

Tomorrow is the perfect time to experiment with it so you know how to do it and get all the kinks out before you want to use it. Takes a bit of time before you will trust it and know exactly how to operate it. Once you get it down you won’t know what to do now that you don’t have to drive. Take advantage of it.

I use my terrova every time out for steering only. I set my big motor for the speed I want and use the terrova to fine tune it normally between 4-7 speed setting. I never touch the steering wheel the whole time Im trolling. It is a lifesaver for me because I’m normally fishing with a 6 and 12 year old. I can help them with the fish/rods and let the terrova autopilot keep us on a steady course. Honestly it almost makes it too easy.

Thanks for the great advice, now all I have to do is give it a try. Rudey

A Little late on this topic but what I have found playing around this spring with using the trolling motor for steering. I have a 55lb power drive 2 I upgrades to the autopilot version when I bought the 17ft smokercraft. So this spring I started using it for steering and will not troll any other way now with that setup. Set you speed with the Main or Kicker motor. Drop your trolling motor and I usually start around 5 for speed and then adjust, you want just enough thrust to turn the bow in a nice even manner. The faster the prop on the troller the faster it overcomes the forward motion and will have you adjusting more frequently. There are a couple course set up features and I use the heading feature to set heading so the auto pilot will maintain set heading. You may already have read or know this but on my controller I press the (N) button and hold it until it blinks and there is a circle around the N this sets the heading function and you can use your left and right arrows to adjust heading thus bow. As your battery wears you will have to adjust speed to accommodate for loss of battery and thrust.