Bob La Londe
October 13th, 2003, 06:43 PM
I have to say. Iwas not initially impressed with this motor, but it grows
on you.
It has given me no real problems since the initial setup. It is still
louder than I was lead to believe, but I hardly notice that, except at full
power.
I finally got my new Garmin 240 hooked up to it friday, and I used it
saturday. As I mentioned in another post, sonar is not necessarily all that
useful in shallow weed choked waters, but it performed very well. The
dsiplay read dead on what I expected in several areas. Of course I already
like the Garmin display as I have a 160 blue on my other boat. The Minn
Kota part is that the adaptor cable was easy to connect and the transducer
worked perfectly with my Garmin unit. It worked much better than the
Huminbird that it replaced. Sadly the Humminbird was always hard to read
and and when it got hot out the display would grey out. With no contract
adjustment that I could find I think it was an awfully poor design to carry
the "Platinum" label. Then I was already prejudiced against Humminbird
after experiencing their, "send your old unit in for a discount on a new
one," deal that had a net cost of more than retail no exchange price from
most resellers. I have to admit, it made a rather resounding thunk after it
arced into the dumpster. Hook shot! Two points!
After my less than stellar performance fishing yesterday I decided to work
on the things I can fix. I decided I needed to move the Maxxum forward a
little bit to give me some more room on the front deck. While moving it I
realized I would need to direct the cables in a different direction. That
of course threw off my foot pedal. Now if you remember I bitched about Minn
Kota's design and foot control alignment when I first set it up. I was
wrong. The design is fine and it was very easy to change now that I
understand how it works. I opened the cover of the top of the motor and
loosened the control cables. I spun the motor until the pedal was at
maximum travel in one direction. Then I slid the cam / cable barrel off the
gear on top of the motor shaft. A quick spin of the motor to point it
forward (drive in reverse) and I slipped the cable drum back onto the gear.
After tightening the control cables back up I checked my travel and
alignement. Dead reverse at max travel in either direction and dead ahead
at center of travel. It took less than fifteen minutes to re-align the
motor with the control after reversing the side that the cables came off of.
That included putting the cover screws back in.
Very nice, and now I don't have to put the motor all the way down to lift it
back on deck and clear my fishing chair.
--
Bob La Londe
Yuma, Az
http://www.YumaBassMan.com
Promote Your Fishing, Boating, or Guide Site for Free
Simply add it to our index page.
No reciprocal link required. (Requested, but not required)
on you.
It has given me no real problems since the initial setup. It is still
louder than I was lead to believe, but I hardly notice that, except at full
power.
I finally got my new Garmin 240 hooked up to it friday, and I used it
saturday. As I mentioned in another post, sonar is not necessarily all that
useful in shallow weed choked waters, but it performed very well. The
dsiplay read dead on what I expected in several areas. Of course I already
like the Garmin display as I have a 160 blue on my other boat. The Minn
Kota part is that the adaptor cable was easy to connect and the transducer
worked perfectly with my Garmin unit. It worked much better than the
Huminbird that it replaced. Sadly the Humminbird was always hard to read
and and when it got hot out the display would grey out. With no contract
adjustment that I could find I think it was an awfully poor design to carry
the "Platinum" label. Then I was already prejudiced against Humminbird
after experiencing their, "send your old unit in for a discount on a new
one," deal that had a net cost of more than retail no exchange price from
most resellers. I have to admit, it made a rather resounding thunk after it
arced into the dumpster. Hook shot! Two points!
After my less than stellar performance fishing yesterday I decided to work
on the things I can fix. I decided I needed to move the Maxxum forward a
little bit to give me some more room on the front deck. While moving it I
realized I would need to direct the cables in a different direction. That
of course threw off my foot pedal. Now if you remember I bitched about Minn
Kota's design and foot control alignment when I first set it up. I was
wrong. The design is fine and it was very easy to change now that I
understand how it works. I opened the cover of the top of the motor and
loosened the control cables. I spun the motor until the pedal was at
maximum travel in one direction. Then I slid the cam / cable barrel off the
gear on top of the motor shaft. A quick spin of the motor to point it
forward (drive in reverse) and I slipped the cable drum back onto the gear.
After tightening the control cables back up I checked my travel and
alignement. Dead reverse at max travel in either direction and dead ahead
at center of travel. It took less than fifteen minutes to re-align the
motor with the control after reversing the side that the cables came off of.
That included putting the cover screws back in.
Very nice, and now I don't have to put the motor all the way down to lift it
back on deck and clear my fishing chair.
--
Bob La Londe
Yuma, Az
http://www.YumaBassMan.com
Promote Your Fishing, Boating, or Guide Site for Free
Simply add it to our index page.
No reciprocal link required. (Requested, but not required)