Electric trolling motors are not always useful, especially when the battery goes flat, and you find yourself a long way from your launching spot, and having to paddle your fishing kayak back against wind and/or current, with a heavy batter on board. On top of that, a propeller tends to get entangled in fishing lines and seaweed, as well as get stuck in underwater obstacles, especially in shallow water, where you happen to like to go fishing with your kayak…
Small, 2 cycle outboard gas motors tend to be unreliable, and difficult to start, and they are particularly stinky, and often excessively noisy. Such motors are problematic as well, when taking your fishing kayak in shallow water is concerned.
Needless to say that one doesn’t get stronger with age, and many elderly anglers find they can’t go fishing from kayaks because they lack the strength needed to paddle long distances and in adverse conditions, such as against the wind, or current.
Such senior kayak anglers may be interested by a new approach to motorizing fishing kayaks and other small craft, which involves a gas engine producing a powerful stream of air, rather than rotating a propeller in the water. In addition, the motor used is a modern, 4-cycle (4 stroke) engine that’s easy to start, easy to maintain, requires no mixing of oil and fuel, does not create stinky and nauseating fumes, and is quieter – all of this without being heavier than a 2 stroke engine of the same size:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvb_WFOMYsM]
You can keep paddling while this motor is running, and providing your fishing kayak with extra power. There’s no need to hold the tiller (steering handle) if you’re going forward, and you can use your paddle for steering, and make occasional adjustments in the tiller’s position.
The new motor setup is lightweight enough to allow for you to cartop your fishing kayak, and most importantly, this setup is using a converted backpack leaf blower that costs $200, so it wouldn’t be very expensive to rig your fishing kayak with one.
