Trolling Motor Modification GPS Hack - AutoBoat remote control kit

AutoBoat GPS Remote Control Trolling Motor Kit: tbnation.net/products/autoboa...
Convert Minn Kota & Newport Dumb Cheap $100 garage sale Walmart Trolling Motors into Smart GPS motors with AutoBoat. Have anchor mode, navpoint heading, route follow modes, custom gain settings for different size boats, and more! Great way to add a GPS trolling motor on a kayak, canoe, Gheenoe, inflatable boat, Jon boat, aluminum boat, paddle board, skiff, isup, or center console boat. AutoBoat trolling motor is so much lighter weight and easier to mount on a wider variety of watercraft.
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[@DocMacKay819]

Anchor Mode (Spot-lock) is magic...you hook up on a monster, your kayak starts to drift, and a satellite takes over to pull your boat back and puts tension back on the line! When things go awry and you're in a tight mess, you can concentrate on getting yourself out of danger while a satellite takes care of the helm keeping you locked on. Pretty sweet set-up!

[@jhogan9759]

Just got mine in the mail today. Can't wait to put it on

[@KayakDIY]

Feel free to ask any questions. Happy to help you learn the system. Little Tip. If installing on 45-55lb thrust motor have the gps puck about 1.5”-2” below the motor head to limit chances of electrical interference with gps. If gps puck is slid to highest point on shaft it can occasionally pick up interference with motor head (this would cause erratic sharp turning behavior during gps modes). Calibration is important. When system is powered outside 2mins then satellites have had more than enough time to connect. Then hold N. Unit spins to calibrate compass and gps chip downloads magnetic declination for your location. Unit will beep 3 times indicating successful calibration. You can recalibrate whenever, but it is encouraged when traveling east or west around 100 miles+ from your normal boating area. Blue remote has much longer range than app. App gives more features and should be kept available as backup remote. Anti-cord wrap mode should ship as default setting. It can be seen in app as a setting. I encourage it to be enabled. That is my preferred setting. Gain setting for your size of boat can be made on app and then you click “send to AutoBoat”. For example if using 55lb thrust on a light small inflatable you will want to turn gain setting way down to prevent motor from overpowering and throwing you out of boat. These are just a few tips. TinyBoatNation made a great vid on almost everything AutoBoat.

[@jhogan9759]

@KayakDIY thats. Also thanks for the tip on disengaging the digital maximizer

[@jaimeantoni0]

Ok. Going to save money to get my old kayak a new life!

[@KayakDIY]

Just got back kayak shark fishing. Was using AutoBoat on bow of kayak. It makes life so much easier. At one time and 6 sharks circling kayak. Took back small blacktip shark to eat.

[@Dedogo]

installed mine today, i was struggling with my newport vessel trolling 55lbs the fitting on motorized color and the tabbed fittings is smaller..

[@KayakDIY]

Weird. Another guy yesterday bought Newport and his motor’s tiller throttle was wired backwards from Newport factory. Note: mount gps collar at least 2” below the head to reduce electrical magnetic interference. Don’t mount gps puck all the way to top of shaft. If you don’t you may occasionally experience erratic behavior in high speeds.

[@davidshipman2623]

Ok I have a Brooklyn Kayak with the trolling motor but the shaft is only 24 inch shaft. Do I have enough space

[@KayakDIY]

Not ideal. Common 36” shaft or longer is much better. Gonna get really tight with 24” shaft and you won’t have much motor draft below waterline so prop might cavitate.

[@jimn6sxb644]

Do you know if they are working on getting waypoint tracking to work on stern mounted motors? I've got a Sea Eagle SUP126 and a bow mount isn't practical. I assume they are shipping now, since several folks are reporting getting them.

[@KayakDIY]

Impossible to have waypoint tracking or Navpoint heading when mounted on stern. That would require a 2nd gps compass sensor called a heading sensor and that sensor would have to be mounted towards bow. AutoBoat could possibly create that in future generations ot future product SKUs, but not in this generation likely.

[@jimn6sxb644]

@@KayakDIY Thanks for the reply. I'm having a hard time justifying $650 for mainly spot lock. I have an anchor, but.... I've already ordered the parts to have remote control of the motor (steering and forward and backward speed) for about $100. I've got skills and a 3D printer, so making a steering drive is easy. I really like the Auto Boat, but since I'm stuck with a stern mounted motor, just can't pull the trigger at $650.

[@KayakDIY]

@@jimn6sxb644 no problem. On the Sup126 AutoBoat would probably be able to do waypoint routes and heading modes but it would pull the boat backwards. The simple hull of the SUP126 would probably allow it to pull backwards better than rigid hull boats. Remember if you do buy use code *KayakDIY* because the AutoBoat price drops closer to $600. No other GPS motor will be able to do what AutoBoat does for $600. There is also a chance you could find an inflatable motor mount for the front of the kayak. Inflatables are easy to modify and customize. The cheaper remote steering kits for around $100 usually don’t have much waterproofing so they fail. Few people have bought them in our Facebook kayak rigging group. Also they generally have no warranty support or replacement parts. Probably better use of your time to try building a bow motor mount on the SeaEagle. Then you would have a killer setup.

[@timkropf4648]

Since this takes away the digital controls for motor efficiency... Does this system use a pulse width modulator when controlling the motor to gain back that efficiency and is this why it doesn't work with the digital controllers that more efficient motors already have?

[@timkropf4648]

It looks like you've given an affirmative answer to that at the around the 10 minute mark. So, just to be clear - have you used the pulse with modulator in this system or is it using some other means to gain efficiency? I've custom built a pulse width modulator that I now use on my dumb motor and if I get this I'd be depending on yours to get that efficiency back...

[@babyduck1123]

I have a newport 46 lb thrust motor and when set up the motor wants to go backwards. any ideas? THank you in advance.

[@babyduck1123]

its mounted in the pedal drive area

[@KayakDIY]

Is the Newport motor set to highest “forward” speed? Is your gps installed correctly on motor shaft (blue arrow faces direction of travel)? When is this occurring? If you contact TBNation or customer support we sometimes can FaceTime you and get it figured out. Seems like easy fix. Likely an installation error. Did have 1 Newport trolling motor customer who had his actual motor wired wrong from Newport factory. It was reverse when it was supposed to be forward and visi versa. We figured it out because he had another trolling motor sitting around and installed AutoBoat with no issues. Then we dived deeper and discovered that.

[@Kayak.OutKasts]

Do you know the weight of the AutoBoat. I’m trying to compare the weight difference to the Motorguide.

[@KayakDIY]

It depends on the motor you attach AutoBoat to, BUT typically noticeably WAY less weight and smaller footprint. Motorguide xi3 has large footprint, is heavier, and not as easy to mount on most boats compared to a AutoBoat setup. Contact me via Instagram (KayakDIY) Got some info for ya. 👊

[@CRAPPIE168]

I use my finger to draw a map but don’t know how to ask my autoboat to follow my route. Can you tell he how ?

[@KayakDIY]

I can help. Best way to create route for following is manual route mode. Go to map in top right corner. Then click recordings button and click edit manual track. Click ok on the pop up notification. Then click on map and create waypoints (red flags) to follow (think like connect the dots)…..these waypoints will later be stringed together to make a route. Once you are done dropping waypoints click recordings button and hit save manual track. Give track name. Once you save it the route turns yellow. You have created a route. Now to follow the route. Approach the route. Click the yellow route. Click top of screen where it says “Send to AutoBoat”. You can reverse the track and run the track backwards from the way it was created. Also when navigating on the route you can click reverse track and the boat will spin around and go the other direction on route. Note that you will need to readjust your speed after clicking reverse track since the speed drops. Test this feature first in large open area. Also zoom in during dropping your waypoints since this increases accuracy of your intended placement.

[@CRAPPIE168]

Thanks so much for your prompt reply! Can I draw a route at home with weak or no gps signal and use it when I arrive my destination? Or it needs gps signal to draw a route?

[@CRAPPIE168]

I tried my preset track this morning but not success. Seems my autoboat received the signal but my kayak started to circle around, why was that ? Was it because of foggy weather and received weak signal?

[@skyfly51]

"no tools required" jump cuts connecting to the battery

[@KayakDIY]

What my countless other AutoBoat vids. It is installed with thumbscrews effortlessly. The motor collar that steers is clamshell design and clamps around shaft then is tightened with thumbscrews. No tools needed to install AutoBoat on motor unless you need a pliers or Philips screwdriver to tighten power cables to battery posts.