Outcast Fish Cat Scout and Trolling Motor
 

I've made a simple trolling motor mount for my Fish Cat Scout and thought I'd share some pictures and details of the motor mount, steering, etc. as well as the way I organize my other attachments.

I bought the boat used in June and have used it mainly on Parkland lakes in Manitoba. I had previously owned a Creek Company ODC 420 and had also used an Outcast Fish Cat Streamer XL pontoon boat for a year. I briefly had the trolling motor on Streamer XL as well. I kept the Streamer XL assembled and transported in the back of my Ridgeline. I had a transport wheel on it but my 60 year old back wasn't crazy about lifting it in and out of the truck. So far I'm happy with my purchase and the fact the Scout is about half the weight of the Streamer XL.

I'm using a Minn Kota Endura 30 with a 35 A-hr battery in shotgun shell box. The motor mount is 3/4 PVC fittings and pipe and wood for the clamping service. The mount is held with the two green cam straps pulling forward to the tie-down loops on either side of the seat and the black cam strap that is attached to the ring on the centre-back of the boat and pulls towards the back. A simple mount but very secure. The motor does not bounce around at all, even in the gusty white caps I had to deal with the first day with the new boat. I did not use the motor for trolling but rather to get to different parts of the lake in reasonable time. I mounted a Scotty anchor lock to the left side of the motor mount.

Steering the motor is accomplished with two blue ropes attached 3/8" eyebolts threaded into two 3/4" split ring pipe hangers at the top of the motor shaft. The ropes are threaded through the tie-down loops on either side of the seat. The trick to steering was to keep pressure on both ropes and make small adjustments. Simple idea from trolling motor on kayaks.

The oars were surprisingly effective although I wouldn't do any white water with them. On the third day, I didn't even bother with motor. The oars and swim fins were more than adequate on a smaller lake. The Scout was very agile with swim fins although not as responsive as my shorter float tube. There is a lot of flotation and the motor did not seem to have much of an impact on front-back balance. It's a great platform to fly fish from. I did need to by a cheap Lucky Strike net, with telescoping handle, from Cdn Tire to get fish over the front foot bar.

The seat was also a pleasant surprise. I have lower back issues, but seat has quite of bit of adjustment and I was able to spend 6 to 8 hours each day on the water.

The last picture shows my current setup. I've put a strap-on Scotty rod holder the left side and have my Humminbird Fishin Buddy on a strap-on holder on the right. The net is held in place with a Scotty net holder. The fixed storage compartment on the left side wasn't big enough for my needs so I bought the black bag on the right from Outcast. This older model didn't have the "integrated gear system" of the newer models so I added a Scotty glue-on mount for the new bag. I'm hoping to carry most if not all of my stuff in the two side bags in the future and just have the battery and anchor behind me.

The Scout looks like is going to be a real convenient setup for the next few years.

great job....very nice,compact.

Ingenious setup! I may steal some of your ideas for my stealthpro.

Thanks for the thread. I love my Fishcat Scout but it doesn't row as nice for me as the good old pontoon boat. I have an old trolling motor somewhere so may rig something similar up.

Attached is a picture of the unpainted motor mount without the wood pieces. I also attached a rough sketch with some dimensions. The one change I would make would be to have the extension for the anchor stop further to the port side to provide a bit more clearance between the bottom of the Scotty mount and the top of the pontoon. If anyone is thinking of doing something similar and would like higher res pictures, just PM me and let me know what details you are looking for.

I agree that the oars on framed pontoon boats are more effective than the Scout's. I find the Scout oars adequate for short moves around a lake and certainly better than swim fins alone. I don't think I would want to cross Police Outpost with the Scout oars alone when the wind is blowing though! I'll use the Minn Kota for prairie lakes that size.

Since I don't intend using the motor for trolling, I figure I saved 20 - 30 lbs by going with the smaller 35 A-hr battery. I think I should be able to get over an hour's use of the motor by only using speeds 1 to 3. The output of the 5 speeds isn't linear. Below is data another website and is apparently from Minn Kota. The thrust values seem broadly consistent with my experience.

Speed Amps Thrust
1 8 4
2 10 6
3 14 10
4 20 15
5 30 30

Another view of the unpainted mount. Also a view of routing for steering lines. I put mountain bike grips on the end of the lines. Split ring hangers from Lowes.

Ken

You have put serious thought into your mods. Well done.

I gonna have serious at some more mods to my boat. I'd like some sort of double anchor system, better more organized storage behind the seat and I've really been thinking about contacting Outcast to see about some 6' oars. I know they have 5 1/2 footers if not I may have to build them myself.

The problem is an under-employed engineer with too much time on my hands!
Actually I got a lot concept ideas from the Float Tube Fishing forum on BigFishTackle.com. Lot's of guy there with even more time on their hands apparently!

Before I settled on the second black storage bag, I toyed with the idea of creating shelf(PVC pipe?) behind the seat spanning the pontoon to make some of my stuff more accessible. It seems to me I saw some examples of shelves on the above website. Attached is the shelf idea on a framed pontoon. Once I decided to go with a trolling motor I figured a shelf would interfere with the motor when the motor was pivoted up and bought the second bag. There's probably a way of making both the shelf and motor work though, if you were thinking of a motor.

Ken

I like the shelf idea. PVC and puckboard maybe utilizing the integrated mounting stations?

You got me thinking. Thanks

Maybe not puckboard, too slick and pretty much nothing will stick to it.

How about a piece of framed plastic lattice for decks for a simple option? Another would be a 48" x 16" wire shelf upside down with foam pipe insulation to protect the edges. Both would be lightweight and you get a ton of built-in tie-down points. Attaching either to the integrated mounting stations would be slick and should be straightforward. I think those Scotty mounts take 1/4" bolts/wing nuts. Just be careful about the length of the bolts!

Well whatever I come with it will have to be cheap. I just came back from Wholesale Sports and I had a bit of a runaway in the remnants of their flytying department. Metz necks, flash, dubbing, chenilles, foam, etc. mostly 40% off and I stocked up.

Looks like a nice setup