Hello, just purchased a trolling motor for my boat that is under construction from a very generous Calfishing.com user . The shaft is a little long for my 12 foot aluminum boat. I have been workin on it all day every day for a week. Spent 6 hours this morning at the welding shop getting my deck built, I just wanted to know if anyone knows how to shorten the shaft. I called the trolling motor repair shop and they want $130 to do it, can't afford to spend that much, the trolling motor is a motor-guide foot control. Any help would be appreciated, the fish are biting and i'm stuck on land till I get finished......I'll post pics of the "WELL-FAIR" when I get done with it so you guys can see how much time I have wasted on this P.O.S.

The shaft should be adjustable with a lock knob. Just loosen, pull up to desired length/running depth and tighten. Most folks prob is too short of a shaft, then you have to fork over the bucks to lengthen--done that...

I had a 42 inch foot control on my 15 foot alum. boat and now have a 50 inch hand control (you want a longer shaft w/ handcontrol so it's a reachable height). At worst, you'll have the motor's head up a bit but as long as the cable to the pedal is not sitting at 80 degrees, it should be fine. What length is it?

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Fongster, the shaft length on the trolling motor is 48 inches, I can move the motor up on the gator mount but it still hangs really far back when its out of the water, i'm still workin on it, i'm going to finish up and try it out and see what happens....Thanks for the reply........Warren

Oh, I see the prob now--it's when it's in stowed position...You want the prop running about 12 inches under, deeper is ok though to help shorten the amount sticking out when stowed. You might also rotate the angle of the gatormount's mounting position so the motor's head is more inboard from the gunnel--mine allows the motor to lay mostly in line with the gunnel. Also, if you leave your footpedal unmounted, that will allow it to move as needed when stowed or deployed--I didn't mount mine. Make sure you have the gatormount's plastic shoe (in the front of it) hanging over enough the bow edge to help retract the motor or you'll catch the motor under the gunnel when pulling it up . Good luck.


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