That was a very good purchase. I'm very happy with it. I picked up a deep cycle battery from Walmart today, and took my Dad out boating. He's been wanting to go for a while.
It was the jankyest setup possible. I always say you have to do something before you can do it well. Basically this raft isn't even designed to take a motor well, at least not with the mount format the motor I have has. I didn't even stop by the house after buying the battery because I just wanted to hit the water and I knew I would be cludging it.
I wasn't even confident we could make it work because I saw immediately we didn't have the nuts we need to hook up to the battery properly. But I was already there and I wanted to test what it would be like with the equipment in the raft so I just tossed it all in the raft and said we are going for it.
I paddle out. The river was the highest I've ever seen this particular river but there is not a strong current. Very nice weather.
But then I decide it's time to test if my jank idea for handling this motor will work. So I sit off the back end and put the motor between my legs. I know when it is on it will just push itself into the boat which is fine. And I'm seeing that my feet are clearing the prop ok. So I says hmmm, I wonder if this cable can reach the battery. And it looks like it does. I had brought some insulated gloves for just in case in my backpack.
So I says hmmm, I wonder if you just touch these cables to the terminals if we can get any power. It works.
So I spent the next hour with a boat prop between my legs and someone holding wires directly to a battery, both of us facing the back of the boat looking over our shoulders zooming up river.
The most fun happens when you just full send and don't over plan things.
But I'm going to get these terminals hooked up better, possibly put it in a larger box, or hang it from a 2x4 or an ore. At that point it will be possible to be a one man operation. Then if I mount things better I won't have to sit off the back of the boat or flirt my feet with a prop blade. My setup is only going to improve and I needed to cludge it once to see what I need to do it right.