trolling plate worth getting?

[pap]

I had two kinds of plates on my boat, the first one was called the happy troller, that was junk!! I had that one on a 140HP I/O mercuiser, than one day I was bitching about this plate and two guys pulled into the docks and they had a different style on their boats so I asked them all kinds of questions about there's and they said these are the only troll plates to buy, a little expensive but you get what you pay for, so I got what is called the easy troller, the bottom third of the plate is hinged, so if you forget to raise the plate that folds down over the prop and gun the motor to leave it gives a little instead of bending the plate or shearing off the pin that lockes the plate in place, plus they make two different sizes 30-50 hp & 50-150 I put the bigger one on it bolts to the anti-cavitation plate. At 1000 rpms my boat speed was 2.5-2.8 mph on the gps, with the plate down I was at .8mph on the gps, 1100rpm depending on the wind & waves I was at 1.25-1.50 or less. I really like it, they cost around $150.00, and you can put it on in a hour, hope this helps (I have one on my 22ft,at 900 rpm .08 on gps/355-260hp hope this helps PAP.

[wakina]

This is the best plate that I have ever seen, it is a totally hands free plate with nothing to do but operate the boat, and you will not be disappointed in it.

http://www.johnsonmarinesupply.com/trolling_plates.htm

[jigsup]

i run 2 amish outfitters drift bags on each side of my boat and it is perfect to get you to that slower speed. just my 2 cents

[BAD KARMA]

hey wakina do you use this plate. the web site dosent give a good pic and i dont understand how it works. will it affect my handeling of the boat at the dock or at slower speeds. need to slow boat down have 150 mec. outboard on 22 ft. center console any ones comments welcome. dont want to use buckets or bags been there done that.

[dmax2]

Have Easy Troller plate on my 20ft. Starcraft. Works like a charm.

[wakina]

hey wakina do you use this plate. the web site dosent give a good pic and i dont understand how it works. will it affect my handeling of the boat at the dock or at slower speeds. need to slow boat down have 150 mec. outboard on 22 ft. center console any ones comments welcome. dont want to use buckets or bags been there done that.

I used one on a 5.7L 260hp mercruiser alpha 1 generation one I/O, I had the largest one and never had a problem with it. Sold it with the boat and it is still in use after 5 years. It bolts to the top of the cavitation plate like most of the other plates do with 4 bolts. The 2 bolts closest to the boat are eye bolts with the eye bolt going up through the cavitation plate and then through the trolling plate with the eye down. There are 2 large springs that go from the donut hole plate and fasten /hook to the eye bolts, that is how it operates automaticly. As you move forward and at about 5 mph water pushes the plate out and the springs stretch allowing the donut hole plate to swing up out of the way with the water pressure then back down to the vertical position when you slow down to about 5mph. The hole in the plate allows water to pass through the plate when backing down and that keeps it out of the prop and allows better control as more water flow is allowed into the prop. These plates are heavy, and thick and to me very well made! Sounds complicated but it is an easy straight forward and very simple install.
The other plate that I had was hindged and from a different manufacturer destroyed a prop and itself when I had to do a hard reverse while trolling one day because I got to close to some debris floating in the water. The water pressure pushing on the plate shoved the plate into the prop and then it was history.

[BAD KARMA]

Thanks for the explination and posts. I think i might get one how slow did it get you down to.

[wakina]

Thanks for the explination and posts. I think i might get one how slow did it get you down to.

Took me from 2.3 gps to about .8 or .9 gps with a 14.5 x 18 michigan wheel 4 blade prop at 650 rpms idle speed and 20.5 ft glass boat , but that will depend on your idle rpms and prop size as well as your boats footprint at idle.

[fish/n/chics]

Thanks guys for the info. I'm willing to spend the money on something that is built well and something that's not going to tear up my boat.. just wasn't sure if it was worth it and wasn't sure what was a good product. And didn't know the pros and cons... thanks guys

[wakina]

As with all things there are always Pros & Cons involved so keep that in mind about trolling plates and trolling bags, with some things being great for part of the people and the same things being a pain in the butt for others.

l would like to add that I tried the trolling bag thing with my present boat and they didn't get my speed down to where I need it so I sold them to a member on this site. I truly hope they work out for him. I bought a used 9.8 hp kicker motor for a good price to help me with gas consumption as trolling with a V-8 is not all that economical and it will also save on main engines hours.

http://community.walleye.com/showthread.php?t=1760


I would also like to state that for most people the bags would probably do the trick. But for about the same money you can buy one of these plates and give it a try and if it works you would not have to deal with the bags. I also want to add that you have to remove the trolling plate if you need to drop the lower unit to service it such as for a water pump replacement on the alpha one generation 1 or 2 lower unit, and probably most outboards also, but you can change the prop with very little interference.