Electric pot puller fabrication and install on a kayak

Hey all,

I got talking to a buddy of mine about shrimping from a kayak, but how it would be a pain in the butt to pull pots by hand 300-400 feet. He suggested making some sort of pot puller from an electric wheelchair motor and mounting it to a scotty fishfinder mount. No idea how feasible this would be, but I wanted to ask if anyone had ever attempted something like this, or has a system for pulling shrimp pots from a kayak.

Definitely feasible.  There are lots of possible design solutions.  That's what winter is for!
My friend's power boat uses a crabby lift pot puller - it has a 12v motor and a bow anchor roller to which you can wrap the crab pot line around -- when you pull tension on the wrap, the motor pulls the pot, releasing tension the line doesn't pull.  It's a pretty good design and could be scaled to a kayak.   The 12V battery with enough amperage for the load will be the key to your system.  Good Luck...keep us posted on your project.

Look up things pertaining to windshield wiper motors on YouTube.  I'm looking at building an electric DR.

I've been pulling shrimp pots by hand for four years now. Every time I do, I think about electric pull systems during the pull. Power and torque issues seem to handicap kayak shrimping solutions. One year, I saw two kayakers use an electric pot puller bolted to a wood plank they spanned between their kayaks, but I've yet to see a solo pulling solution. One things for sure, already good tasting spot prawns are even better after a day of manual pot pulling.

Do please make sure you understand how much buoyancy you have left in the boat, and make sure to not be able to pull anything near it.

That motor that pulls your pots up is also pulling your boat down. Your margin of safe lift is probably not even in the tens of pounds. This is before accounting for the fact that you are pulling from the side, and not straight up from the center of gravity.

Look up things pertaining to windshield wiper motors on YouTube.  I'm looking at building an electric DR.

It like to hear how this goes for you. I've been thinking about this.

I've been thinking about the issue from another perspective and that is to make lighter shrimp pots. I don't have a design yet, but the ideas spring up from time to time.