Anyone put a motor on their kayak?

I've got a old 3hp motor in the garage that weighs next to nothing and has an integrated gas tank built into it. Cobra make a motor mount for my kayak that is rated up to 3HP.  Aside from the hassle of registration, it seems like it could be fun. I would love to hear some feedback from anyone else that has tried this before.

Not sure if this is the style your talking about but here's what I did to my girlfriends.  It was very easy, cheap, and easy to remove with 4 3/8'' wing nuts.  Also I can still access the rear hatch.  The only drawback is the side weight, you will be very suprised at how much it wants to tip, thats why I put the outrigger on it but I'm sure you can get away with a smaller more simple outrigger system.  If you want more detailed pics let me know.

Here's one more

Holy cow. I was worried about an 8 pound downrigger ball off the side?

I bet that thing cruises.  Very nice.

Holy cow. I was worried about an 8 pound downrigger ball off the side?

I bet that thing cruises.  Very nice.

Yea, it's a beast.  If you open it up more than about 1/4 throttle it will fly...lol   

I have an Ocean Kayak  Malibu 2XL on which I mounted a 15# MinnKota (and sometimes a 30# MinnKota). The kayak has a groove in the stern where I mount a board to hold the motor. I sit in the middle and the battery sits behind me. The motor is in the center line of the kayk so there is no tipping and it maxes out at about 4mph. The wiring was extended to the seat position and the switch is in a small plastic box fixed nearby my seat. Simple cable arrangement allows tipping the motor up and for steering. I also added PVC pipe/swim noodle outriggers for security. I can send pictures to anyone interested. Quick release pins allows the kayak to go back to "normal", when desired. A gas motor would be too awkward and too close in my opinion.

Thats pretty fast, mine goes 4-4.5 at full speed with a 55lb and thats measured with a gps

My kayak goes about 3.5 mph with a 1 hp motor (human power) .

I found this site that has a pretty cool setup for motors on a whole bunch of models:

www.bassyaks.com

I would just love to do this, but the thought of a 60 pound battery on board doesn't thrill me. 

My kayak goes about 3.5 mph with a 1 hp motor (human power) .

Hahaha yea but can you do it for 9 miles non stop at that speed

I found this site that has a pretty cool setup for motors on a whole bunch of models:

www.bassyaks.com

I would just love to do this, but the thought of a 60 pound battery on board doesn't thrill me.

Thats the same setup I have on my scupper pro, it's actually pretty awesome and the battery only weighs 32lbs, I would say the whole setup including motor, motor mount, speed control, wires, and battery are 60lbs....But it's easy to remove when your not using it, and you don't know the difference.

Friend Brian over on AH has all that beat. sorry but you'll have to follow the link if you can. our sister site is a great place but they do have privacy standards....

http://forum.aquahunters.com/index.php?topic=4574.0

Images wont come across but here's some text of the article. and Brian did give me permission.....

Here’s the breakdown…

The Kayak-
Cobra Double +1
Length: 14’6”
Capacity: 750lbs.
Cobra Kayaks is the only brand that has a flat spot on the rear end.  It is this spot that enabled us to mount a motor straight off the stern, keeping balance, even if we jumped off.

Seats-
Throughout the years on my old kayak, we’ve averaged 4-5 hour long trips, but now I want to spend full days on the water.  For that, we need comfort so we went with the Surf to Summit GTS Elite seats and added the fishing pack to it.  These seats are super comfy and has a large pack with two rod holders (not meant for trolling).

Hatches-
There are 5 separate hatches made by 3 manufacturers to access the inner cavity of this kayak.  The two that the front passenger can access are made by Hobie and IMHO are the best round hatches available.  They’re connected to the kayak by a hinge and open and close by twisting the knob on top.  The middle consists of two extra large hatches that can be accessed by the rear passenger.  This is where we shove all the fish into the fish bag.  Behind the back seat is a 5 inch hatch and was put there to access the motor mount from the cavity.

Pole Holders-
While trolling, our poles are placed in two Ram Tube rod holders mounted behind the front passenger.  I like these over the stainless steel ones because they already have a gimbal built inside.

Fish bag-
We had our fish bag custom made by Tim of  Stitch This Hawaii.  It’s 6.5 feet long and 18 inches wide.  I’m guessing it can hold around 200lbs of “stuff”.
His contact info is… [email protected] or (808) 739-6739.

Navigation-
For the most part, everything above the water tells me where to go, but we’ve upgraded and purchased a Lowrance HDS-5 chartplotter/fishfinder combo unit to complement our new ride.  It’s a cool new toy, but our old kayak had no electronics onboard, so can’t really see it helping us catch more fish.  Lol!  Oh, like the old ‘yak we installed a Ritchie compass too.

Motor Mount-
For this I made a cardboard model and took it to Universal Manufacturers for fabrication.  They’re definitely NOT CHEAP, but I believe I got what I paid for.  Cherray!!!

Outboard-
4 stroke Suzuki 2.5hp.  Have yet to break this motor in so haven't used it yet.  We are currently running a 2 stroke Nissan 2.5 hp outboard on it.

How does she ride?
Throughout the years on the Tandem, we’ve encountered all kinds of radical weather conditions.  Flat calm to raging rough, we’ve been through it all.  The first day on the Double +1 was actually a great day for testing it’s seaworthiness.  The ocean was not flat at all and we got to chase and fight aku in these conditions.  This ‘yak has proven to be stable enough for me to feel comfortable in these surroundings.

So why not just buy a boat?  Well……. first I gotta send three kids through grade school and college, then remodel my house and driveway to accommodate a 33 Kami.  Lol.

I found this site that has a pretty cool setup for motors on a whole bunch of models:

www.bassyaks.com

I would just love to do this, but the thought of a 60 pound battery on board doesn't thrill me.

Thats the same setup I have on my scupper pro, it's actually pretty awesome and the battery only weighs 32lbs, I would say the whole setup including motor, motor mount, speed control, wires, and battery are 60lbs....But it's easy to remove when your not using it, and you don't know the difference.

The battery weight was based on a recommended 105Ah battery for optimum performance.  I looked at several at SPORTCO and other stores and the weights all seem to run near 60.  What is the rating on your battery and what kind of average life on a full charge to you get?

Way cool, AK!

I don't have the specs right now but I can get them tomorrow, but it last me all day at medium speed.   I used it for 9 hours one day and it still had 40% left, keep in mind that was off ans on but more so on....