Shortening a trolling motor shaft

[Juan]

If your trolling motor shaft is too long and sits too high on your boat when deployed, it's not hard to shorten it. Mine sat about 3 ft above the deck, I didn't like the way it looked on the boat and figured it would get in the way while bass fishing. I was worried about cutting into a $1200 trolling motor but after thinking about it for a few days, decided to do it.. Getting started was the hard part.. but it's really easy to do and when finished, it looks like new, just shorter. It took maybe 30 to 45 minutes to do it. Mark the location on the shaft, cut it with a hacksaw, redrill the mounting holes for the head and that's it...Just have to be careful not to nick the wires that run through the shaft.

BEFORE:


AFTER:

[985crabs]

Excellent work! Aside from the obviously unmanly nature of one even contemplating shortening one's shaft. How long was it to begin with? It looks like it was way too long for that boat and you'd have to wonder why the previous owner didn't select a shorter one in the first place. Hmmm...

[Juan]

No worries, I had more shaft than I needed. It's a Riptide ST with i-Pilot and it was way too long for the boat. It looked weird. I'm not sure but I think Minn Kota only made em in 54" and 60". This one started out as a 54 and now it's a 42. I don't know why the original owner bought it unless it was the shortest option.. I also don't know why he bought a saltwater trolling motor for a bass boat that's never seen saltwater but I'm glad he did.