Rudder mounted dual thruster fishing kayak project

Blue Robotics Products
1

I’m wanting try and mount two thrusters to a fishing kayak. I was thinking of attaching the mounting bracket to a peddle operated kayak rudder. I was wondering what I will need to build this project and what are people using for a throdle and forward and reverse controls.

2

Check out our thruster commander product, and use the search feature on these forums to discover similar projects.

1 Like
3

Will a regular out board lanyard kill switch work? Where should you wire it in at? I would say between the battery and the thruster commander correct?

4

A lanyard kill switch should work fine. The Thruster Commander is designed to be usable with a kill switch attached to the “SWITCH” input on the left side of the board. It should be as simple as replacing the blue jumper that comes pre-installed on the Commander with your kill switch. See the documentation for more information.

5

In kayak application I would recommend to consider:

  • potentiometer should be in visible place with a scale. Or replace potentiometer with stepped potentiometer. You will want to have control exactly how much power is currently on motor.
  • if ESC is in closed container, it must have enough cooling capability. My 40A rated BLheli ESC with setup to reduce power at 100 degrees Celsius can constantly handle only 1700 PWM, that is only few amps. Plastic around ESC melted. Now I’ve added additional cooler, waiting for test.
  • on 4,3 m long SUP, with 32 Ah 4s Lipo battery, distance approx. 3 kilometers at 4.5-5 km/h (1700 PWM) i spend 40% capacity.
6

Yes I’m thing of using a joystick to control forward reversing and left and right turning of rudder servo. I’m ditching peddle controls for the rudder for servos.

7

Then for forward and reverse it is good if yostick stays in position, and when turning left and right returns in middle position. During moving to position or trolling your hands should be free.
Such yojstick are in RC transmiters, but they are not waterproof.
example: http://www.himodel.com/img_sub/rc_img/14/06/10617.jpg

Another consideration with potentimeter and yojstick. When they are not centered at 1500 PWM ESC will not arm. I’m using wireles remote buttons and can always set PWM exactly at 1500 PWM.

8

Good Idea I’ll look into it thanks