A Word to the Wise.

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

I went out to get my rig ready for the Shimano trip and what did I find? Remember I told you that I had 3 inches of ice and snow? Well, my trolling motor had ripped through the reinforced cover...argh!! I was getting ready to jump on here and slam DOWCO and the weak design of the cover when I took another look at it.....Seems that the snow weighed the cover down enough to hit my trolling motor peddle and activated the TM which proceeded to cut through my cover like a chainsaw. Wasn't the cover's fault at all...Man, those Ninja props are tough!! I usually unplug my motor every time because you never know when there could be a short in that 24v system and bad things could happen. I forgot, and now I get to pay the price.



TOXIC

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

I just went out and unplugged mine. Tough break Tox..



Bill

 

[Rich D]

I unplug mine at when I head back to the ramp for the day. Good tip!



Rich D

 

[Jim B]

Yup, been there done that too. I also make sure that i turn the trolling motor to the off position too just in casei forget to unplug it. Once i had 4 St Croix rods get chopped up when i was cleaning my boat after a day of fishing. I had the rods on the deck and happened to be near the tm bladed. I reached across the deck and accidentally hit the tm button. The thing was on full blast and it chopped the tips of those rods up like nothing.

 

[Bill Hamilton]

Well, I've never done the TM trick but ask me about broken skegs without putting the boat in the water (haha).

 

[Texas Transplant]

I've not unplugged mine (though I will certainly keep it in mind), but I do make sure it is off.



One day I was working on the boat in the driveway, and my hand/arm slipped. Next thing I knew my chest was less than 2" from the blade, and it has screaming. When I slipped, I also landed on the footpedal with my other hand.



Saturday, after it snowed, I went out and brushed off all the snow from the cover. After Saturday nights freezing rain, I knocked all of the ice off the cover before heading to the store. Already had to replace one cover some years ago due to rain.



Tex

 

[Dan J.]

I know you've knocked it once before, but a cheap disposable butter tub over the top of the blades is worth the half second of effort. Don't feel too bad. Many others have found out the same way without the pedal getting any power. (Ripped under tow.) The metal blades are just stronger than the covers. You might also contact DOWCO as well as your local canvas repair places to see if they might swing you a better deal to fix the cover. Sorry it happened.

 

[Brian Feist]

I didn't tear my cover, I burned up the trolling motor. Since then, the first thing that I do is unplug the trolling motor when I load up on the trailer...

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

My Ninja blades are plastic but it didn't matter much, they sliced and diced that cover. I usually put a rag over the ninja props anyway cause with 3 blades there is no "flat spot" like you have with the two blades. The worst I ever did was when on deck and leaning over the nose to hook the bowstrap, I slipped and hit the peddle and fell on the TM blade at the same time. Some pretty nasty bruises from that one.



TOXIC

 

[Dan J.]

I've been running the TE 107's and 109's with the metal blades on my boats and found that after a short covered run (1 hr.) with the first metal Ninja, the Tour cover was getting chewed. (The blade was still new and unscuffed!) Since then, I'm butter tub man! LOL!

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Hahahahaha...just a friendly "reminder" then!!LOL



TOXIC

 

[Greg Duggan]

after i almost lost a thumb last yr during a tourney,

i now unplug my trolling motor when i put it on the trailer.



GregD

 

[Carlos Hathcock III]

I leaned oover to hook up the bow strap and I was lucky I had my Sospenders on, as they took the impact of the prop...also was on a pretty low speed, so the only damage was my shorts....

 

[TrepMan]

Tox - Great advice!



I learned 5 years ago to unplug mine at the ramp. One of the first times i took the kids fishing, and were back in the driveway cleaning up the boat and Noa( who was 3 at the time) was on the front deck playing with my bow fishfinder. he sat on the Tmotor pedal while I was leaning forward over the Tmotor cleaning out the anchor!! Luckily I still had my lifejacket on, but it scared the b-jesus out of me!! From that day forward I plug/unplug at the ramp.



Trep

 

[fatrap]

Jeese My boat is buried in the back of Dad's pole barn I can't remember if it's plugged in or not.

Gulp

fatrap

 

[Ken Sabin]

I learned the hard way too. Once when loading the boat on the tralier in a rather steep ramp In Lake Mitchell, alabama. I got the boat on the trailer, killed the motor, went up front to reach down and hook the bow strap-worried that it might slip off the trailer coming up the ramp- I laid down reaching down over the bow, leaned on the pedal and -you guessed it, tore my left arm up something awfull. Lesson learned !!