Kayak Motor Buyers Guide

Stern mounted motors are as a whole faster and in my opinion better suited for kayak anglers that want to get from point A to point B and cover water. Most kayak anglers opt for this style of motor. They are typically lighter and having the motor on the stern provides a more balanced ride as far as weight distribution. It also keeps your deck space and the front of the kayak clear and open for casting, fighting and landing fish. There’s also more options and brands available for this style of motor. Stern mounted motors tend to be more efficient compared to bow mounted because they are pushing from the center of the kayak instead of pulling from either the left or right side. Although some motors can be bow mounted on the nose of the kayak, this isn’t always possible depending on the design of your kayak. Weight balancing with loads on the front vs the back of the kayak also have to be taken into account when talking about efficiency.

This is a supersize motor and one of the newer models produced by Torqeedo. It boasts an 1100 watt motor and operates using the same 915Wh battery as the AC model. It’s quite a bit heavier and costs $400 more compared to the 403Ac model. It claims a half throttle speed of 6.7MPH covering 9.8 miles with a run time of 1.28 hours. The power of this motor is eye popping and the speeds are impressive. However, one con of this motor is the amount of run time, since it uses a 915Wh battery you have to manage your power usage wisely.

Newport Vessel’s NK-180S is one of the newer motors on the market, very similar to the torqeedo except it comes in a 600 Watt motor size, which falls in between the 403 and 1103. One of the nice aspects of the NK-180S is the price as well as the option to add your own battery. The motor requires a 24-volt battery. You can either wire two 12volt batteries in a series to gain 24 volts or you can get a dedicated 24 volt battery. One con that also doubles as the pro is that while the motor is cheaper you still have to provide a power supply which can raise the cost substantially depending on the size battery you opt for. For this reason I won’t provide a range because it greatly depends on the battery you select.

Bixpy has been around for a while, there are various models but their latest is the J-2 Power Shroud, modeled after dam turbines and is more related to a jet turbine than a traditional prop style motor. They are very lightweight and can be mounted in numerous ways depending on the model of kayak. It’s a little underwhelming on power compared to the Torqeedo and Newport providing only 33lbs of thrust. However, it is a very economical option. It doesn’t come with the battery and is priced at $649, however you can get a 378Wh battery pack that they claim will run for 80 minutes at top speed and as long as 12 hours at slower speeds. They do sell a motor/battery kit for $1,199.

Texas Power Paddle Manta is specifically designed for the Hobie PA-14 kayak so I thought this would be a good model to highlight. It has an interesting mounting location, as it fits in the Hobie Guardian plate where the transducer would normally go. This is a neat feature however, it begs the question where do you put your transducer? They claim it provides up to 6 hours of propulsion equivalent to moderate pedaling, a little vague on the runtime. Installation is very quick and simple with no additional hardware and the entire system is very light compared to the other motors. Coming in at $1,949 I feel like there are better options out there for the value.

Minn Kota’s PowerDrive is a bow mounted motor that comes in various sizes, the 45lb thrust comes with a 48″ shaft, spot lock and is on a 12 volt system. It does not come with a battery but is priced affordably at $649.99. Range and speeds will be determined by the size of battery and physical characteristics of your kayak as well as on water conditions.

MotorGuide’s Xi5 is a very nice and feature rich bow mounted motor. Its rated for 55lbs of thrust on a 48″ shaft, built in transducer and also comes with a GPS remote which controls steering as well as PinPoint (motorguide’s version of SpotLock). It does not come with a battery but does operate on a 12 volt system. Retail price is $1,579.99.