Watersnake Kayak Motor Mount Review 3 Out Of 5 Stars

Watersnake Kayak Motor Mount

I chose the Watersnake Kayak Motor Mount to mount an electric motor on my kayak. The review here is what I found out.

Note: Your kayak may be different and your experience may lead you to different conclusions.

There are a number of cheaper kayaks on the market that purport to be more capable than they are.

When it comes to motor mounting the thickness of the gunnel can have a huge impact on function of motor mounts such as this one.

What works for one doesn’t work for another.

So research – and measuring – can not be understated!



Why A Kayak Motor Mount?

I’m relatively new to kayaking. No, I’ll rephrase that…

I’m an absolute newbie to kayaking and kayak fishing.

As I suffer from chronic asthma having a motor in addition to paddling seemed logical to me.

So, I looked around at a variety of brands and settled on the Watersnake T24 electric motor.

According to the spec’s, this is sufficient to propel an average-sized kayak at around 5km an hour.

While there is an infinite number of Youtube videos on DIY mounting brackets – and kayak motor mounts for kayaks – most employed the standard transom mount that comes with the motor.

Note that the terms kayak motor mount and trolling motor mount are interchangeable and refer to the same thing.

I found the “Watersnake Kayak Motor Mount” kit and figured that it made sense. Given it was made for the purpose and patented by Watersnake themselves.

There are in fact two ways of buying the mount. The “kit” includes the motor and the bracket. I recommend not buying the kit. Buy the motor and the mount separately. Lest you run into the issues I outline below

Looks Good, Sounds Good – Ooops

Watersnake Kayak Motor Mount

Now, the downer.

Things really didn’t work out as planned. To be fair, not all the manufacturer’s fault. It was partly my own in that I bought the boat and motor together.

Taking a big box store salesperson at their word (do not do that!!) “…no worries mate, it’ll fit fine.”

The problem was the gunnel (side of the kayak – see photo below) wasn’t wide enough to take the mount.

That is, without sacrificing a rod holder. Which I couldn’t afford to lose.

In the photo I’ve included you can see how it’s supposed to go.

But, sadly, not on my kayak.

This is a problem as buying the Watersnake Kayak Trolling Motor Mount “kit” means you do not get the transom mount.

Watersnake Kayak Motor Mount

It leaves you stuck. Sourcing a transom mount separately has so far been fruitless.

You start to think some of the other commercial and DIY options would have been a whole lot easier, to begin with!

I know I quickly began to wish I’d just bought the standard transom mount unit.

It is actually a bit of a shame to have to have this negative aspect in this review. Because it has enormous potential!

Having To Get Creative With The Watersnake Kayak Trolling Motor Mount

Let the weird contrivances begin!

After a lot of messing around with trying to mount it without the mounting foot (just the bar) onto a PVC pipe rod holder, I rigged up, I soon realized, was not going to work for this mount. The bar really needed more bracing than the PVC offered.

So phase two saw me buying a cheap PVC cutting board from The Reject Shop (Australian “dollar store”) and trying to make a platform with that. Attaching the base to the cutting board in the way intended when putting the mount on the gunwale.

I’d bask in the radiance of pure genius – if it’d actually worked. Thing is, this wasn’t going to work either. Simply not enough support – again due to my thinner than “average” gunnel.

In the interim, I’d made another purchase I’d been intending to build/buy.

Adapting The Mounting Bracket With Kayak Outriggers By this time I’d done enough research to know my much to small kayak, quite stable when paddling, needed help when a motor was attached. So I’d consumed hours and hours of Youtube videos and Pinterest posts on training wheels “outriggers.”

I decided to buy mine, not being impressed with the pool noodle and PVC pipe DIY jobs I’d seen.

I ended buying a set of well-made outriggers available here (not an affiliate link) and as seen in the photo. NB: They come in different colours, too.

Watersnake Kayak Motor Mount

So it’s on the cross-bars that mount the outrigger that I ended up attaching the plastic chopping board.

Using U-bolts to hold it on. With the U-bolts, I was able to use the steel bar that comes with the kayak motor mount.

Sliding it and tightening it up using wing-nuts. Basically – a DIY transom board.

Crikey!! Talk about the long way around.

Watersnake Kayak Trolling Motor Mount In A Nutshell Overall the concept is a good one and certainly well thought out.

However, in my opinion, more attention to detail on the strength of the fittings is required.

Also, Watersnake claims that this kayak motor mounts “fits most kayaks” and I think this is true of high-end kayaks the fact is many budget end (below $1000 kayaks) have thinner gunwales which will make mounting challenging.

Watersnake Kayak Motor Mount

Several customers have reported, on some sites, that the mount keeps slipping when in use. I’ve not found this to be the case as yet.

This kayak motor mount is certainly very flexible to use, once mounted. The number of variations you can use to adjust it is excellent.

To repeat – I recommend buying the kayak motor mount separately from the motor.

It doesn’t cost much more and you get the ability to change the mount to the standard transom mount if you need to do so.

If you’d like to find out more I recommend checking out the mounting bracket and motor using this link: Mount Bracket.

Review Conclusion & Product Rating

Pros

  • Neater and tidier than most DIY mounts.
  • Designed to make lowering and raising motor easy
  • Relatively simple installation

###Cons

*Joints could be more robust *Only really suitable for kayaks with wider gunnels.

  • Well-nuts instead of the supplied nuts and bolts would improve strength and mounting flexibility

Summary

Overall the concept is a good one and certainly well thought out.

However, in my opinion, more attention to detail on the strength of the fittings is required.

Also, Watersnake claims that it “fits most kayaks” I think this is true of high-end kayaks. Budget-end kayaks (below $1000 kayaks) often have thinner gunwales which will make mounting challenging. It’s certainly very flexible to use, once mounted.

The number of variations you can use to adjust it is excellent.

My Rating: 3 out of 5

Price at time of Review$79.00AUD

Available From Fishing Tackle Shop