2016 Watersnake electric motors: Review

It’s a classic summer’s morning in Middle Harbour, the mercury is tipped to hit 39C, and the kingfish are busting up. But in a waterway as busy as this, where almost half-a-million anglers wet a line each year, you need an edge. Enter Watersnake's latest affordable, manoeuvrable and surely essential electric motors...

A school of kings erupts between the moored yachts off the ritzy houses looking down from Castlecrag. You can see their green backs and bright yellow dorsal fins cutting the green estuary water like scythes in a cane field. But getting within casting range in something else.

Enter the electric motor. Silent, stealthy, manoeuvrable. And now inexpensive thanks to the Watersnake range.

No longer the preserve of elite anglers, the electric is now a must-have piece of fishing gear aboard every serious fishing boat these days.

From bass to barra, bream to busting kings, the ‘Lecky’ is the best fishing friend of the avid lure and fly caster.

With this in mind, we jumped at the opportunity to test three electrics from Watersnake, the popular motor brand created by Jarvis Walker...

WATERSNAKE TEST
- Three electrics on test from $299 on a tender to $899 54-pounder with remote
Ours was a two-fold mission: to drive three new Watersnake electrics, and to catch a fish or two. To this end, we piggybacked on the back of a 2016 Watersnake instructional video shoot when, it so happened, the fish and weather were playing ball.

But before we can pitch a lure at those kingfish, there’s some housework to do.

We have three electric motors to test in the 2016 Watersnake range: (1) the tiller-steer Venom SXW on the latest lightweight 3.0m Zodiac Compact composite RIB; (2) the Shadow MKII 54lb thrust model with foot control; and (3) the Tracker Pro using the same motor with 54lb thrust but with the additional of a trick new hand remote.

The two 54lb-thrust Watersnake motors were fitted to the bow of a 2005-model Hewes Trailfisher 17 flats boat. This was an ideal test platform bristling with Jarvis Walker tackle that was rigged at the ready.

"I don’t know how you could fish without one [an electric motor] and if I didn’t have a ‘Lecky I would not go fishing," says Matt Young, the Hewes’ boat owner and a Jarvis Walker Pro Team member, fishing writer, and marine biologist in his spare time.

Before moving back to Sydney after some years in Townsville, Young was busy nailing everything from barra’ to bream using Watersnake electric motors as a key part of his kit.

But the Sydney kings are pretty hard to beat, he admits, having scored a few earlier in the morning and been dusted up during the product shoot.

The rattle you hear in the opening few seconds of the video below is Young hitting a coffee cup with a lure from 50m while demonstrating the 54lb Watersnake Shadow MKII.

WATERSNAKE VENOM SX
- Tested on the Zodiac 300 Compact tender
With those kingfish charging up the back of Middle Harbour we wasted no further time with our tests from d’Albora Marinas at The Spit. First, the tender.

With a retail price of about $5500, the Zodiac 300 Compact is a new lightweight composite RIB tender with a hull made from a new plastic and fibreglass mix. The transom can be folded and the whole thing stowed in a bag like a big surfboard.

The boat is very easily manhandled and perfect for tender duties and near-shore commuting, say, to your moored boat.

We fitted the Watersnake Venom SXW54/26 on the transom. That is a 54lb thrust model with a 26in shaft. The motor runs off a simple 12V battery. There are 26in, 30in, 36in and 42in shaft lengths and thrust ratings of 34lb, 44lb, 54lb (on test) and a 65lb model for 2015.

For tender duties, this little combo of, say, $5500 Zodiac + $299 tiller-steer Watersnake + say $500 for a deep-cycle AGM battery and a $250 charger amounts to somewhere in the order of $7K. That’s an affordable tender for toting your crew and gear.

Visually, the Watersnake Venom SXW54/26 looks good dressed in white, with a low-profile head that won’t foul lines and a digital voltage meter display to show your battery’s state of charge. The motor weighs about 2.5-3kg and is certainly an easy carry.

Transom clamps and an alloy transom bracket keep the motor in place, while the composite shaft can be slid up and down the bracket, and you have a few shallow-water tilt settings in case you want to explore skinny water. The weedless prop and prop shaft are stainless steel.

There are five forward speeds and three reverse speeds on a typical twist-grip throttle with a small extendable handle. Thus, operation of this motor is intuitive like most tiller-steer outboards. As to be expected, the motor emits nothing more than slight hum during operation.

Zipping about the marina reveals a top speed around 5-6 knots, plenty of forward thrust and some real reverse kick for washing off your speed. The motor is quiet and, well, that’s pretty much it! No fuel, no fuss, you just screw it on, attach the battery, and go.

Maintenance involves a freshwater wash, the motor head is water resistant so just give it a splash and you’re done. Parts including spare props are widely available.

Given that a lot of cruiser and yacht owners only ever use their tender for short-distance access to a beach or to a moored craft, the Watersnake option makes a lot of dollars and sense. It would also be a great unit for the kids on a small tinnie in a quiet estuary somewhere as well.

Given the low retail value, you could probably just buy a new one every five years or so (if you had to). With a decent charger back at home, you should also enjoy a long battery life. The Amp drawer of the Venom SXW 54/26 is anywhere from 13-54A flat-out, so you will get two to three hours of full-on use.

VENOM SXW 54/26
Price as tested: The Venom range starts at $299
Thrust: 54lb
RPM: 1370
Shaft Length: 26in on test, up to 42in
Voltage: 12V
Amp drawer: 13-54A
Watts: 156-640
Steering: Extendable tiller
Speed: 5 forward/3 reverse
Details: Watersnake Venom range.

WATERSNAKE SHADOW MKII 54/54
- Tested with foot controller on a 2005-model Hewes Trailfisher 17
Here’s the irrefutable reason to own an electric motor — to get among the fish and keep your lures and flies in the zone longer. That we did, from the muddy flats of Sugarloaf Bay to the adjoining oyster-fringed foreshores, from manoeuvring around moorings to getting within range of a pack of marauding kings.

With the new and improved variable-speed foot-control unit mounted on the bow of the Hewes 17-footer, and a main Yamaha 60hp four-stroke outboard on the transom, we we’re able to sneak-up on structure and fish with our Shadow MKII 54lb Watersnake on the Hewes 17.

We saw bream and tailor, a large school of mullet, some small snapper or reddies, and that fleeting school of big kingfish. Admittedly, all we caught were the reddies using soft-plastic lures on the drop, under the bigger feeding predators. But we might have seen very little at all without an electric.

The Shadow MKII 54lb was manoeuvrable, virtually silent and it’s got a decent amount of grunt to counter wind and tide. In fact, the grunt of this electric is such it could put you in the drink.

My rooky mistake of oversteering and overpowering was soon sorted out and in about 10 minutes I was working (driving and casting) the fishing zones like a pro.

For 2015, a digital voltage meter has been added to the slimline Shadow MKII head and the foot controller was made more water resistant, says Watersnake, adding that this electric is built for saltwater from the outset.

The Shadow MKII range includes 44lb/48in, 54lb/48in and 54in (on test) shafts, and a 65lb/54in model. The amp drawer of our 54lb test unit was 13-54A, which will give you at least a few hours of full-time use and, moreover, a whole day’s fishing when employed in typical manoeuvring use. You could wire-in battery charging from your main engine’s alternator and extend the unit's 'range'.

All Shadow models have variable speed control, an epoxy-sealed circuit board inside the motor and a weedless three-blade propeller. They are fitted with a stainless steel propeller shaft and a white corrosion-free composite main shaft. There's an auto cut-off switch to save battery power, when the motor is placed in the stowed position.

SHADOW MKII 54/54
Price as tested: Test motor retails for $799
Thrust: 54lb
Shaft Length: 54in on test, also 48in
Voltage: 12V
Amp drawer: 13-54A
Watts: 156-640
Steering: Foot Control
Speed: Variable
Details: Watersnake Shadow range.

Essentially, you can control the boat from anywhere aboard, so when fishing one-up you can stay near the helm and still operate the bow-mount motor. The controller has an on-off switch and left and-right arrows. Easy.

On test, I sat near the helm centre console and manoeuvred the Hewes 17 using the remote, while casting from amidships, as our bow and transom anglers did the same at either end of the boat.

The wind was gusting and I could periodically tweak the remote to maintain our position or at least create a slow drift rate.

Using Tracker Pro 54lb motor this way allowed us to get within casting range and maintain our position relative to the school of kingfish. We also zipped the boat around some moorings in 'hot pursuit'.

Thanks to the electric holding us in the zone in the wind, I managed to get a light soft-plastic lure to the bottom and hook a small red bream. But it could just as easily have been a jew, trevally or flatty under those feeding fish.

The point being, you would have struggled to find the bottom with a light lure without the electric holding you there.

Similarly, once you hook up, the remote lets you drive the boat when a fighting fish takes you away from the bow area and foot controller.

So the remote is the go on the Watersnake Tracker Pro 54/54.

Specs are otherwise the same as the Shadow MKII 54/54, however, there is no digital voltage meter on the head.

The Tracker Pro Remote Motor has a nifty quick-release bracket. Jarvis Walker says this new 2015 release is ready for any saltwater challenge.

There are fully encapsulated circuit boards, sacrificial anodes and anti-corrosion treatments. The composite shafts are said to be unbreakable in normal use, while the unit has an automatic cut-out switch once the motor is stowed.

Driving off the remote was easier than the foot throttle and it’s also less demanding on your foot and tow muscles.

With this unit, your chances of nailing something decent from your casting your lure and flies are maximised. Next time for us.

TRACKER PRO 54/54
Price as tested: Test motor retails for $899 with hand remote
Thrust: 54lb
Shaft Length: 54in on test, also 48in
Voltage: 12V
Amp drawer: 13-54A
Watts: 156-640
Steering: Remote and/or Foot Control
Speed: Variable
Details: Watersnake Shadow Bow Mount range.

WATERSNAKE BY JARVIS WALKER
- Affordability, accessibility and ease of operation
Tackle manufacturer and distribution giant Jarvis Walker, a household name in Australian rec-fishing circles and the creator of Watersnake, can be credited with helping to make electric motors mainstream today.

No longer the preserve of the rich, the Watersnakes have keen pricing, are widely available and have good parts back-up. Importantly, each and every Watersnake electric motor is designed to be used in saltwater.

"All models sold in Australia are saltwater models. We do that intentionally. Australian anglers might be fishing for bass one day and kingfish the next. Our Watersnake electrics are designed to be used in the saltwater. All parts are corrosion resistant and the circuit boards are sealed for water resistance," explains Jarvis Walker PR man, Daniel Tillack.

Certainly, the Watersnake electrics aren’t hard to find. Most major tackle stores stock them as off-the-shelf items. These are plug-and-play motors, with pricing that’s akin to a decent fishing reel.

Watersnake prices starts at $199 for a 12V 2.2kg model in the ASP transom range perfect for kayaks, through the big Venom tiller-steer models with up to 65lb thrust, to the Shadow bow-mount electrics that we have on test for about $799 for the foot control to the $899 for the Tracker Pro with remote. The top-of-the-range GPSmart-equipped model costs about $2K.

Of course, you have to add the cost of a battery. You should also wire-in the unit with some kind of breaker to protect from overloading. The Watersnake Accessories list has just such a breaker and, at the very least, a 50A fuse kit on offer.

But these are simple set-ups and electrics are must-have additions on any serious inshore fishing boat. Thanks to GPS integration and station-holding functions, more and more offshore boaters are using electrics as invisible or virtual ‘anchors’ to hover above the fish and catch more.

The smaller electrics are perfect for tenders; no petrol hassles, super lightweight, just a battery and breaker and go. But it is in the hands of keen fishers that they make so much sense.

With an electric there’s no excuses for spooking fish and not being in the thick of the action, even in hard-fished waterways like Sydney Harbour. More at Watersnake electric motors.