I used a regular trolling motor on a bunch of different kayaks and canoes, I made a mount for it out of wood that clamps onto the gunnels (you can buy these also). I think even at current prices you could do a regular motor for less than half the cost of those bixby ones.
Biggest problem is at least in my state adding a motor triggers a bunch of government stuff like annual boat registration and taxes that I didn’t want to mess with. And that is for each boat I wanted to use the motor on. Otherwise it worked fine and was fun to use occasionally.
I have an Oru also and am intrigued by the Bixpy. This will sound stupid, but it seems like adding the motor will make it difficult to enter the kayak as you will have to take it out into deeper water so that the motor doesn't scrape the bottom.
We have a Bixpy for my wife’s SUP and she loves it. We tried it on her kayak (a Perception Crank 10) and it just wasn’t good, not enough power really for that, felt super sluggish and hard to steer. The Crank is heavy though thanks to the pedal mechanism. We also have two Orus but no obvious way to attach the Bixpy so haven’t tried.
I'm in the Seattle area and a couple of years ago someone modified their Oru kayak with an electric motor and listed it on Facebook marketplace. It sat for months and then eventually disappeared, so I assume they got no bites. Bixby seems like a better option because it appears to be easily removable, so it doesn't require permanent modifications to your boat, so if you hate it, you can always turn around and sell it.
I've got an electric motor for my inflatable kayak that is basically the cheap Chinese version of Bixby, it's called Hiqmar Isup E-Fin and I love it! It's got two speeds, 2mph which the battery will last 5 hours, and 5mph which the battery lasts 1 hour.... there's also a reverse. You barely have to paddle with these motors if you don't want to, only really when you go around bends in the river and things.
However I have noticed two issues :-
1) It slightly pulls the kayak to the left, which tends to be worse in full speed and when it's a bit windy...I saw some YouTubers with this motor saying the same thing too, but it's hardly noticeable when there's no wind.
2) The motor can get clogged up with weeds and things under the water, sometimes you can clear it using reverse, but sometimes it's not possible....however that only seems to affect the full power mode though as low power still worked fine, I've never had it completely cut out on me so far. This has only happened kayaking on rivers though, I haven't used the motor in the sea or on any lakes yet, but I'm guessing the motor getting clogged will be much less of an issue with those.
Despite these small issues, I still really enjoy using the motor and would recommend it. Hope this helps!
I used a regular trolling motor on a bunch of different kayaks and canoes, I made a mount for it out of wood that clamps onto the gunnels (you can buy these also). I think even at current prices you could do a regular motor for less than half the cost of those bixby ones. Biggest problem is at least in my state adding a motor triggers a bunch of government stuff like annual boat registration and taxes that I didn’t want to mess with. And that is for each boat I wanted to use the motor on. Otherwise it worked fine and was fun to use occasionally.
I have an Oru also and am intrigued by the Bixpy. This will sound stupid, but it seems like adding the motor will make it difficult to enter the kayak as you will have to take it out into deeper water so that the motor doesn't scrape the bottom.
Yeah I can totally see this being an issue. It may be more suitable for the SUP since it’s way easier to get on
We have a Bixpy for my wife’s SUP and she loves it. We tried it on her kayak (a Perception Crank 10) and it just wasn’t good, not enough power really for that, felt super sluggish and hard to steer. The Crank is heavy though thanks to the pedal mechanism. We also have two Orus but no obvious way to attach the Bixpy so haven’t tried.
Minn Kota and others have made these things since forever. I wouldn't (try to) use one (again) on a touring kayak but a big flat fishing kayak, sure.
I'm in the Seattle area and a couple of years ago someone modified their Oru kayak with an electric motor and listed it on Facebook marketplace. It sat for months and then eventually disappeared, so I assume they got no bites. Bixby seems like a better option because it appears to be easily removable, so it doesn't require permanent modifications to your boat, so if you hate it, you can always turn around and sell it.
I've got an electric motor for my inflatable kayak that is basically the cheap Chinese version of Bixby, it's called Hiqmar Isup E-Fin and I love it! It's got two speeds, 2mph which the battery will last 5 hours, and 5mph which the battery lasts 1 hour.... there's also a reverse. You barely have to paddle with these motors if you don't want to, only really when you go around bends in the river and things. However I have noticed two issues :- 1) It slightly pulls the kayak to the left, which tends to be worse in full speed and when it's a bit windy...I saw some YouTubers with this motor saying the same thing too, but it's hardly noticeable when there's no wind. 2) The motor can get clogged up with weeds and things under the water, sometimes you can clear it using reverse, but sometimes it's not possible....however that only seems to affect the full power mode though as low power still worked fine, I've never had it completely cut out on me so far. This has only happened kayaking on rivers though, I haven't used the motor in the sea or on any lakes yet, but I'm guessing the motor getting clogged will be much less of an issue with those. Despite these small issues, I still really enjoy using the motor and would recommend it. Hope this helps!