Any Boaters out there? Trolling motor question

Do you have one of them Olde Towne flat stern canoes? or the reglar kind?
If you have a flat sterner, they make a little 3 hp tohatsu and they are very stingey on gas.
If you have a reglar canoe, I know you can rig up a bass troller motor pretty easy. The only trouble youd have is the mounting on the gunwales. I believe youll have to make a mounting board set so the wing nut thingies dont destroy your nice wooden gunwales. Id take two boards and then , with a table saw, score the boards so that they can bend a bit and make the round ed shape of the canoe gunwales. Then , mount the trolling motor just south of amidships. Thata the neat thing about trollers, you can put em anywhere and the tiller allows you to swing in any direction. Ive seen some really fancy ones where you can steer with foot pedals that operate little servos. i dont think Id recc that fro the canoe. to get you 2 batterie(s) I always use a pair of Deep Cycles, just in case Im out on a lake and the wind whips up and your Main motor starts fading. (I also have rigged up a parallel gangswitch) that lets me use both batteries at once if I so desire. I bought my troller at WAlly Marts (I know I said I ne3ver shop there, but this is an exception) cost me like 99 bucks and the batteries wer 50 each. I use it on a small 14 foot metal boat that I use for bass fishin and walleyes on the Susquehanna. I usually keep the gas engine up and out of the water and the trolling motor easily lasts me 8 hours with power to spare. I troll alot also. When Im bass fishing in the shallow areas, I need the trolling motor just to hold my place.
Id mount the batteries fore and aft of the motor , for balance. If the canoe is beamy enough, you can do side by side.

Lessee. Mounting bracket-check
wire harness-get a gang swithch and mount it on the mounting boards . use wing nuts (stainless)
wires-chesck, use the standard marine red/white/black and brown/ 10-12 gage
baTTERIES-check, i like 2 but im into belt and suspenders

If you mount it amidships or slightly aft, you may need a brace board to have the motor stand proud of the side of the boat. sometimes , the bass boat guys futz with their mount brackets for just the right location so the boat doesnt run in circles too much.(I keep mine next to the gas engine and Im always forced to fish from the stern so I can control the tiller on the motor.

My motor isnt weed free and that can be a real pain in the ass if you do alot of shallows fishing like for pike or spring redeyes. A weed free gizmo just keeps the crap out of the props and you dont always have to back up or clean your prop. I think that if Id do it again id go weed free for the extra 50 bucks.

Thats all I can think of, the boats out in the barn so I cant give a quick look and see if I forgot anything

ooh, ooh, battery straps and a hold fast for the batteries in case you roll it. Dont laugh, I heard of this. A guy hooked up a trolling motor on his canoe and did everything hurry up. He caught a swell and rolled the boat. the batteries went to the bottom and he didnt have his paddles. Use the technology, but dont depend on it exclusively

I have an Olde Towne Discovery 174 and they make a motor mounting bracket for it that I was planning on picking up through them whether I go gas or electric.

I have two deep-cycle batteries to use and I was thinking about getting one of the plastic battery boxes and just strapping to to one of the cross memebrs but I probably should find a way to mount it more securely. (I've been know to roll canoes on purpose. )

I hadn't thought about a gang switch but that's probably a good idea. The weedless idea is something I SHOULD have thought about but didn't. The local lake is heavily weeded.

Thanks for the ideas!