Minn Kota Pontoon DeckHand

I was not able to install on my own so paid to have it installed. Product works wonderfully

I have owned numerous boats and always add 1 of these to the front. It is awesome and lifts a 30 pound anchor no problem

Works great. Takes time to get use to the button that controls it. I put a 30 pound river anchor on it and it has no problem with it. I bought the bracket that allows you to remove it in less that 30 seconds as it is handy. Just remember to use the hole and a lock to lock it in place so someone else doesn’t like the option too and take it home. Time will tell if it is reliable. Happy fishing friends!

This product was not the easiest to install, but we did take our time as we wanted to make sure it was functional. After install the product was faulty. We had connection from the battery but apparently the circuit board was faulty as nothing worked at all. I had read the reviews in which several stated they had issues with the circuit board. Had to return product.

One of the best things that I've added to my tritoon so far along with the 40lb anchor. Damn convenient and so much cleaner than pulling the muddy anchor up hand over hand. be sure to think carefully about where you add the switch because it will bumped. After trial and error ended up mounting mine upside down on the front fence.

It said for a pontoon but it said nothing about the extras you needed. Either you add a extra battery or buy wiring the length of your pontoon which they say is not recommended.

First: Know you will need LOTS of room to slide unit onto base once installed. It must be slid on from inboard end, so unless you have lots of room on pontoon deck, good luck! Second: read and re-read ALL instructions before beginning. There are two assembly manuals that seem to contradict themselves. For example: One tells you to drill two 11/32" holes into the top half of the sliding-on mount to have 6 holes total, when in fact the holes are already there; one tells you to attach devise t…o the 2 holes at the very back of the plate, another shows that it should be mounted farther forward; one says the quick release unit is not sold separately while the other says it is available from any dealer. Figure on a good hour to figure it all out and get the quick release plate and devise connected to each other before even mounting it to the boat. And lastly: what's with the ridiculously short power cord. Plan on having plenty of 10 g wiring on hand to make an extension.

I didn't do the install so I can't comment on ease of installation. We don't use it too often but when we have used it, it's worked perfectly. Just gotta make sure you purchase the appropriately weighted anchor to work with the winch.

From the initial installation, the deckhand never really lifter the anchor into the proper carrying position. The guide swivel would flip into the storage position well before the anchor was out of the water, causing the operator to manually push it back over and needing to go down and up with the anchor several times to seat it properly.Now, and just over a year of use, the deck hand will not pull the more than 6 inches above the water and starts to make a grinding noise.

HAD THIS PRODUCT FOR YEARS AND EVERY SUMMER HAVE TO HAVE IT WORKED ON---LOVE THE IDEA OF ELECTRIC ANCHOR, BUT IF YOU CANNOT DEPEND ON IT, IT IS WORTHLESS----RIGHT NOW IT IS STUCK WITH ROPE HALF OUT---HAVE HAD MARINA AND MECHANICS WORK ON IT----VERY FRUSTRATED