Haswing Osapian Trolling Motor

Looking for a transom-mount trolling motor that costs less than a fancy dinner for two? You’re in luck—you can get the Osapian, get on the water, catch a fish, cook it up, and serve it with a bottle of wine for less than you might spend at a 5-star restaurant.

This is a no-bells-or-whistles trolling motor; it’s not the best one on the market, but it can be used in saltwater and freshwater. There is a wide variety of thrusts to choose from, and it’s built well enough that it comes with a 2-year warranty. Let’s dive into the full review!

Installation

Transom-mount motors are an absolute joy to install because there’s virtually no real “installation” to be done. There are a few simple steps to follow to install the Osapian motor:

• Assemble the motor. This involves attaching the propeller, drive pin, and sacrificial anode to the motor. Fortunately, Haswing includes all the equipment you’ll need to do this—a propeller wrench and your fingers are all you need.
• Attach the motor to the transom of your boat using the mounting clamps. Note that you’ll be able to adjust the angle and depth of the motor using the depth collar and tilting lever.
• Adjust your motor appropriately so there’s no risk of it making contact with your boat and ensuring that it’s deep enough in the water.
• Wire the batteries—this is the hardest part. Fortunately, it’s only one battery in most cases, and Haswing provides a diagram in its manual. Remember to use a deep-cycle marine battery; use two 12V batteries for the 80-lb model. Haswing recommends at least 105 Ah batteries—those have worked well for us!

With that, your motor is installed—it’s way easier than the drilling and screwing you’d need for a bow-mounted trolling motor. Ease of installation is one of the best things that any transom-mounted trolling motor has going for it, and the Osapian series is no exception.

A quick note—you’ll see that on Haswing’s own website, it claims that the Osapian series are bow-mount trolling motors. That isn’t true—why it made that mistake, we don’t know. We’ve contacted Haswing about it, so hopefully, it will be fixed by the time you read this.

Using the Trolling Motor

Operating the Osapian trolling motors is insanely simple—twist the telescopic handle clockwise to go forward and counterclockwise to reverse. You can also rotate the handle to change the direction you’re moving in.

You may occasionally want to change the depth of the motor, its angle, or the tension of the steering. You can do all of this on the fly with the depth collar, the tilting lever, and the steering tension screw. Keep two things in mind when making these adjustments:

• Turn off the motor to lower the risk of injury.
• Hold on to the shaft of the motor to keep everything stable.

While the Osapian motors are quite easy to use, they aren’t without problems. They’re relatively quiet, but at full throttle, they can be quite loud. Additionally, there can be a little bit of wobble at the highest level of power, and the motor can be fairly power-hungry. You can tighten everything up to try to control the wobble—it may help.

The motor also features an easy-to-read power meter to give you an idea of how much battery life there is left. To read this meter accurately, turn off the motor. Haswing recommends recharging the battery once it’s at 20%—this is a good idea since you don’t want to over-deplete your battery.

Comparable Trolling Motors

Minn Kota Endura: The Endura is another 5 forward/3 reverse speed trolling motor. While it lacks an 80-lb thrust model, we found that the construction is better than the Osapian—especially the composite shaft.

MotorGuide R3 Series: The R3 series features an incredibly durable design and an excellent power management system—it’s another transom-mounted motor that’s quite well constructed.

Newport NV Series: Perhaps the most direct competitor to the Haswing Osapian, the NV series comes in a variety of thrusts and shaft lengths, has 5 forward and 3 reverse speeds, and is usable in both freshwater and saltwater.

What Sets the Haswing Osapian Apart From Comparable Motors

Price: The Haswing Osapian may be the least expensive transom-mount trolling motor available on the market for the amount of thrust you get. Somehow, it’s even less expensive than the Newport NV on most markets—and the NV series is already so inexpensive it blows our minds.

Saltwater and freshwater compatibility: You can use the Osapian in saltwater, freshwater, and brackish water—pretty unusual for a transom-mounted trolling motor.

Other Features

The Osapian has a little shark-fin-shaped prop protector that’s designed to break off on impact in order to protect your propeller. This isn’t uncommon on trolling motors, and it’s extremely nice to have, especially when you’re fishing in shallow water.

Conclusion

We like the Osapian series, but it’s not our top recommended trolling motor in this price range. For just a little more money, you can get a motor from the Newport NV Series. We’ve found the NV Series has a more solid construction and better power management than the Osapian series, so that’s what we’d recommend for most anglers.

For those of you who find that the NV Series is too far out of budget, however, the Osapian series could be the perfect fit. They’re also great for anyone who is a fan of Haswing (or not a fan of Newport Vessels).

All in all, this is a highly affordable, no-bells-and-whistles transom-mount trolling motor and a good pick for anyone who wants to troll for fish cheaply.