I am considering buying a new electric trolling motor for my boat and need some help. My boat is 20’ and is built low to the water like a bass boat. I’m spending more than I want to on gas trolling with my main motor.
I like to troll at Willard for wipers at 4 mph. Does anyone know what the minimum pound thrust I should look for the size of the boat to accomplish 4 mph? Any input is appreciated greatly.[fishin]
I have a MinnKota powerdrive V-2 24 volt on my 18’ crestliner I/O. It will only go around 2.5 and not for very long at that speed. It is 70 lbs of thrust.
Electric motors are used to manuever boats at slow speed. I am not sure you can find an electric motor that would move your boat at that speed for very long without using up your battery. I use a 47 pound electric motor to move my 15’ deep V when I bottom bounce. I not sure I can go more than 2 mph with it. I would suggest buying a small outboard and use it to troll with. I have a 5 horse honda that will run for hours on a gallon of gas. I hope this helps. gshorthair
I too don’t like trolling with a gas motor all that much. I can’t tell you for sure on larger boats but I have a 40 lbs. thrust Minn Kota on 14 foot light boat. One battery (about 105 Amp hours) will last on average for an 7-8 hour day. Of course this is not all full trolling at 4 mph. But I would say sometimes it is 1/2-3/4 trolling at 1-2.5 mph. I always take two batteries so if you loose juice too quickly just swap them out.
Very peaceful and quiet this way. And if a fish trys to play you under the boat or to the sides you can turn fast with your legs. This ends up being cheaper in the long run too. Less maintanance on the gas motor. Running a small generator for a few hours is cheaper than the outboard.
I think you could do this with like a 100 lbs. thrust Minn Kota. Just take along an extra battery. The fastest I go with electric is about 5-5.5 mph. I never really do it though. They have a few models to choose from. Just look at their website ans see what options and extras you like. Hey this is great for longer trips too. As soon as you get the boat out fire up your generator and charge them until the mornin.
If your going to troll for more than a few hours at 4mph a electric motor is not going to do the job you want with a 20 foot boat. I suggest a small gas motor. I have a 17.5 boat and I use a 6 hp 4 stroke mercury and 1 gallon of gas will last for a few days of trolling. later chuck
It would have to be dead calm or even a tail wind to maintain 4mph with that motor! I have a 6 hp Johnson on my 19.5 and it will go a 4 days on 6 gal. I would think about a kicker if your wanting to troll that fast and that much! If you were just using it for manuevering it would be great!!
I have a 109 lb thrust motor guide 36 vote and it will move my 20’ bass boat at 5 miles hr. but the longest I have had it at max is 2 1/2 hr and my batteries were not down…
Like others have said for trolling a long time I would use a 4 stork kicker…
But if you are going to get an Elc. motor get one that is bigger then you think you will need so your batteries will last longer and you don’t over work the motor (over heat motor) …
****[#500000]If you are thinking about an electric pulling at 4 to 5 miles per hour for over 3 to 4 hours it had better be downwind…I have an 18.5 Ranger bass boat with 24 volt system and a 101 thrust MinKota auto pilot, and it goes in the red after about 3 hours with any kind of a breeze blowing.[/b]
****I agree with most of the responses…Get a 4 stroke kicker…WW>[/b]