A rookie’s questions about trolling motors

It’s time to replace the old Mercury trolling motor on my boat and find one that will actually move my boat instead of hold it in place!

I have an old Dynatrak 162 fiberglass bass boat. 16 ft boat with a 115 johnson. I fish primarily Bass, and will be fishing a number of tournaments this year.

Now, I’ve got a bunch of questions, I’m hoping someone can answer them!

1) How many lbs thrust should I be looking at? I know everyone says to go big, but I just need a ballpark figure. I was looking at a 55lb thrust. Am I close?

2) I’ve noticed that around this size (55-65), you start to get into 24 volt options. Am I correct in assuming that the 24 volt will run longer on a single charge? How long could a person run a 55lb on a 12 volt system?

3) I’ve heard that Minnkota’s electric steering is slow to respond and that the cable-pull system is the way to go? Any opinions?

4)Any opinions or pro/cons on the Minnkota Maxxum vs the All-Terrain?

5) And finally, How about battery size. I need to buy a new one,(if I got a 24V I’d have to tap into the starting battery), just wondering what is out there as far as better batteries, or if the walmart special will do the trick.

Thanks. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated!

Happy Fishin’
Skip

Skip, I don’t have time to answer all your questions but I can tell you the Minnkota Maxxum, in 74lbs of thrust would be a great choice for you. It will do everything you need it to do and give you plenty of power for River Tournaments.

Also, it has the cable drive so you don’t have to worry about slow response time. You will be very happy with the Maxxum, those things are bullet proof!

I agree with Scott.

I use the Maxxum with 74 pounds of thrust and it definately does the job. I’m using the hand control unit, with the 3X turning and I would NEVER use a foot control unit! I can fish for two days without having to recharge, unless its windy or I’m in a current. Having the throttle on the handle means I can lean over and micro adjust my speed to keep me moving just right. And the weedless prop is pretty much weedless.

Get a cable-drive motor. The electric ones are slow, the circuit boards driving them wear out frequently, and the Autopilot feature gets frequently possessed by evil spirits.

Get a 24V or you might be running out of juice by a tournament’s end. Though I’d recommend two deep cycle batteries for the motor instead of tying one to the starting battery.

I agree on the Maxxum 74lb. Although new for this year it was replaced with a 70lb and and 80lb thrust unit. The 80 is the same motor as the 74 with a few tweeks to make it more efficient for the extra thrust. You don’t want to run off your starting battery, first of all if you aren’t paying attention and run it low, you could be in a bad situation. Second, you never want to run your trolling motor on the same battery as your fish finders. The hard current draw of the motor and the frequency it puts off will make your finder do funny things.

I think these guys answered most of your questions. I’ll say it for a third time, don’t run your motor off the starting battery. You can use the Walmart deep cycle batteries. A Minn Kota Maxxum 70 or Maxxum 80 will give you plenty off thrust to move your rig around.

hey Jolly,

I also have a Tri hull and fish alot of bass. I am inthe market for a trolling motor but was wondering what the shaft size should be, or how to properly measure for the correct shaft size. I know that people say to go long, but how long is too long?

shane

You want to measure from the bow surface to about 12 inches below the waterline. Give yourself a little extra if you fish choppy waters. You want to make sure the prop will stay in the water when your boat comes up on the waves. Bass fisherman often try to stay with the shortest shaft appropriate for their boat because they don’t want the head sticking up too far where it’ll interfere with flipping and low profile casting. Most walleye guys choose a little extra length if appropriate because they are often out there in the open water fighting larger waves.

Here’s a decent article on choosing a Trolling Motor.

Maxxum.

hey Jolly,

thanks for that nice little bit of info. That was some great reading, I think i have it figured out, now I just need to figure out how much thrust i want. I am sure I can get by with a 40 – 50 pd thrust i think, I don’t know and want to know, because i am looking to add on to the boat here this spring before bass opener.

shane

So here’s the dilema then, I want to go with a larger maxxum, which would require 24V. However, I have no room for another battery. The two that are back there take up every bit of space. Looks like I will be forced to stick with a 12V system if I shouldn’t run off my starting battery as well. So, what’s the biggest, best 12 V system out there? And how quick is it going to drain my battery?

thanks
Skip

Your can go to 55lbs with a 12V Skip. Here a list of the various options and prices:Minn Kota Trolling Motors

You’ll see that you can go with a 55lbs thrust at 12V on the Maxxum or the Powerdrive.

I went with the 55 volt All terrain. Now I want to run new wiring because I fear the existing wire is too small.

I am covering about 20 feet from the battery to the plug. It’s a 12 v 55 lb thrust trolling motor. What guage wire should I run? Do you typically run any in-line fuses? if so, the cheapies that i’ve seen have real small wire running to the fuse. DO I even need this if I run the proper guage wire to keep it from heating up? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
Skip

I would run 6 guage wire. You should be able to buy it buy the foot at NAPA. You can also get the ring terminal ends to crimp on the cables there. You need to Fuse it as close to the battery as possible. Napa sells small circuit breakers that would work also. If you are close to a marine dealer, they have the circuit breakers that include a little brass strap so you can bolt it directly to the battery. Then bolt your positive lead to the breaker. The circuit breakers are auto resetting. I would go with a 40 amp. The reason for fusing is to protect your boat from burning up if you have a short anywhere in the wiring. I’m amazed that the trolling motor installation guides don’t stress this.

6 gauge wire, is pretty stiff, what is the best way to tie that tough of wire into my plug. My plug reciever has wire leads coming off of it. Will wire nuts or something hold that tough and large wire?

I ran into the same problem with my recent installation. I decided to skip the plugs altogether, and use the proper size ring terminals on the wiring going to my batteries. Then I just bolted those to the ring terminals that came on the end of the trolling motor wires. Then I slid some large shrink tube over the connections and black taped to hold in place. I did see some butt connectors at NAPA that you can use to join 6 guage to 8 guage if you want to go that route. Wayne