Electric Trolling Motor

[FisherTim]

(I know its been discussed but never for this application)

I bought myself a little 15 foot Hourston with a Yamaha 85 for the summer. Sweet little Boat. The 85 is an absolutely fantastic Motor. (Did you know: The yamaha 85A is the longest produced outboard in history?, First Introduced in '88 it's still sold in the exact same configuration in over 100 countries today). However, it does have some flaws. It smokes like Willie Nelson, and with is 5:1 compression ratio it consumes over 1.2 gallon/hour at idle (Thats about as bad as a pair of 300 4 strokes).

Further I am planning on using this boat mainly for Mooching and Jigging for springs. If I was mainly trolling deep and fast, this would be a different post. This will not be an offshore boat. I don't plan on being 5 miles from the beach.

Option 1: So while Trolling on the main may be an option in rough weather, or if Im trolling fast enough to put the exhaust below water, using a premix carbed 2 stroke for trolling is not ideal.

Option 2: Get a proper Kicker(2 cylinder, 4 stroke, battery Charger). Now Im hanging another 100+ pounds off the transom, need a second fuel tank, prop guard, possibly some ballast. (I have a merc 9.9 i could use for this but dont really want to)

Option 3: Get a Baby kicker, 60ish pounds single cyl 4 stroke with a built in tank. Now i only need a 1 gal jerry can. But they are super loud, and i'll likely never use it. Pro is that its a completely independent system that can get me home(and run on 2 stroke gas in a pinch).

Option 4: Get a Minn Kota Riptide 55. Like 15 pounds on the Transom, I can put 2(dedicated house) batteries anywhere in the boat for ideal weight distribution. 2 batteries should last me all day long at lower speeds(all you need for Mooching). It would be incredibly quiet and peaceful. I wonder if the lack of a propwash would affect fishing positively or negatively.
it would be nice to avoid the smoke and clunk of trying to mooch on a 2 stroke main in and out of gear.

I would wire in the pair of house batteries in parallel, and use a Dual Circuit switch with emergency crossover to connect to rest of my boat systems with an ACR. In total i should have roughly 240 amp Hours, which are about 10 hours at 12 Amps from half capacity. That should at the very least get me out of trouble, if not home, in just about any event.

I know that If i have a 22 foot boat, I need to get a 9.9, but in this application, I think it could be practical. Ive laughed at people for wanting to use electric motors in the ocean, but i don.t see how any of the other options would work better.

The downside would be that my 10 amp alternator would not be close to charging the batteries. But I can plug in at dock or driveway.

Thoughts?

 

[walleyes]

Been running all kinds of electric trolling motors for years now and I’ll give you a couple honest opinions.
I don’t think a 55lb thrust motor would give you enough thrust in a decent tide to keep you moving and give you any type of control on your boat. The tide and any wind would toss you around something fierce. If you go this route I would go with nothing less than an 85lb thrust and since your twinning the batteries then go 24 volt. The best way to mitigate the handling issues would be to bow mount it if thats an option. There’s a reason we bow mount those motors the boat control increases immensely. Honestly that would be your only hope. Do not link them with your house batteries keep them separate cause they will drain you and no in a wind and tide with batteries low those little motors will not keep you off the rocks never mind get you home. I’ll drain my batteries with my 55 lb thrust on my 16.5’ Lund walleye boat in 8 hrs just holding anchor and working a shore line, never mind on a full troll.

Second thought is, these motors and set ups aren’t cheap. New with batteries and motor you’re over $3000 maybe closer to $4000, maybe $5000 for a saltwater model. Really your better off with a small light kicker like a new 2.5 or 4 hp.

That’s my thoughts on it. Like I say been running these things for years on our fresh water boats, they have there place, trolling in the ocean is not that place.

 

[FisherTim]

Been running all kinds of electric trolling motors for years now and I’ll give you a couple honest opinions.
I don’t think a 55lb thrust motor would give you enough thrust in a decent tide to keep you moving and give you any type of control on your boat. The tide and any wind would toss you around something fierce. If you go this route I would go with nothing less than an 85lb thrust and since your twinning the batteries then go 24 volt. The best way to mitigate the handling issues would be to bow mount it if thats an option. There’s a reason we bow mount those motors the boat control increases immensely. Honestly that would be your only hope. Do not link them with your house batteries keep them separate cause they will drain you and no in a wind and tide with batteries low those little motors will not keep you off the rocks never mind get you home. I’ll drain my batteries with my 55 lb thrust on my 16.5’ Lund walleye boat in 8 hrs just holding anchor and working a shore line, never mind on a full troll.

Second thought is, these motors and set ups aren’t cheap. New with batteries and motor you’re over $3000 maybe closer to $4000, maybe $5000 for a saltwater model. Really your better off with a small light kicker like a new 2.5 or 4 hp.

That’s my thoughts on it. Like I say been running these things for years on our fresh water boats, they have there place, trolling in the ocean is not that place.

Thanks for your input. Maybe I'll see if I can find a used freshwater trolling motor for around $100 and see if its even in the ballpark of working out for me.


Mind you I'm not looking to troll at 2-3mph. I want to maintain a .7-1kt water speed or slightly backtroll while running cut plugs or jigging. Trolling would all be main engine.

 

[walleyes]

Thanks for your input. Maybe I'll see if I can find a used freshwater trolling motor for around $100 and see if its even in the ballpark of working out for me.


Mind you I'm not looking to troll at 2-3mph. I want to maintain a .7-1kt water speed or slightly backtroll while running cut plugs or jigging. Trolling would all be main engine.

I would try that maybe,, try and find a cheap one and see if it’s even in the ball park. Two things stand out for me with these in the salt is first and foremost boat control. These things run tiny props really no thrust there, the wind tosses a guy around on a lake never mind wind plus tide. Like I say, maybe if it was bow mounted you’d have a hope but I just can’t see it at the stern. Walleye fishing we troll pulling bottom bouncers at .5 to .8 and again in the lake no tide. My 55 lb thrust all be it on single battery but it’s a high quality Minn Kota trolling motor battery I may get 8 - 10 hrs out of it but not 8 -10 hrs on a troll all day, this is just working shorelines and holding anchor.
I know what the book says and what it should do but we all know the book and the real world are not the same.