School me on electric motors

[Marlin375]

I am going to buy an electric motor for my 9ft fiberglass row boat.
It slips through the water pretty nice rowing it, but the oars are in the way all the time while fishing.
Anybody with some brand name experience?
Sugested Power rating........relative battery life?

Thanks in advance.

[reach]

If you're worried about battery life, get something with a PWM controller like Minn Kota's Maximizer, as opposed to fixed speeds. It does make a difference. It also allows you to troll very slowly if you want.

For a 9' boat any size motor would work fine.

[Iron Sighted]

Look at a Minnkota with the maximizer technology, somewhere between 40-50lbs of thrust. The maximizer technology is key, your battery will last way longer unless you run it full speed all the time(then it will be the same as an older style without the maximizer), plus you can completely control the speed of your prop, instead of having only pre-set speeds, so you can find the ideal speed for trolling whatever lure/fly you want to use. I got mine at Costco a few years back, they usually sell them cheaper than most other places. They shipped mine to my door for $40 cheaper than I could find it anywhere else that I'd have had to go and pick it up from.

LOL, Reach beat me to the punch by a scant minute.

[crazybushcreature]

the digital maximizer variable speed is awesome. Great battey life too

[Marlin375]

Sounds like Minkota has the lead.

Will a decent dep cycle battery last a couple of days of Fly fishing....couple of laps around the lake trolling but mostly just moving from spot to spot, anchor and fish.

Next question, will be what about a sounder? gunnel mount kind?

[Mikey Rafiki]

A decent battery should last a couple days of trolling at lower speeds. The lowest I have got my battery is 50% after 6 hours of trolling 2 gang trolls on a 14 foot aluminum with my 40lb Minn Kota. Than includes going full out for half an hour in and out of the spot.

I imagine you could get away with a smaller motor and with a light boat like that you could get up to 20 hours of putting around.

[spreerider]

i get about 6 hours straight trolling out of mine, but thats on the ocean fighting waves and wind,
in a lake i usually get more but my batteries are starting to wear out so i usually bring 2 for a day on the water and leave the oldest one on shore just in case.

[Mikey Rafiki]

i get about 6 hours straight trolling out of mine, but thats on the ocean fighting waves and wind,
in a lake i usually get more but my batteries are starting to wear out so i usually bring 2 for a day on the water and leave the oldest one on shore just in case.

I imagine the electric motor is just for trolling. Do you have something larger to get you in and out of the ocean?

[crazybushcreature]

Dont cheap out on the battery either. Get yourself a decent deep cycle marine battery. Ive spent a good 6 hours on a lake trollin a fly around and still had lots of juice left.

[goatdancer]

I bought a 50 lb thrust Minn Kota from Costco a couple of years ago. It's a great motor. Only one problem. If you want to run your fish finder off the same battery you'll have to get a filter or your finder will only show garbage on the screen. I ended up buying a small lawn mower battery just for the finder.

[Marlin375]

I bought a 50 lb thrust Minn Kota from Costco a couple of years ago. It's a great motor. Only one problem. If you want to run your fish finder off the same battery you'll have to get a filter or your finder will only show garbage on the screen. I ended up buying a small lawn mower battery just for the finder.

Thats good to know.

[reach]

Yes, for the fish finder I use a separate 7 amp-hour sealed lead acid battery like those found in alarm panels or uninterruptible power supplies. It lasts for days (at least 4).

[landphil]

I have the 30Lb Min-Kota for my 12' aluminum, used it on my buddies 14' as well, it works great for me, troll at 1st or 2nd speed out of 5, moves along pretty good on high and get about 20hrs troll time on the larger marine deep cycle - I can't remember the rating off the top of my head. I don't see a need to go over 30 lbs thrust on a 9' even if it's a flat bottom unless you want to water ski.:mrgreen:

[pappy]

Good thread, I to have been thinking about getting an electric motor. I was wondering with a deep cycle battery do you charge them slowly for better results or can you charge them faster? I seen that you can get different props for some of them to, so how much of a difference will that make?

[troutseeker]

I use a Minkota with maximizer and it last quite a while. In sunny Okanagan, I also use a solar panel to slow charge my battery while I fish. Picked it up a Canadian Tire for peanuts.

[spreerider]

my boat is a 12ft runabout so i can use just the electric but if im on the ocean i drop the pre 60s 7.5 johnston on as well just in case,

I have cheap batteries from canadian tire as thats what my dad gave me with the motor when i got the boat, they are junk but i will use them till they are really junk. If i had better batteries i bet i could get 12hours from one.

deep cycle should be charged slowly and adding a solar will help a bit but in my experience with solar they dont work as well as advertised and most of the small ones are very low watts and really only get 1/4 to 1/2 what they claim.

[moose hide]

I have a 14 foot lund with a used 50 lb thrust. Works great, just went 8 hours in windy conditions. Get a good battery, mine is from--you got it canadian tire. Deep cycle. I use a portable fish finder that takes aa baTterys. I get good life from them as well.