Trolling motors with spot lock

C

Chucker

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It’s been a couple of years since this has come up on the forum, so it’s time for a new thread to gauge people’s experiences. I am thinking about putting a bow mount trolling motor on my boat, which is a 13’ whaler (weighs <about 800 pounds dry). It would mainly be used in the sound whilst throwing flies etc.

I can get a Minn Kota powerdrive 12v 55lbs for about $1600, which seems like it would work to me - I already have a 12v 100ah lithium battery, and I want to put as little extra weight on the boat as possible. I used a 30lb minn kota with the boat last year, and it did what I wanted it to do, but was pretty slow.

Is this actually the right choice? Should I be looking at the 24v 70lb system? Is the terrova model that much better? Is there any reasonable alternative to Minn Kota?
 
You'll be so glad you got it! @jasmillo and I installed one on our boats and it's unthinkable to fish without one now. My boat is a smaller 16ft wooden center console skiff, and this is what I installed on mine.

Minn Kota 1363708 Riptide Terrova Saltwater Electric-Steer Bow-Mount Trolling Motor with Digital Maximizer & i-Pilot GPS, 55 lbs Thrust, 60" Shaft. I'm not sure what the differences b/w Powerdrive vs Terrova are though.

I use 12v 100Ah LiPO4 battery for it, pretty light weight battery comparatively. Jason has a bigger 17' Whaler so he uses a 24v system, but for a 13' I think 12v is all you would need. We're very pleased with our systems.

Here is my boat so you can get an idea.

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As @Kfish mentioned, I’ve also installed a terrova 24v 80lb thrust bow mount to my 17 ft Boston Whaler. It’s truly a game changer depending on the type of fishing you’re doing. For SRC, it’s made me use a boat pretty much every time out versus 4-5 times a year. I fish for SRC all winter and most of spring, every weekend. These days I fish from shore for SRC 2-3 times a year, basically when I have a small window and don’t want to wash the boat. For coho, less impactful but significant. I still like a good beach session for coho, especially on the fly and would say my boat to beach ratio is 50/50.

I truly think they are game changers though. Especially for SRC. Worth every penny and more.

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