Trolling Motors, 40 -Minn Kota Endura Max Transom-Mount

Here's what I use.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/motomast...a-0111592p.html

My Minkota 55 can run on it almost all weekend. It has navigation lights if I want to go out after dark, run the TV if the power goes out. fill up tires and even boost a dead battery.

They come on sale for 100 off quite often.

I love mine.

Bayliner I hope you got one of the good battery packs because like the reviews say most of them are crap. I had one and it crapped out just over the warrantee period.

My BPS group 27 lasted five years and only died because my boat was hit by lightening and blew the charger and batteries up. At the five year point they were still holding over 96% charge even after heavy use every weekend non stop in spring summer and fall. This is mostly due to the type and quality of charge used along with proper winter storage and maintenance.

Mine is around 8 years old now and still going strong. The trick is to keep them fully charged after each use. I know other people who have them and don't have any problems. They all keep them charged also.

When mine finally bites the dust, I will get a new one for sure.

I have a 30lb minnkota transom and pushes the boat all day on a full battery, although steady at full she slows down . Give it a rest here and there and it recovers somewahat . Personally its a lot more coin but I like my 2.5 four stroke,gas motor more now . It weighs less than a deep cycle battery and electric motor .

Good info Disco and Speo ,Bayliner ,shared.


TD

I"d rather spend $500 on a small gas engine, than use an electric as my sole power. By the time you buy the motor, and a battery, your getting close, if not more, than $500 anyways, and you won't have to buy batteries every few years, or worry about running out of power. Like said above, the small outboards weigh as much, or less, as a big deep cycle/trolling motor.

S.

Do you have any proof to back up your claim? I know agm are more sensitive to over/under charging and don't like to be deeply discharged.

I've used all them, and for fishing boats I find regular lead acid to be the best bang for the buck.

Here is why the AGM are the best for the bang now:

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article...t_glass_mat_agm

When Lithium-Ion will be cheaper than AGM then we have another scenario.

For now AGM are the best compromise: price / charge / weight.

Costco has AGM as well, slowly these batteries will replace the old classic lead acid and deep cycle only.

The article is seems to echo what I've said. The only real advantage of AGM in deep cycle use is faster charging. Weight is practically a non issue as you will find when you compare equally rated batteries. The article points to agm being better for starting uses not so much for deep cycle usage.

That being said I can't wait for the day lithium comes into an affordable price range. Now that is technology that will make a real difference.

Edit - agm is beneficial in that they are no maintenance batteries. That may be a plus for those who don't like the idea of maintenance on batteries.

AGM are deep cycle as well, more details here from a another source.

https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/articles/ba...ery-basics.html

I hope that Lithium-Ion become cheaper in my life time.

Based on current trend it would take 10-20 years most probably.

The nice part is that a Minn Kota motor does not mind what is the source of the power as long is in the range.

And since some of the 24Volt Minn-Kota use same circuit board as 36Volts now sky is the limit.

Whatever boat/kayak/dingy you have get:
1) Minn-Kota motors with Digital maximize (more expensive but worth the $)
2) Get the 24Volts or 36Volts, don't bother with 12Volts.
The comparison is like you buy a cordless drill with 12Volts pack or 40Volts pack. Who own them know the difference.
A 24Volt motor can be powered by 12Volt battery but vice versa don't always work.

Happy trolling.

You mentioned you have a small boat and you mentioned you liked the Endura Max. It is a good choice for a small boat. Cheaper, lower #, it has a maximizer...

Get ONE group 27 Deep Cycle battery (110-115Ah) from Costco / Sams and you are all set for many hours of trolling. 12V is all you need for a small boat. 16 ft legend extreme with #55 12V, 115Ah battery is happy, 18 ft Springbok using #55, 12V, 115Ah is also happy.

Make sure you charge it the day before you go out.

After you come back, measure the state of charge of the battery using a hydrometer that cost about $10-$15 at canadian tire. You will know exactly how much battery you used and you will know if ONE battery will be enough or not in the future.

Other ways of measuring the state of charge:
- Using a voltmeter and compare with the table below, or
- Note the instant amps being pushed by the charger every 15 min. Average the amps for each hour, then add up the hourly averages and that's how many Ah you burned.

This is all very great info thanks guys

Part of the idea is that I am a pretty big guy at 6'3 295, and with the trolling motor and battery I can put the battery weight in a different section of the boat.

I have a Pelican Intruder 12ft, which has a transom at the front and back. The hope is when fishing with other people I will use motor on back transom, and when by myself i will sit towards middle, extend the arm out and put the battery towards the back.

Currently if someone makes too big of a wave near me and I am not moving pretty fast I can get a bit of a splash over the back end, due to the 9.9 I have access to I am sitting next to the motor, the gas is in the middle, and my 140 lb girlfriend or 220 lb friend are on the other end.

If I could test a 2.5 on my boat with some weight on the front and it was okay for me to go out myself that would be great. If someone knows of somewhere I could try and do that I would be open to it

I would let you test my 2.5 on your boat but I will be close by with one of my boat's and motor cause that little bugger is one of my babies . LOL Mine is a new Suzuki that gets asked for often but I have my claws on it and doesn't go anywhere without me .

TD

We have a couple of 12' Coleman Crawdads that we fish out of, we have about 500lbs of fisherman in each boat plus our gear on top of that and we power these boats with a 3.5hp Nissan motor and a 5hp Merc motor and have no problem moving around on the water. The great thing about these smaller gas motors is the gas tanks are on top of the motors so no gas can required and no battery required which frees up a lot of floor space in these smaller boats and as mentioned they weigh under 30lbs. Worth looking into IMO.