Trolling Motor For 3 Person Fish Hunter- How Big? What Battery?

[Coreyh]

I have a 3 person fish hunter that I would like to set up with a trolling motor. I think the boat is 8' long.
I have no idea how much thrust is enough or what motor to get for it. (I have a transom already.)
What kind of battery should I get? I did some searching on the AO and other places about trolling motor batteries. Mostly, it looks like I need a full size marine or RV battery, but I did see on at least one you tube video someone powering their motor with a smaller ATV (or similar) battery.
The boat is rated for 3 people, but it is cramped with my four year old and me, so a smaller battery is preferable from that perspective.

Any advice?

Thanks,
-C

[cube]

Originally Posted by Coreyh

I have a 3 person fish hunter that I would like to set up with a trolling motor. I think the boat is 8' long.
I have no idea how much thrust is enough or what motor to get for it. (I have a transom already.)
What kind of battery should I get? I did some searching on the AO and other places about trolling motor batteries. Mostly, it looks like I need a full size marine or RV battery, but I did see on at least one you tube video someone powering their motor with a smaller ATV (or similar) battery.
The boat is rated for 3 people, but it is cramped with my four year old and me, so a smaller battery is preferable from that perspective.

Any advice?

Thanks,
-C

If you plan on getting away with a smaller battery I would get a motor that uses pulse width modulation. eg. Minn Kota's Maximizer far more efficient at the lower power settings. A lot of cheaper electrics still use speed coils to slow you down which is a kin to controlling the speed of your car by appling the brakes, all the while flooring the accelerator.

You may also want a motor where the head can be reversed. Most inflatables that do not have a keel track poorly and you would probably be better off turning the head around so the motor pulls the boat rather than pushes the boat.

Does the fish hunter have a Hard/firm floor? If not you will probably want some kind of sealed battery, as I would not want a wet cell battery dumping acid all over my feet.

Good luck to you. (I still remeber starting out fishing with my dad in a small yellow inflatable. You should be some good memorys there.

[EZM]

I think a 45 to 55 thrust model is all you will need to troll around - you wont be water skiing behind it for sure. Your boat will probably need a little more pull due to no solid hull, like a conventional boat (which tracks nicer and provides less resistance).

If you need it as primary propulsion - you can look at a 70 lb thrust but you wont need anything bigger.

I would get a good quality full size marine deep cycle battery - It will give you a couple days of power pulsing around and doing some trolling.

Minn Kota is always the best option for price, quality and smart features.

http://www.minnkotamotors.com/produc.../enduraC2.aspx

try link

[mattpreat]

I have the exact same boat and if I remember right I use a 28lb thrust motor with a 12 volt sealed battery and for small trout lakes I can get around easy and its more then enough power. Chances are you wont be going on big lakes with this boat so you wont really need to go fast needing a powerful motor.

Id go with something a bit smaller, but more power would definitely come in handy occasionally as I have noticed it can be a bit of a drag trying to get around on a decent sized lake with a small motor.

[seahawkfisher]

i used to run a slightly larger boat and did well on smaller water or relatively close to home on big lakes with a minnkota endura30. not the most efficient but gets the job done; pretty gutless into a headwind tho. as for a battery, if you have limited space, go for the can tire nautilus gel cell. about $180 but packs a punch for for reasonable hours (be sure to charge right after use as often as possible), will fit under your legs if you position yourself "just-right" and is spill proof which eliminates lots of different worries.
cheers

[Wes_G]

Those boats weight next to nothing. The smallest lb thrust you can buy is more then enough.

[waynep]

Originally Posted by Wes_G

Those boats weight next to nothing. The smallest lb thrust you can buy is more then enough.

I completely disagree, yes they are light but they have lots of drag and no matter what motor you use you will not get much for top speed. Your top speed will not increase much with more thrust but your ability to push the boat into the wind will be increased dramatically with more thrust. !I've had a pontoon with a 30 lb thrust motor where I could barely hold my position in a strong wind and had other pontoons cruise right past me with larger thrust motors.
Wayne

[bubba 96]

Just wondering what speeds you are trolling at, I usually troll at 1.7mph, and most times my 15 horse is to fast, if I went to electric, on a 16 ft tinny, how big shoul I go...

[EZM]

Originally Posted by Wes_G

Those boats weight next to nothing. The smallest lb thrust you can buy is more then enough.

The OP's boat is light, drafts shallow, and is not hydrodynamic so it's a good candidate for a bigger thrust unit.

His boat is, safe and stable, however, it's also a great candidate to act as a wind sail or bouncy ride when there is wind and chop.

The price difference between a smaller thrust 30 to 40 thrust units and the next sizes up, 45-55 is relatively small.

One of these groups of motors will allow you cruise allot faster around the lake when moving, gives you enough thrust in windy or choppy conditions and it still able to crawl around at the slowest possible speed.

I see zero point to purchasing a motor which cannot provide you all of those advantages.

Go to the next size up (45 to 55).

[Coreyh]

Thanks for all the replies.
I have always been the type to "go a little bigger" and I think the same will hold true for a motor.
It sounds like a full size battery is the way to go as well. I was really hoping to get away with a small battery. My goal is to keep everything small and light so I can keep everything (except the motor) in a milk crate and strap it onto my quad so I can get into a few "Mystery Lakes".

If I was to ignore all the advice and go with a small battery with say a 55# motor, what kind of battery life could I expect in between charges?

Thanks again, everyone.