Trolling motor for 16' boat

I just want to get some rational educated recommendations on this...
I have a skinny 1636 jon-boat made back in the early 1970s. I have a 1970 9.8 Mercury on it, but have never owned a trolling motor.
I will be constructing a deck for the front 1/3 of this boat.
I want to get a trolling motor to mount on the front deck so I can access (smaller) local water areas that don't allow gas engines.
I want to know what motor would be good for this sized boat, and what mount and battery(ies) to get.
Frankly, watching all the you-tube reviews gives me a headache...too much chatter, and everything they review is "fantastic".
I'll be retiring soon, so fishing is going to become "important" to me again.
HELP!

There are three types of bow mount trolling motors.

1. Hand operated steering, same tiller controls as a transom mount but with the stow/deploy mechanism.
2. Electric steer (Powerdrive, Terrova, Ulterra). These use an electric steering motor, can either be ran with a pedal or remote, the pedal has a long cord and can be operated anywhere in the boat. These also have the capability of running Ipilot, the GPS based trolling system.
3. Cable steer (Edge, Fortrex, Maxxum, All Terrain), these use a pedal and a cable drive to steer the motor. Much more responsive than electric, good for maneuvering around marinas or areas with flooded timber. They can rotate almost 360* in a couple seconds, an electric steer is much slower. The Ultrex is the only motor that combines cable steering response and Ipilot capability. Additionally, the cables are fairly short and can only be used on the front deck.

Your style of fishing will dictate what is best for you. For trolling and sitting in one spot fishing vertically, an electric Ipilot model would work well, if you like to sneak around marinas and fish docks, or beat the bank, the cable steer might be preferable. Hand control motors will work just fine, they are certainly cheaper, but, as the name suggests, require a hand to operate.

A 40-55lb 12V with a 100ah battery should suit you fine. One battery is probably best for weight concerns, although the extra capacity of a second would be nice when the electric motor is your only source of propulsion.

MinnKota has a buyer's guide section on their web site that will give you their advice for thrust, etc. You might find that helpful since it is from the horse's mouth.

If you have a suitable surface to be able to install a regular bow-mount motor, something with 40-50 lbs of thrust will be plenty for that boat. Our boat weighs about 2,000 lbs and a 55lb thrust motor will move it at 6.5 mph no problem. In outboards a 2.5hp kicker makes about 50 lbs of thrust, so a 50lb trolling motor is about equal to that. A single Group 29 marine deep cycle battery, fully charged, will run it all day as long as the motor is not run wide open continuously. At wide open a typical 50lb thrust motor draws about 600 watts, or about 50 amps at 12V nominal. Obviously, if you run it wide open, at 50 amps your Group 29 battery is only going to last for an hour to 50% state of charge. However, at typically trolling speed of about 1.5 mph for walleyes, for instance, our motor only draws about 4.5 amps. That same battery will run it for 10 hours at 1.5 mph trolling speed on our 2,000lb boat.

There is all types these days; some are cable steer with a foot pedal, some are electric steer with a wired foot pedal, some have wireless remote control, some have GPS. The cable steer ones are usually the cheapest. The ones with GPS are usually the most expensive.

As far as mounts, they can be either direct bolted to the bow, or have a quick-release mount. For ones that are permanently wired in like ours is, a quick-release mount doesn't make much sense. Some people install like an Atwood trolling motor plug so it can be unplugged and removed with a quick-release mount. You have to decide if that's what you want.

All of them will require either a big inline fuse or a circuit breaker for overload protection. Our motor, for instance, has GPS, wireless control and it draws power all the time even when it's not being used. So our boat has a 60 amp circuit breaker under the front deck in the battery compartment to turn it off, and for circuit protection if it overloads. It is otherwise controlled by a handheld remote control.

It will require a fairly large flat surface to mount it that is flush with the gunwales. And you have to plan your mount so that when the motor is retracted it is out of the way and not taking up space on the front deck, nor hanging over the side of the boat.

I do think it will be a bow mount, and some kind of pedal control. I'll be installing a pedestal seat on a deck in the bow.
I can't afford any of the GPS type motors

60DRB said:

I do think it will be a bow mount, and some kind of pedal control. I'll be installing a pedestal seat on a deck in the bow.
I can't afford any of the GPS type motors

Click to expand...

I would try to get a Powerdrive or a Terrova, Ipilot can be added to those later if you want.

60DRB said:

I do think it will be a bow mount, and some kind of pedal control. I'll be installing a pedestal seat on a deck in the bow.
I can't afford any of the GPS type motors

Click to expand...

Over the years we've had cable steer Motorguide, electric steer PowerDrive (Minnkota) and our latest one, a GPS Haswing which has handheld wireless remote and uses Helmsman on your cell phone for GPS features. We also have wired foot controller for it for backup. Of the three, for foot control with pedal, the old Motorguide was my favorite. For me it was a lot more natural to just rock my foot front to back to steer it than the side to side, press and stop, mechanism they use on the PowerDrive and Haswing foot controls.

The disadvantage with the Motorguide cable steer was that my wife likes to fish on the front deck and I get the rear deck. She doesn't like to mess with the trolling motor and I couldn't steer the Motorguide from the rear deck. The PowerDrive v2 was an improvement in that aspect, but didn't like the foot controller, nor the wire strung from the front of the boat to the back. The one we have now is both wired and wireless remote. We leave the foot control on the front deck and my wife can use it if she wants. While I can also control it from the rear deck with the wireless.

The Motorguide x3 12V, 45lbs will be the in the price range you're looking at, and it is a very good trolling motor (based on my experience with it).

Edit:
Other options for you, the Haswing Cayman B with the standard wireless remote is about the same price as a Motorguide x3. If you want to add on the wired foot control, that's a $100 option. This is also a very good trolling motor, same thing as we have except without GPS. Haswing motors are designed by Haswing Outdoors in California, manufactured in China.

The Minn Kota PowerDrive v2 with the standard wired foot control is about $150 more than the MotorGuide x3. I think you can add on Minn Kota's copilot system with wireless remote for an additional $150. But beware of Minn Kota because they are one that changes specs as fast as you can change your socks. A 2017 model might not be compatible, some have Bluetooth, some don't. Some you can add on iPilot for about $500, some you can't. Research what are you are getting with a Minn Kota to make sure it's compatible with available upgrades. The Minn Kota line dominates the industry, they are owned by Johnson Outdoors, the components are manufactured in China, assembled in the U.S.

There is also Watersnake trolling motors that are in your price range. I don't know anything about these, but I think they are designed in Australia, manufactured by a Chinese company. They are reportedly every bit as good as the competition.

60DRB said:

I do think it will be a bow mount, and some kind of pedal control. I'll be installing a pedestal seat on a deck in the bow.
I can't afford any of the GPS type motors

Click to expand...

I have a powerdrive with iPilot. My bow cap or whatever you call it is not flat. I took time to mill a mount to fit the complex curve out of starboard. Now life is good. Mine uses the remote which is great for my style of fishing (trolling). From your description I would go with the pedal control for sure.

BTW, mine has iPilot capability but I don't have the interface with my older Hummingbird Helix**. But I can use the spot lock and lock in a heading. That alone is pretty significant and I don't think I could be without it now that I've been spoiled. Like already said, it is something you can always add later, but you may not need or want it for your style of fishing.

**I will be able to use the iPilot if I win the drawing I entered for a brand new Helix! I guess I probably shouldn't hold my breath. Haha.