chosing the right trolling motor

skipper123 · Jul 26, 2016

Trying to figure out which trolling motor to put on a new 1648 MVX jon boat would like to stay with one batt for motor but not sure about river current and if a 55 is strong enough for the alu boat ? Most of my fishing is in the savanna river south of augusta ga and the current is pretty strong. Had a 55 on a 15ft bug buster and it would pull up river. Had one on a 16ft glass deck boat and it would not. HUMM

BigTerp · Jul 26, 2016

Will depend on the weight of your hull. I have a Tracker 1648MV with an older MotorGuide 12/24V. At 24V it puts out 41#'s of thrust. Works well for me fishing the local river. Can it up current good enough and hold in any current I've encountered so far, although a 55#, or bigger, would be a nice upgrade. Not enough of an issue for me to invest in a bigger one though. My hull is very light though. Probably only .080 gauge, if even that. I ran it on 12V for the past 2 years. Finally rewired it this spring to get 24V and the full 41#'s of thrust. BIG difference, obviously.

With all of that said, I would get the biggest you are willing to pay for and/or have the batteries to power. You can always run it on a lower setting but would have the extra power when you need it. I'm running mine on full blast to get up current most of the time. Running it on a lower setting will save battery juice and probably be less hard on the motor in the long term.

skipper123 · Sep 28, 2016

Trolling motor update, installed the 80lb thrust 24volt Terrova with foot pedal and i pilot for trolling for crappie. 1648 MVX Grizzly boat. It will push against any current and will drop down to a purr one speed one, cant even hear it just like the four stroke Tohatsu. Sneaks right up on the fish. Hooked it to two size 24 marine batteries and have not killed it fishing for three days in the lake. River will be a different story. Deploys very easy unlike the last power drive v2 i pilot motor I had with out the pedal had to fight that one to get it in and out of the water.

RiverBottomOutdoors · Sep 28, 2016

I have an 80# Maxxus on my 1656. I wouldn't go with anything less that 75# myself for fishing in current.

handyandy · Jan 3, 2017

I'm now in the market for new motor I would not suggest motorguide at all that is what I'm replacing. When I first got it I only got a motor guide cause I got a smoking deal on it new. My motor is a 45lb thrust wirelsess controlled 12v motorguide with the composite shaft. Was good for the first 8 months then one day while using it the motor head fell off the shaft and only the wires held it on. Took it to the nearest place that could do warranty work which for me is a place in charlestown IN just outside louisville called a2o they were great. They fixed it under warranty all has been fine except the original foot controller kind of sucked so I got a little hand controller and would use which ever suited the situation better which was nice but seemed like one would always not want to cooperate. Until just recently this is around 3 years after the motor head and shaft were replaced under warranty I notice the motor head was kind of out of place. Took to a2o again to see what it would cost to repair. Well they just called me back the head managed to work loose a little and had water intrusion and the threads on the shaft that the motor head threads on to had gotten a little messed up. The water caused the mother board in the head to get messed up part alone is 200 shaft is another 60 or so. Needless to say I'm not putting that kind of money in it when that would cover a good chunk of a new motor. My boat for reference is a 1554 excel a fairly heavy hull for the size being a 1/8" thick hull. I really had no complaints as far as the motorguides power went I smallmouth fish rivers mostly like west and east fork white river which have areas with good current. The motor wouldn't go up stream real fast but it could pull up stream slowly usually unless the current was real strong. It could hold me in most places I ever needed it too. A little more power would have been nice, but honestly I think my next motor will still be a 12v 45-55lb thrust again as it seemed adequate for most my situations. I'm not going motorguide again. So I'm torn between the minnkota edge 55

https://www.cabelas.com/product/boating/electric-trolling-motors/bow-mount%7C/pc/104794380/c/104716980/sc/104233680/minn-kota-reg-55-edge-bow-mount-trolling-motor/1298564.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Fbow-mount%2Fminn-kota%2F_%2FN-1100545%2B1000004026%2FNe-1000004026%2FNs-MIN_SALE_PRICE%3FWTz_st%3DGuidedNav%26WTz_stype%3DGNP%26recordsPerPage%3D80%26WTz_srn%3DSeeAllItems

or the maxxum 55

https://www.basspro.com/Minn-Kota-Maxxum-Bow-Mount-Trolling-Motor/product/58798/

unless I find a deal on something used I'm leaning towards the maxxum as hitting logs, rocks, gravel, sand, and dirt are all common things my motor had a tendency to come in contact with. I might go for the 24v maxxum 65, but I really don't feel like wiring another battery. The 12v did job sure they're times when more would have been nice but for the most I go up stream drift down using the trolling motor to go up a little or hold spots to fish while I worked my way down stream. On lakes so no current it was always plenty.

richg99 · Jan 3, 2017

"Took to a2o again to see what it would cost to repair. Well they just called me back the head managed to work loose a little and had water intrusion and the threads on the shaft that the motor head threads on to had gotten a little messed up."

Unless you've been whacking rocks or running the motor into the bottom a lot..I'd guess that the "fixer" didn't seal the fitting properly when they replaced the head.

It's been a long time and I'm sure you no longer have any warranty. Sorry for your loss.

richg99

handyandy · Jan 9, 2017

no warranty on it anymore. It was fixed under warranty once when the head came off while using it in the first year I had it May or June 2013. Hadn't had any problems with it since till now. It was last month that I noticed the motor seemed to be clocked wrong on the shaft somehow it managed to loosen up a little causing the water intrusion. Minn kota motors seem to just work better and be more reliable so I'm going minn kota this time. Seemed the remote for the motor guide didn't always wanna work unless I fiddled around with it a bunch. If had paid full price for the motor initially I would be mad. But I only paid 260 or so for it new at the end of 2012. I've been impressed with the minn kota motors other people I know have much more than I ever was with my motor guide. I've sourced a used pretty mint powerdrive v2 with autopilot that seems like a good deal I'm going to check out tonight.

Mjmj · Jan 10, 2017

If you are still deciding between the edge and the maxxum, I would Lean towards the maxxum. The maxxum is a variable speed, where as the edge is a 5 speed. My buddy has the edge and is always wishing he had a variable speed motor

handyandy · Jan 13, 2017

I ended up getting a used powerdrive v2 with autopilot for a pretty good deal. If I had gone cable controlled it would have been the maxxum. But I got a pretty good deal on the powerdrive that is like new with built in transducer and auto pilot.