trolling moter and fish finder?

[mrpike1973]

hi i'm thinking of getting a transom trolling motor and fish finder. i have a 14 alum boat with a 15 hp moter. i dont have a battery yet. is there any pluses to having a finder and trolling moter i dont know very much about them i basically dont have them because i think the boat would get to heavy any thoughts

[ozzie]

get a transom mount in the 55lb thrust range as it is a big as you can go with only using 1 battery....better to have extra push in windy days then not enough. for a graph it depends on what you like or want...best suggestion is to go to cabela's and look at all the different graphs and ask questions and figure out a price range and find something that you will like but they are a must IMO.

[delcecchi]

You can run a nice little inexpensive graph off a couple of lantern batteries or a sealed lead acid (or a motorcycle/lawn tractor) battery.

Why do you think you need a trolling motor on that boat? What will it do that the 15 can't? If it trolls too fast, backtroll or throw a 5 gallon bucket (tied to the boat) in the water.

[mrpike1973]

i thought if i want to troll in shallow water that the outboard would be to noisy. other than that every one else seems to have them.

[delcecchi]

I don't think noise is an issue, unless the motor bugs you. That's my opinion. I grew up fishing from a 14 foot boat with a little motor, and no trolling motor (hadn't been invented I don't think) and it didn't make much noise.

[mrpike1973]

i think i may skip the trolling moter and just get a good fish finder thanks for the help

[ozzie]

when I had my 15' boat I didn't have a transom mount and I wouldn't have wanted one but I did have a bow mount and I love using that but not many 15' boats can even have a bow mount.

[RoldGold]

Just a quick .02. I have a 16ft jon boat with a console, wood decking and a 35 hp motor. My bow mount trolling motor is either a 32 or 36 lb. Granted it is underpowered, it can still handle most situations with 2 people in the boat just fine. You've got minimal weight with a trolling motor that size, and a transom mount is going to be even lighter. You can run the trolling motor and fish finder off the same battery (battery is probably 50 pounds). For me, if $$ isn't a concern, no questions asked, I would get both. I think you would love the ease (and silence) of a trolling motor, not to mention the lack of gas fumes. And nothing beats a good fish finder. Good luck!

[Tom7227]

How much of a hurry are you in? I have a 14 foot rowboat with a 9.9 and a transom mounted 25 lb thrust troller. The motor doesn't have electric start so that solves that issue. I can't go to MilleLacs with it but I can fish medium size lakes most of the time. I got a deep cycle marine battery and run the trolling motor, lights and bilge pump with it. The depth finder uses a Vexilar style battery. The rig trails easy, loads and unloads easy, and gets me where I have to go. It would be nice to have a transom mount trolling motor but then you'd be moving over the boat seats and stuff and that can be a PITA. IMO you can get by with a much smaller and cheaper trolling motor than suggested.

[ozzie]

you can definatley get by with something less than 55 thrust...I just mentioned it as my theory is get the biggest one battery will take so if you upgrade boats you can possibly take the trolling motor with you and it never hurts to have as much power as possible....haha

[SpecialK]

I bought a 55lb thrust for my 14' boat based on my theory that the battery will run more hours as you are not maxed out speed wise with the bigger motor. I may be wrong on that but I think I have proven it to myself. I had a different 14'er and a 36lb that the same size battery would last about 3 - 4 hours. With the new setup I haven't killed the battery yet.

As for the finder, I would get the 798ci or comparable Lowrance unit. You get a lot of the cool features of the big units and you can easily remove the head unit so you don't have to worry about it walking off. Also you can get a softpack and a iceducer for it and use it year round.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I guess I would it depends on how you fish. If you are trolling all the time then get a finder. If you want to drift troll a shore line for bass then get both. You just need to think of them as tools to help you do what you want to do, to make your experience easier and better.