Sell me on a new trolling motor.

[slick2526]

I like to fish out of the back of my boat and it is a tiller. 87 alumacraft competitor 16.5. I mainly fish walleye and occasionally bass and I need a trolling motor with more power. I am going to be doing some upgrades as far as re wiring the whole boat, new lights inside, new toggle panel, and rebuilding the cast deck so I can get two batteries up front instead of one.

Getting to my point I am looking for 24 volt bow or transom mount trolling motor no less then 80lb thrust. I was looking at the different type of tiller handle trolling motors and 80lb thrust. I plan on having this boat and the trolling motor for a long time and the first this i seen was the vantage series and I like all the features but of course its 1300 and some change.

I also have been looking at the terrova with I pilot like but I dont think I can throw that much cash into my boat this summer with the upgrades i want to do. I am running a 858hd di so I have been drooling over the i pilot link system but that is some serious coin up front.

I am leaning hard toward buying just a plain terrova and upgrading it with the i pilot link system down the road and just sticking with the 12 volt I have on the back for a trolling motor now.Whats your thoughts on what I should do? Will i be happy with just a bow mount and not a good transom mount trolling motor? I shouldnt have issues with the bow mount getting in the way of the type on fishing I do. At least not what i can see anyways.

Thanks for any opinions or suggestions

[BobT]

Whatever you decide to do, Slick, don't settle for "just enough" if you can possibly afford not to. If 40# of thrust is just enough go 55# if you can afford it. Get good battery(s) and if you can afford it go with an on-board charger. You'll be glad you did.

[candiru]

I have a 55# Minnkota 12 volt transom mount on a lighter 18ft tiller. I just don't see more thrust in a transom mount being usable in most fishing situations.

In high winds the wind does to the bow what it is going to do. More thrust may counter-act the wind, but that would just mean you are going to go faster than you want. I have used mine to slow my drift but not backtroll into waves. If my electric doesn't have enough power to backtroll against the waves, I shouldn't be backtrolling.

If I fished lakes more I would probably go with a bow mount. I do some lake fishing but, I mainly river fish with a lot of short drifts. The transom mount controls my drifts and allows me to do everything from one location.