Trolling motor question

[Neighbor_guy]

I literally just pulled into the driveway with a '98 Crestliner Sportfish 1750. It needs a bow mount.

My only history with purchasing a bow mount is putting one on an old '76 Starcraft wide open aluminum.

I understand purchasing the most powerful trolling motor I can afford, but how do I go about properly sizing a trolling motor to a boat?

[BartmanMN]

I have a 2004 1850 Sportfish. I just measured for you. You want a 54 inch shaft.

I have a Minnkota Power Drive 65 thrust. Moves me around just fine, however I don't fish rivers and I am not out in high wind much.

[h8go4s]

Here's MinnKota's motor selection page. Wasn't that hard to find. You could probably find one for that other brand if you googled it.

http://www.minnkotamotors.com/selectamotor/

[Neighbor_guy]

Thanks guys. Nothing I hate more than buying trolling motors and batteries. I always feel like I am making the wrong choice. but Its all part of the game.

[delcecchi]

Having the motor be a little long doesn't hurt anything, in fact makes it easier to stow.

[aanderud]

I have a sportfish 1850. Don't underestimate the amount of wind that those things can catch, especially given that big full windshield. I went with the 80 lb 24 volt powerdrive with autopilot and 60 inch shaft. Works great, but I can't say that the 60 inch shaft is really necessary.

I'd probably find another way to spend the extra 80 bucks or so (difference between 54 and 60 incher), and get the 54 incher as was already recommended. I'd go with additional thrust, 70 lb minimum. Also, keep in mind what you're fishing for and how you do it before spending extra on the built-in universal sonar transducer. I had great vision of having a bow mounted graph, so i got the universal sonar. However, my fishing style never really made it necessary or even convenient to sit up front and watch a smaller graph than I have at my main console, so here we are 8 years later and I've never used the universal sonar Another 80 or 100 bucks I could have thrown into additional thrust. (they didn't have the 36 volt model out back then, however, so I was already maxxed out).