bow mount question

[minneman]

I managed to find a deal on a aluminum 21' I/O and am wondering if it would be worth finding a bowmount troller for it, its got to be a longer shaft I know, but how much thrust would be a minimum, not that I want to skimp on thrust, I just dont want to under power it
on the other end I know a kicker would be the way to go but for the $ right now I'll wait for a bit. however you could recomend a kicker mount..??

[fishinphyl]

We have a 16' fiberglass which is very heavy. I purchased the 65# 54" Autopilot. It works really good except when there is a high wind there is not enough power to make much headway against it. So I would say think big!

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Phyl

[delmuts]

i have found the more power the better. even if you don't need it most of the time. i have a maxima 74# on my 18 ft ranger. this is a low profile boat, but my old 44# couldn't hold it in the wind . no problem with the wind now. a guy at work has a 21 ft bass boat, and just put a 105 on it. still your choice, but if you can , don't scrimp on the power. del

[Guest]

Minnkota make the Ritide, it comes in sizes up to 36v 101lbs of thrust and 62" shaft. This motor has enough thrust to power you out of "The perfect Storm". It's just a matter of how much do you want to spend, $709 for 101lb riptide. Then you have to have three batteries.

[Scoot]

I would think you'd get by with a 74 lb. thrust job with two batteries. Personally, I usually prefer running the bow mount over the kicker moter as it provides more boat control pulling the boat from the front rather than pushing from the back (when fighting wind).
There's a formula for how many lbs. thrust for each pound of boat, but I don't recall it off-hand- anybody?...
Like you said right off the bat- better too many lbs. thrust than not enough.
Good luck.
Scoot

[Valv]

Scoot, I agree on the formula, I have a 47lbs and it's approx 3hp, I assume a 74lbs will be approx 5.5hp. I wish I could find this formula, I could use it a lot.

[Guest]

16.5 lbs of thrust = approx 1 hp

Rob

[Guest]

Rob. with your formula, my Vantage 101 would be 6hp? Minn-kota says its 2.5hp?

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[Scoot]

You guys are talking about a different conversion/formula than I am. The formula I am referring to is converting the lbs. of you boat to needed lbs. of thrust you need for a trolling motor. X number of lbs. of thrust is needed for Y lbs. of boat.
If you call the place in West Fargo that deals with electric motors they go by the formula religiously- I can't remember their name.
Scoot