Trolling Motor Thrust For 14 Foot Fiberglass Boat??

[BassinNCstyle]

Hey All.

Thking of doing away with my outboard and switch to a 80lb thrust TM. Is this enough to get me around on a small lake or river. I plan on using 80lb thrust on back for traveling and one I got now for control in fron when fisghing. The outboard I got seems to be a pain. How fast with 8olb thrust travel in 14 ft jon boat(fiberglass)??

Thanks for input! anyone own a 80lber?

[Fishing Rhino]

An electric motor can also be a pain. You'll need another battery.

As to speed, it will be a lot slower than even a 5 hp gas engine. I doubt you'd get much over five mph, if even that.

I've got a 55 pound Minnkota on my canoe and I cannot fish a whole day on a single battery unless the pond is very small, and I know it pretty well. Then I don't have to do much searching to find where the fish hang out. Keep in mind, a canoe glides a lot easier than a jon boat, even moreso with a fiberglass boat.

Needing a second battery, you'll need to charge them both after each use. That will require another charger. Unless you are fishing electric only waters, I'd stick with the gas engine. It also depends on what yoou mean by the outboard being a pain. Are there mechanical problems, or is it just the handling of it?

[Way2slow]

I don't think you're going to be happy with the outcome. Speed with an 80# TM is not going to be anywhere near any kind of outboard. It simply is not going to have the rpm to make a lot of speed. Next is battery life. If you run at full thrust, the current draw is going to drain two batteries in about an hour. I have a 4hp Merc is use on my 17' Grumman canoe and even that motor will push it a hellava lot faster than any TM could ever hope to (it's actually scary if you run WOT), and will do that for hours, plus it doesn't weigh much more than a big TM.

[Fishing Rhino]

I don't think you're going to be happy with the outcome. Speed with an 80# TM is not going to be anywhere near any kind of outboard. It simply is not going to have the rpm to make a lot of speed. Next is battery life. If you run at full thrust, the current draw is going to drain two batteries in about an hour. I have a 4hp Merc is use on my 17' Grumman canoe and even that motor will push it a hellava lot faster than any TM could ever hope to (it's actually scary if you run WOT), and will do that for hours, plus it doesn't weigh much more than a big TM.

Not to mention the two batteries that will be needed for an 80 pound thrust motor. I could be wrong, but I believe that trolling motors with that much thrust are 24 volts. I know the 70 pound thrust on my Nitro is 24 volts.

Two batteries and one trolling motor compared to a 9.9 or less horspower = a no brainer. I'd stay with the outburst. Ooops, I meant outboard.

[Tony Monticelli]

for travel your not going to beat gas if you can use gas on the lakes you fish place i fish allot you cant.

i got 12' fiberglass kinda double hull/ v hull thing bath tub, a trolling motor its a trolling motor. not meant to get you anywhere fast..

but i got a old 1.5hp sears gass motor.. thing starts right up and even just a being a little 1.5 that boat moves, its fun. boat is so light though.. that little boat if i strapped a 15 or 20hp engine on that thing it would be scary could race fancy bass boats and probably win

[Hi Salenity]

If you already have 1 nice tm spend the cash on a outboard.

[Hi Salenity]

However I do have 2 trollers on my boat and some days I don't use my Outboard. the back tm is nice if the person in the back gets snaged he can just back up and deal with it and I can keep fishing.