17 1/2 Footer 45lb TM help

[Brent Christian]

i have a 17 1/2 Gemini, Same as a laser, and it only has a minn kota edge 45lb TM bust its only a year old. How will it do with this boat? Its only 12volt So what can i do to maybe get more battery life, thought about just putting another battery and some gator clips on the wire and just changing batteries when one runs out. Anyone else do this or have done it in the past??

[tbone1993]

How heavy is the boat? IMO 45lb seems light but it will probably work.  Wire the batteries in parallel to get longer runtime. 

[Way2slow]

Parallel a second battery if you need more run time

As long as you are not in real strong winds, it should do just fine.  Trying for fish points on a real windy day might get a little aggravating but other than that, I don't see any problems.    30 years ago, that was a big TM on a 17 foot boat.

[Nick B]

I have a 16 ft Deep V, I bought it with a 42lb TM. It worked fine as long as I wasn't fighting wind over 10-15 mph. Out west here the wind blows frequently and over 10-15 so I upgraded to a 55lb TM. Still a 12V system, has a bigger prop and holds well in winds over 15-20.

[ww2farmer]

It will move the boat..............but as far as being optimal, to use plain terms...............it will suck. I have a smaller lighter aluminum boat, it came with a 12v 45lb thrust, 5 speed motor..............8-10 hours of just normal fishing, and I could tell the battery was fading, add wind, or thick grass, and I was lucky to go 6 hours before it started to fade. I was running a group 27 size TM battery with this motor. I got rid of it after 4 years, and went with a 24v 70lb thrust motor. Night and day difference...............but that comes with a higher $$$. But I can fish all day, for 12+ hours a day, in wind, waves, weeds, and never worry about the TM. I have even forget to charge the batteries after a trip or two over they 6 years since I upgraded to the bigger motor, and have been able to fish a full 2nd day with out worry................and that's with 2 group 24 sized TM batteries. When I have to replace this motor, it will be with another 24v, variable speed, 70lb thrust just like I have now.

[no39]

+1 @ww2farmer

 I have a 14 foot aluminum boat and run a 70 lb TM.  Somedays, I still wish I had more power. There's nothing worse than feeling helpless because of wind/weeds/whatever.  The boat used to have a 12V 36 lb thrust and I was always fudging with weeds and had significantly less run time. My recommendation would be seeing if you can upgrade to a more powerful TM.  

[Bluebasser86]

I had a 16' aluminum with a 70lb Maxxum 24V and even with that it was tough fighting the wind sometimes. I couldn't replace that TM fast enough if I was you. 

[WIGuide]

You can wire 2 batteries in parallel to get more run time. Either way, you might as well just prepare for it to suck. Pretty much any wind or grass or combination and you'll be wishing you had more. I started out with a 42 lb thrust on my last boat which was just shy of 16'. It was very underwhelming to say the least. After a year I upgraded to a 24V 82 lb thrust on the same boat and was sooo much happier.

Back when your boat was new a 45 lb thrust was a big tm, but a 45 lb thrust was also a 24 volt motor. Since they've dropped down to 12 they don't seem to have the oomph they used to. I remember my dad had a 45 lb thrust 12/24 motor on a 17 footer and it did pretty well, but in all the years he had that, we never ran it in 12v mode because it just wasn't enough power unless it was absolutely zero wind and in open water.