Thinking of going with an electric setup, some ???

[KKirk]

I've been mulling over the idea of getting a jon boat and have a few questions.

1. Will 2 50lb motors out-perform 1 80lb motor?

2. Battery life, I know that different motors go thru the different batterys at different lengths of time, but what would be the average range?

3. If I build a live well with pump and aerator, how much battery will that use?

4. For the bow mounted trolling motor, would the battery(s) be located up front?

5. If you could either go 48 wide or 54 wide on a 16' jon, which would you choose?

6. Charging the batteries, say you have 3 24V trolling motors, how do you go about charging all 6 batteries?

7. If you have 2 motors hanging off the back, is there anything special you have got to do to the motors.

8. When building up the platforms, is there any special padding to limit noise vibration?

9. Is there anything that I'm overlooking?

Thanks

[KKirk]

Anyone??   :'(

[KU_Bassmaster.]

Fisrt of all, Welcome to the forum.

1. This is a debate that has gone on here before. LBH has found info that a jon boat can only go so fast until it gets on plane. Until it gets on plane it just pushes water. Some of the members of GA though, swear by the multi-trolling motor set-up.

2. I just have a 12v 55 lbs thrust trolling motor and I fish a lake that is 200 acres (no wake lake) and I can fish from 6 am to 3 pm no problem. The tm is my only means of propulsion.

3. No sure

4. I would say it depends on your set up. Do what ever balances out the boat the best

5. If wider is an option ..... go with it. You will never be disappointed

6. I am not real sure, two 3 bank chargers :-/ I am sure some one else with more experience can chime in here

7. GA boys????

8. Putting in decks will already cut down on a lot of the noise. Mo_Tick is experimenting putting foam under his decks

9. About the livewell ...... One suggestion I would make is just use a big cooler with an aerator. That way it is removable and you can take it out when your not using it.

You might want to take a look at Triton_Mike's boat. It sounds like it is exactly what you want.

http://www.tritonmike.com/boat.html

[Mo_Tick]

1) im with KU on this one.

2) i have a 30lb thrust and can go all day, but i dont use it as main means of propulsion, Gas motor to get me there and then trolling motor.

3) put a timer on it to conserve the Battery, have it run 30 secs every 3 mins or so and you'll be good.

4) i put the batteries up towards the front on my project, and 2 connectors, one for the back and one up front. Make sure the wire for the longest run is big enough and has a breaker on the battery. at least 6g wire.

5) the wider the better, no doubt.

6) lots of chargers, i cant answer that properly.

7) ??

8) Depends on how far away the deck is from the bottom of the boat. i am adding Foam to mine for sound and floatation. the foam will make the boat quiter in choppy water as well (deffining hull slap)

9) Going fishing!! and worry about this stuff as it comes up.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

OK,...I emailed MinnKota today and asked this:

"Hi,

My name is Russ and I am a staff member at BassResource.com. I was wondering if you could clear somthing up for me. We have a post that has members arguing nonstop. It is the multiple trolling motor (t/m) question.

I read a fact sheet put out by Minn Kota explaining how to figure out the speed your boat can go without breaking plane. My jon boat came out to 4.6 mph which according to my gps, I am achieving with my endura 55.

The controversy is that there are a group of anglers in Georgia who fish an "electric motor only" lake. These guys have 3 and sometimes 4 electric motors on a 14 ft jon boat. According to your fact sheet, is this just a waste of money? THey are not getting up on plane with the 3 motors so are they just pushing more water?

I know it doesn't make business sense to say that they are wasting their money buying 3 of your motors instead of 1 bigger one but is there any science to what they are doing in Georgia?

Thanks, Russ"

This was their reply:

Minn Kota to me

More options 7:08 am (7 hours ago)

Using multiple motors on a boat does not appreciably increase your speed. However, it does increase the amount of weight your motors will be able to handle at a fishing speed. The pitch on our props is a very shallow 4 pitch, which makes for pushing weight, but sacrifices speed. None of our motors go any faster than 3-5 mph. Adding additional motors will not change that.

Dave H.

So, essentially, you can't go any faster, but you will be able to add more weight and still sustain max speed.

BUT

Max speed does not change.

[Flatfish]

Wider is better for stability, my boat is the Lowe 1652MT and in MHO it is a great boat to start with.

Battery placement, well I put mine in front of the center seat, that is almost center of the boat, 1 group 31 normally and it lasts approximately 12 hrs with a 40lb thrust TM running in #1 to #3 speed in a 5 speed unit. When I go to Canada it get's 2 of these  batteries and just havent had a problem.

Live Well,  the middle seat has a live well it it, got all the fittings for 3/4" hose from Cabelas and put a fill pump in the back of the boat and as low as it will go thru the transom. Sometimes if I am on the front deck the inlet will suck air, if I had it to do over it would go thru the bottom of the boat. I removed the drain fitting with the rubber plug and drilled it out and tapped it 3/4"NPT and put a stand pipe in there, so far I rely on my memory to keep it aerriated, a timer is in the future plans.

Went to Home Depot and got foam insulation sheets 4' X 8' either 1 1/2" or 2" can't remember and layed it between the cross braces and put the 1/4" plywood screwed to the braces, then built the floor across the seats. Picked up some hatches from Cabelas for storage lockers, worked out real nice and quiet, next thing was to try it out on the fish.