Least I can expect to pay for a trolling motor?

[BoroBass]

I am looking into getting a small trolling motor for some of places I go that have nothing to use but jon-boats (dont have a real bass boat yet). I don't wanna buy a piece of crap, but on the other hand I dont need the best there is. Feel free to post any suggestions.

[HPBB]

$100 for a 30# tramsom mout 12 volt TM , $70 for a Wallmart Everstar 29MAXX battery, & $30 for a B&D 6 amp automatic Battery charger(also at Wallmart).so around $200 would get you going good. If you can aford a little more I would suggest buying the largest TM you can afford. Its not that you have to use all the power all the time, but when you need that extra power it is nice to have

$225-$250 can get you a nice 50#-55# Transom mout 12 volt TM

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

depends on lake size, like mentioned above, you don't want to get caught in the middle of a 3000 acre lake w/ a 30lb motor and lots of wind.

[moloch16]

Look around for a used one, you can save a lot of money that way (does your town have a craigslist?).  Buy the battery new, that's the most important part don't want to skimp there  

[burleytog]

Buy as much thrust as you can afford.

There is an immense difference between a 30 lb. thrust and a 55 lb. thrust.

Heck, even if you can't afford it, go with the 55.

[dickenscpa]

I've got an old 34 yr old boat, it's a FB tri-hull. It's only 14' but definitely on the heavy side. It came with a bow mounted foot control Motor Guide. It's only 25#, but it's 5 speed and 3 on up gets me moving pretty good. On 5 you can almost feel a breeze.

It really does me good by myself. I weigh 235#'s.

Wife, son and me = 235+120+48 or 403#'s plus boat.

Brother and me = 235+240 or 475#'s plus boat.

I'll be upgrading soon simply because the TM is getting old and when I do, I will obviously get the biggest one I can finacially support. Last Saturday me, wife and son went out for about 4 hours, came home and dropped the boat off at about 1PM to run an errand with my brother, didn't even hook up to my $17 Wal-Mart tender and he and I were on the water at about 6:30pm 'til 8:45pm and I had plenty of juice left.