TM for 16' lund?

[Aspade17]

Hey everyone! 

I'm sure this question has been asked before, or to some extent but I'm having trouble finding a solid answer.

I'm looking to find the best foot controlled trolling motor for my 16' Lund adventure. Now this is the first boat I've ever personally owned and never had it on the water

A little info is most of the lakes I will be fishing are electric motor only, with the occasional  being a larger lake where gas motors are legal, so the trolling motor is going to be my main mode of power. With most of those being electric only, they are pretty calm, but I dont want to be underpowered on the 1-2 bigger lakes. 

I'm leaning towards a maxxum 70lb 52", but i am by no means set for sure. I put a picture of the boat with distance from top of bow to very bottom of boat for reference. 

 

Thanks everyone, Austin

 

[Further North]

7 minutes ago, Aspade17 said:

A little info is most of the lakes I will be fishing are electric motor only, with the occasional  being a larger lake where gas motors are legal, so the trolling motor is going to be my main mode of power.

With that info, my advice would be to go 24 volt, 80# thrust.

 

Whether you go electric steer or cable steer is a matter of preference and budget (I'd hang a Terrova, Ulterra or Ultrex on there in a heartbeat, but your budget might not support that).

 

With "electric only" in the equation, it wouldn't be hard to get me to go to 36 volt, but again, budget's gonna enter the picture.  You're looking at $2000, minimum for one of those motors unless you can find one used, than you'll need three batteries and a charger...an easy $500 more.

 

Cool boat, BTW, looks very much like my Dad's 1986 Lund Mr. Pike from what I can see.

 

Good luck and have fun.

[Vilas15]

I think a 52" shaft should be adequate. I wouldn't go any shorter. I would go minimum 24V setup which it looks like the Maxxum is, maybe even 36V if you plan on fishing them all day and they're of any size. Are you fishing only in relatively shallow water? Or would you benefit from a TerrovaUltrex with spot lock?

[Aspade17]

13 minutes ago, Vilas15 said:

I think a 52" shaft should be adequate. I wouldn't go any shorter. I would go minimum 24V setup which it looks like the Maxxum is, maybe even 36V if you plan on fishing them all day and they're of any size. Are you fishing only in relatively shallow water? Or would you benefit from a TerrovaUltrex with spot lock?

The electric lakes are all relatively small and shallow (less than 40 ft I'd say, the biggest being 450 acres).

My second option was the 80lb thrust fortrex, but I wanted opinions of people more experienced than myself, thus the reason for coming here first. 

I was almost worried to go 36v mainly due to weight, being it's a relatively small aluminum boat. I'd say it will mainly just be me with the occasional second person fishing with me.

[Further North]

14 hours ago, Aspade17 said:

I was almost worried to go 36v mainly due to weight, being it's a relatively small aluminum boat. I'd say it will mainly just be me with the occasional second person fishing with me.

To me it'd be more about cost efficiency. 

 

Some people won't believe I'm posing this, and I'll deny it later, but: 36 volt maybe overkill for your boat.

[Vilas15]

I think the 70 lb 24V would probably be fine for you. There's a chance you could run out of juice fishing the larger electric lake for a whole day if you're on the motor the whole time, you'd just need to be aware and check the power level occasionally. My 80 lb 24V does great with a 16.5' Lund (wider, heavier than yours) and it's only ever gotten low after a fully day, never fully run out of power yet.

[J Francho]

Have you sorted out how you'll mount a cable steer TM?  They have a fairly large footprint.

[Aspade17]

5 hours ago, J Francho said:

Have you sorted out how you'll mount a cable steer TM?  They have a fairly large footprint.

I actually made a front deck on my boat so I should have only slightly less than a traditional bass boat. Think along the lines of one of the Jon boat builds people do

[J Francho]

Gotcha, congrats on the boat, and enjoy!

[Krux5506]

a 24v 80# in my opinion will push that boat just fine. I have one on my 17' Lund Rebel which is significantly bigger, and for the past couple years it's served me well. Basically I got the biggest I could find in 24v Minn Kota because I couldn't stand my last Motor Guide. I would've considered a 36v but Don't have the room for those 3 batteries + cranking battery.