Outboard?

[LargeMarge]

I have a 1448 Grizzly with a 55lb Maxxum up front. I can get 3.5-4 mph out of that.

 

Wondering if you had any recommendations for a cheap (ideally under $750) outboard. HP recommendation? I don't need much because the speed limit on all the lakes I fish is 5 mph, and I don't live near a lake where I would be able to go over that limit.

 

Do you think it's even worth adding the expense of an outboard for an extra 1-1.5 mph gain?

 

The lakes I fish are usually 175 acres or less, with the largest around 250 acres. 

[Way2slow]

If a battery will last you all day and you don't mind the few extra minutes of travel time, then I wouldn't see the need of an outboard.  Many of the smaller water shed ponds/lakes don't allow outboards, no matter the size of the motor.

The biggest thing is, at that 3.5-4mph, that's probably full thrust and the TM battery isn't going to last very long at full thrust.

I have a little 96 model 4hp Mercury I've used on my 12ft jon a few times in the mouth of smaller rivers that works great and would probably easily push your boat 5mph.  It will dang near plane that 12ft with two people in it  So, for a motor, I would look for something along the lines of a 4-6 hp in one of the major name brands.  You can probably find a good, not to old, used one in that price range, and they are fairly light, I think my 4 only weighs about 45 pounds.  

Personally, I would stay away from these imported, Korean/Chinese etc. motors you see for a couple hundred dollars.  Stick with a Japanese or American made, but most of the smaller motors made in the past several years, even with an American Brand name are going to be made in Japan. and even some of those are coming out of China, but I would avoid anything not from Japan or US.

[Catt]

Have you thought about stepping up to a 24 volt TM.

[kjfishman]

Cheapest solution might be 2 12 volt batteries in parallel with your current trolling motor. Extending your battery life on the water.

 

[LargeMarge]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

Have you thought about stepping up to a 24 volt TM.

Interestingly enough, I saw in another search that Way2slow said this 11 years ago:

2 hours ago, Way2slow said:

24 volts is only going to be a little more efficient, will do nothing for speed.

Going to a higher thrust will add some speed, how much will only be known once you try it.

Two blade props give the most speed but don't do well in weeds and moss.

Three blade props give less speed but do better in weeds

Four blade props are the slowest but work the best in weeds.

If you want speed, get a larger thrust, at least 60 lb (or more) and a long bladed, two blade prop.

According to my gps, my MK 87# moves my 20' boat at 6 mph (max on a good day), but that does not mean it will move a lighter boat any faster.

If you don't need a longer shaft, don't get it. When you start moving it up for shallow water, the head can get in the way.

From other research I've done, it sounds more like my hull speed may be my limiting factor. A longer boat can go faster when not planing. My boat is only 14', so I have a more limited hull speed, so it seems to take more and more power (bigger trolling motor or outboard) to get to the max speed of the boat (before planing). Might be overkill from a cost/speed ratio. I thought the 55lb Maxxum was overkill when I got it!

 

55 minutes ago, kjfishman said:

Cheapest solution might be 2 12 volt batteries in parallel with your current trolling motor. Extending your battery life on the water.

 

So far I have not had any battery issues with my current setup, but haven't fished a "full" day yet. Been out for about 6 hours with a respectable amount of charge left. According to the marketing materials for the Maxxum and a few forum posts, it can get a lot of use out of a 12 volt battery. I have a group 27 that seems to do pretty well, but if this ever dies I might go up in size. 

2 hours ago, Way2slow said:

Personally, I would stay away from these imported, Korean/Chinese etc. motors you see for a couple hundred dollars. 

Not going to lie, the cheap outboards are what caught my eye and got me thinking about this...

[OnthePotomac]

Is you TM a digital product?  I went with a 55lb digital, variable speed (1-10 setting) 12V MG on my 17'6" G3 tin and it is really energy efficient, I do not run around all day with it on 10, only to change locations of 100 to 200 yards.  I never run out of juice for a 5-6 hour day on the river.  The battery is a Deka 27, 575 CCA,705 MCA@32degrees, 20 amp AVE 200minutes.

[crypt]

6 hours ago, Catt said:

Have you thought about stepping up to a 24 volt TM.

this is what I was thinking.....

[Way2slow]

Several people have eluded to going to 24V if you are not already running it.

Let me give you TM 101. 

A 24 volt motor is 25% more efficient than a 12 volt motor, simple because the higher the voltage the less the current draw for the same amount of power, which equates to less heat and heat equates to wasted energy. 

This also increases the efficiency of the battery.  Same thing applies, the less current the battery has to provide, the more efficient it is.

First a quick lesson on batteries.

The amp hour capacity of most batteries is based on the 20 hour rating.  Some true deep cycles will have a five hour rating also, which is much more realistic to how you normally use your TM, however, if it has a cranking amp capacity listed on it, it's not a true deep cycle.  The 20 hour rating means it will run something like a 5 watt light bulb for 20 hours, which is probably about a 1/2 amp, before it is at it's fully discharged level. Now, as the power consumption is increased, the amp hour capacity decreases.  That's why if you do the math and your battery is a 120 amp hour and your TM draws 40 amps on max, you think you can run for 3 hours on max before your battery is fully discharged, WRONG!  When you start drawing 40 amps off the 120 amp hour battery, it becomes closer to a 65 amp hour battery, so your 3 hour run time just got reduced to about half that, and it's going to be getting slower and slower the whole time until it's to the point you can paddle faster.  Then you throw in the fact you should never discharge a battery below 20-25% because it damages the battery and greatly shortens the life of it, then your run time is closer to just over 1 hour of running on max.

A batteries life is based on cycle count.  Each time it's discharged and charged is one cycle.  The deeper it's discharged, the lower the number of cycles.  If you recharge a battery when it's to 75%, it may give you 500 cycles.  Discharge the battery to 50% and it may give you 300 cycles.  Discharge a battery to 20% and it may give you 125 cycles.  These are all just examples, not facts.  The type battery has a huge amount of what their cycle count will be.  The Wally World big yellow thing may be 300 and a name brand AGM may be 700.  Cheap batteries are cheap for a reason, premium batteries cost a lot more for a reason.

Wow, got long winded there.

OK, Back the 12 vs 24V.  As explained, 24V is more efficient.

Now, digital vs the set number of speeds like 1-5.  On max, if the TM are rated for the same thrust, both are going to draw the same current and give the same run time.  However, as you start running lower setting, the digital is going to become more efficient.  So if you are running at 50% thrust, the digital is going to run about 50% longer.  If you are just easing along at a slow casting speed, the digital is going to run as much as 75-80% longer.  The reason being, the digital is running a pulsed current and is actually turned off about 75-80% of the time where it's not drawing any current.  The standard old set speed motor is running and drawing current 100% of the time.

So, back to the less the current draw, the longer the run time.

 

For got to mention one key point on battery ratings, look at the Reserve Minutes Capacity.  That is how many minutes the battery will run with a 25 amp draw.  I say 25, beware and look at the fine print, some batteries will use a 20 amp draw and have seen a few sneak in there with a 15 amp draw just to make their number look better.   The reserve minutes will give you a much more realistic number to calculate from than that 20hr  amp hour rating.

 

 

[GreenPig]

Honda makes a 2.3 hp that weighs 29.5 lbs that can be found used under $750. That's less than 1/2 of what one of my group 31's weigh.

[Shimano_1]

A 24 volt higher thrust trolling motor will absolutely push your boat faster. Maybe not twice as fast but fast enough that you likely wouldn't need the outboard.  If I fished the lakes u suggested and they had speed limits I wouldn't want the expense or hassle of the outboard.  Of course they can come in handy if you like to do a lotta moving around etc. The budget you gave should be plenty to find a small 5 to 9.9 hp motor. It's all gonna be personal preference.  If you think itll be worth it knowing how u fish then go for it!  Good luck 

[haggard]

1448 Grizzly, great boat, I had the same and loved it. I ran a 55# TM on it (digital power management) with a single 12 V battery and it did just great. But then I also had a 15hp 2-stroke on the back to get from spot to spot.

 

Going with a 24 V system likely means getting a new TM. If you want a little more power to get from spot to spot, I think money's better spent on a small gas powered outboard, nothing more than 9.9 hp. My Grizzly moved at the speed of slug; even with a 15hp 2-stroke I couldn't get more than 8 mph out of it. But your lake is a 10th of the area mine is, so a small outboard could be good in your case. It will also serve as a backup when your TM battery runs out. Maybe a Honda or Evinrude carb model with built-in tank to keep things really simple.

 

 

[Elkins45]

Find something used on Craigslist. It might end up being cheaper to buy a boat and motor then sell the boat.

 

I have a 2HP Johnson that my grandfather bought when he got too frail to life a larger motor. It wouldn’t plane my old 14’ rough bottomed Jon but it moved it faster than my trolling motor at max power. My 9.9 will definitely get my 1648 up on plane even with two people.

[bagofdonuts]

The old reliable 9.9 hp should do nicely. You should be able to find a good used one for under $750.