Trolling Motors

[crappiefarmer]

Looking to buy a new trolling motor. I would like as many opinions as possible on what you guys think is the best trolling motor. I fish brushpiles, troll and spider rig so I need a motor that will handle all these situations. I am leaning towards a Minn Kota power drive with autopilot. Thanks. CF

[skiptomylu]

Minn Kota for sure, but I am not a big fan of the electronic steering. I like the response better in a non electronic like the All Terrain.

[Shellback]

I don't think you can go wrong with the Powerdrive or AP, I've had both and have been very satisfied. Consider the Co-pilot with either motor as the little remote does away with the pedal and cord, less clutter in the boat.

[Shellback]

There's no doubt the foot cable control has a much better response for control over the Powerdrive style, but I like to be able to turn it on and let it go. With the Co-pilot feature, I can roam about the boat and take care of other things rather than sit with the motor.

[Big Zig]

The Co-Pilot is a straight target drive, correct? Meaning that you point it in the direction you want to go, at a certain speed, and away it goes?

A few years ago, I saw someone making an automatic pilot motor that followed a contour line - meaning it would follow say a 12 foot breakline. I've searched for that electric motor ever since and can't find who made it - I thought it was Motorguide. Or does the Minnkota Co-Pilot do this?

[Don G]

The Co-Pilot is a straight target drive, correct? Meaning that you point it in the direction you want to go, at a certain speed, and away it goes?

A few years ago, I saw someone making an automatic pilot motor that followed a contour line - meaning it would follow say a 12 foot breakline. I've searched for that electric motor ever since and can't find who made it - I thought it was Motorguide. Or does the Minnkota Co-Pilot do this?

MinKota AP is a line of sight compass reading. It has to be mounted at almost dead level or it will not operate properly. I would stay away from the countour line motors. Motor Guide bought them out and then Mercury bought MG. I don't think you can beat the MK AP but I'm like Shellback in not liking the electric turning around docks and brushpiles. Too slow. They can't be beat for trolling.....I have owned 3 MK AP and never had any problems. I just bought the new Hand control with 3X steering but have not been able to test it out. Maybe this week...

[Shellback]

The co-pilot feature is something that's available on the Powerdrive and Autopilot motors. It is a remote control feature that does away with the foot pedal and the cord normally used for steering and speed control. It allows you to control the motor from anywhere in the boat with no wires attached. Someday when I get brave enough, I'm going to send my boat away from the dock without me in it, and then make a u-turn and bring it back. I'm thinking I better have a friend with a boat standing by! LOL!

[skiptomylu]

A few years ago, I saw someone making an automatic pilot motor that followed a contour line - meaning it would follow say a 12 foot breakline. I've searched for that electric motor ever since and can't find who made it - I thought it was Motorguide. Or does the Minnkota Co-Pilot do this?

Pinpoint is the troll motor you are thinking of and I think Motorguide bought them out and now sell the Pinpoint. It's not a low cost item, but is amazing. Will not only follow a contour, it will keep you in one post if you choose. It uses sonar and now even GPS.

[ray]

Looking to buy a new trolling motor. I would like as many opinions as possible on what you guys think is the best trolling motor. I fish brushpiles, troll and spider rig so I need a motor that will handle all these situations. I am leaning towards a Minn Kota power drive with autopilot. Thanks. CF

I bought a new all terrain MC this spring and like it very much, never have tried the auto version, (my 2 cents worth) enjoy very much reading all the posts in here.

[Moose1am]

I purchased a new Minn-kota this year for my Fishermarine Water Strider III bass boat. I spent all day going to the Electronic Stores in this area getting supplies to rewire my boats trolling motor stand for more amps. The manual says that it requires a 35 amp or 40 amp circuit breaker. In the manual's troubleshooting section it says:

Warning
Before connecting battery make sure that the mom/con switch is in the off position.
Use 6 guage wire to extend the power lead. Six Guage Wire?????????????? But that is what the manual says on page 13. That is some huge wire. The unit itself seems to have 10 guage wire from the foot pedal to the power plug. My boat uses 10 guage wire which runs from the back of the boat where the batteries are located to the front trolling motor's stand.

I was having problems with my old trolling motor's power plug on my boat. It basically appeared to be getting too hot and the plastic or rubber was melting. It was not designed for 35 amps. This is a 1978 boat that I bought new. This is the Male plug that is on my boats trolling motor mount console.

I replace the plug that came with my boat when it was new with one that I got from Walmart that is made by Minn-Kota. That same kit included a new Minn-kota male plug for the trolling motor's foot pedal's wires. So, I thought I had this problem fixed. But then I started blowing 30 amp fuse the last two times I went out fishing. I fish a trolling motor only lake and really put my new trolling motor to the test by running on the high settings a lot when going to my fishing hole. I fish a 175 acre lake so I have a long ways to go. Evidently the wiring was getting too hot and the fuse holder could not take the heat. It was only designed to hold a 15 amp fuse. So today I went out and purchased a 35 amp circuit breaker and mounted that on my boats trolling motor stand's console where the old fuse holder was mounted.

This new setup has worked fine so far in my dry land testing. I still have to test this new circuit breaker out on the lake.

I did some other rewiring on my boat's trolling motor mount console. I went to a car stereo place and purchased some multi wire connectors that allows me to run one big 10 gauge wire into the unit and then run up to 5 other 10 gauge wires out of the unit. It works with up to 8 gauge wire so this should carry 35amps of current to my trolling motor easily. These units are insulated and made out of metal housing with big screws that screw down on the wires. It required a metric allen wrench to tighten up the screws that holds the 10 guage wires in these holes in the unit. The entire unit is covered with about 2mm of hard plastic insulation. It's a heavy duty wiring connection and I got to of them. Each cost 19 bucks. I also had to get some spools of 10 guage wire. I got one spool of black and one of red. I used about 3 ft of each in my project today.


Bottom line is if you get a bigger trolling motor and put it on an older boat you may want to check your wiring to make sure that it can carry the new power.

The new trolling motors are a lot more powerful these days that those that were sold 25 years ago.

Now I like the new more powerful unit in some ways, but I don't like the way they designed my unit's foot pedal. I can't turn stuff on and off with my feet like I could on my 25 year old Motor Guide Hawg's foot pedal. I have to bend over and use my hands to turn the switch on or off. That switch is recessed into the side of the foot pedal and it's hard to turn on and off with my foot. My big feet won't get inside that recessed area to turn the switch on or off. It's a three way rocker switch that is off in the middle position and on con in one position and on intermittantly when in the other position. That I hate as before I had a toggle switch on my Motor guide Hawg's foot pedal that I could easily turn on or off with my foot as that was a metal switch that stuck out from the side of the foot pedal. Minn-Kota needs to rethink their switch design IMHO and get rid of the continuous on option.

My variable speed control on the Hawg was easier to turn up or down and it had a ten turn variable potentiometer where as the Minn-kota only has 5 setting and they seem to be clicking into position. So you can set it to 1 but not 1.5. But it works ok. It's slow enough to troll with on the number 1 foot petal setting and it's fast enough for my boat (2.6mph) when used on the 5 setting. Five is the highest setting that this model has.

Also when I added a trolling motor transducer to the bottom of my trollling motor I had to use wire clips to keep the transducers wires from getting cut when I pull the trolling motor back up and stored it in the lay down position. I finally got that fixed.

Another thing is that sometime the velcro straps that are used to tie downthe unit in the stored position can get caught when I pull the motor out of the water and store it. So be careful to keep the strap out of the way when you undo the strap and get ready to use the motor. If the strap gets caught when you pull the motor up it's hard to get the trolling motor back up to get the strap out. It makes the rope that unlocks the motor in the fixed down position hard to pull to unlock the unit.

Bottom line is that I like the extra power of this new unit as it moves my boat better than my old unit did, but I don't like the design of the new foot pedal on this particular unit. All Terrain 50AT.

Note the more expensive units may have nicer foot pedals. So look at them and see how they are designed before you make up your mind.

My old Hawgs foot pedal was made out of metal and these new Minn-kota foot pedals are made out of plastic. I will take metal anyday over plastic. But it seems that everything is made out of plastic these days.

Look over the foot pedal good before you buy any new trolling motor that uses a foot pedal. Make sure that you can operate the foot pedal fast and easily with your feet and that you don't have to reach down to turn things on or off.

My unit will destroy itself if it's stored on the deck and the motor is turned on. The Prop does not have room to turn as it will hit the deck in the stored position and that would ruin the motor if the power continuous on switch was turned on by accident. I don't want to ruin a new 400 buck trolling motor by turning the switch on by accident. That would burn up the motor if left on very long. Only a few seconds could ruin the motor. My old unit was smaller and it never would turn on unless I pushed down on a foot pressure switch on the old foot pedal. This new Minn-Kota unit has that danger as it has a "Continuous ON" Setting that make the motor turn on if that switch (recessed into the side of the foot pedal) is turned on while the unit is in the stored on deck position. So make sure that your prop will spin free and not hit anything when the unit is in the stored position.

Did I mention that I hate plastic? LOL

I need a new boat ~~~~~~~~~~~~~`