Agree with you on SpotLock. I also bought mine in 2018. I rate that higher than my fish finders as a must have for fishing brush piles.

From time to time I have the same problem with spot lock. They replaced the board last year but that did not help any.

My trolling motor batteries are one year old large h8 batteries. The spot lock problems occurs erratically throughout the day so I don't think it is the batteries as the batteries always show 13 + when I start the day. Plus the problem doesn't occur every day, just once in a while.

I don't understand what the location of the foot pedal would have to do with it since the signal comes from the puck. I have a pontoon so I moved my puck to the top rail next to the gate so it would get a better signal.

I prefer the remote over the foot pedal so I generally have the foot pedal set next to the metal panels at the front of the boat to get it out of the way. I haven't paid any attention to where the foot pedal was sitting when I have this problem. I will try moving it into the open to see if it helps with this problem the next time this occurs.