Going electric

I have a 15' Alumacraft jon boat with a B&S 5hp motor that I have used for the last 6 yrs. The motor has frustrated me lately by not starting so I have given up on it and decided to go with a trolling motor. I normally fish a small lake, Lee Creek Res. and occasionally Lake Fort Smith and Dardenelle at Shoal Bay. Speed is NOT an issue with me, I just want to be on the water. I have decided to go with a Minn Kota 40# thrust, 36" shaft trolling motor. I have a group 24 deep cycle battery to use to power the motor. Since I have not had a trolling motor on the boat I am unfamiliar with how much power will be consumed from the battery, i.e. how long can I stay on the water before I need to charge the battery. I assume that would depend on which speed and for how long at a particular speed. Again, I am not concerned with speed, I am trying to learn to troll so I expect that I would be at the slowest speed. I am thinking that I would place the battery behind or in front of the center bench thinking that would disdribute the weight more evenly.

Also, what charger would you recommend? I have a very old 10 amp one that still works but wonder if I need to get a new one.

Thanks guys.

The 40lb should push the boat just fine. I'm not sure how long the group 24 battery will last. The charger will be fine, but I take it that you are a casual fishermen and if I didn't run the boat that often I would put one of those 2 amp trickle chargers from Walmart on the battery and just leave it on charge. Be sure and check the water from time to time. This will help the battery to last longer. I ran a group 27 on a heavily loaded 1542 with a 55lb thrust and could crank bait all day at around 1.7 without the battery going dead. I used a cheap, sealed, marine trickle charger that came from Walmart and plugged it in immediately when I got off the water.

Good luck with this. Hope you catch lots of fish and welcome to crappie.com.

Welcome to CC and :hesaid:hesaid:hesaid:hesaid:hesaid:hesaid:hesaid: hesaid:hesaid:hesaid:hesaid

Get you a 27 deep cycle battery. If the motor you get is just a straight 5 speed it is going to draw more amps than one with the built in maximizer. Your charger will be just fine.

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Originally Posted by chiknlips

I have a 15' Alumacraft jon boat with a B&S 5hp motor that I have used for the last 6 yrs. The motor has frustrated me lately by not starting so I have given up on it and decided to go with a trolling motor. I normally fish a small lake, Lee Creek Res. and occasionally Lake Fort Smith and Dardenelle at Shoal Bay. Speed is NOT an issue with me, I just want to be on the water. I have decided to go with a Minn Kota 40# thrust, 36" shaft trolling motor. I have a group 24 deep cycle battery to use to power the motor. Since I have not had a trolling motor on the boat I am unfamiliar with how much power will be consumed from the battery, i.e. how long can I stay on the water before I need to charge the battery. I assume that would depend on which speed and for how long at a particular speed. Again, I am not concerned with speed, I am trying to learn to troll so I expect that I would be at the slowest speed. I am thinking that I would place the battery behind or in front of the center bench thinking that would disdribute the weight more evenly.

Also, what charger would you recommend? I have a very old 10 amp one that still works but wonder if I need to get a new one.

Thanks guys.

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Welcome to the forum from Nashville!! If I may ask, what have you done to try to fix the starting problem with the 5hp motor? Do you still have it?? Maybe we could help you out with that and you could have it and the trolling motor.

:welcome

If you are going solely electric you might want to invest in a new "smart" charger. B&D makes one for around $35 in 10 amp. What it does is monitor the battery and tapers off the charge as it come up to full charge and then cuts off. It will monitor the charge and if the battery sits for a long time and loses some of it's charge it will cut on and bring it back up.
You can do this with your current one and the 2 amp trickle but you have to monitor the "old" charger to prevent it from overcharging and boiling the water out of the battery. For peace of mind and hands free charging I would suggest getting the new smart charger.
With a good deep cycle battery you can probably run several hours (6 to8) with no problems. Depends on how fast you are going, but at slow speed it will run a long time.

These crappie.com guys are good.

Welcome from Cleveland county home of meatgetter jigs and minner critters!!!!!!! !

If you only use a tm you will need a rudder of some kind to keep your boat straight !!!!!!! !

Those 40 to 50LB range TM's are powerful when put on smaller boats, plenty enough usually. Next, when it comes to a battery I recommend a big truck battery and you will rarely have to charge it....I'm running one on my bass boat now and it never goes dead. Welcome from the SW AR/SE OK area.