Need help choosing a trolling motor

Hey guys,

Got real good advice here concerning our fish finder, so hopefully y'all can help out with a trolling motor as well.

long story short, we need one. getting sick of starting up the merc every time we want to move 10 ft-and drifting into shore for that matter. problem is, we dont know the first thing about them.

we dont really know what we need, anyone want to offer up up some models that would be good for our size boat? we have an 18.5ft crestliner. we dont need the best model or anything, just one that works!

thanks!

Are you wanting to put your new Minnkota on the bow or stern?

What kind of a boat are you going to put it on and how do you plan to fish?. Just about got to know these things before we can give you any pointers.

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Originally Posted by 1weezer

What kind of a boat are you going to put it on and how do you plan to fish?. Just about got to know these things before we can give you any pointers.

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I have a small open bow runabout. I put a Minn-Kota power drive 40lb. bow mount on it. has a foot control that I can use from anywhere in the boat,long cable. Real happy with it, moves the boat quite well. Don't know if this would work for you, but you can't go wrong with Minn-Kota no matter what type you get.

Minn Kota is my choice as well.

we have a crestliner 1850 sportfish (see below). we'd like a bow mount. most of the fishing we do is in 4-8ft of water (lake is pretty shallow), up and down the shoreline. this help at all?

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...60819_0417.jpg

I would put a 55pd powerdrive v2 from Minnkota with autopilot. The autopilot is very a important fishing tool. You can spend more time fishing/catching and not fighting the motor.

I've got the 55 minnkota auto pilot, on a 16.5 ft aluminum flat bottom and it moves me around just fine. The 12 volt system works well for many hours and have only ran out of battery on very long day trolling in a stiff wind. If you don't use your motor to all day a regular hand mount will work, but the maximizer is a must for any trolling to get just the right speed. and it lets the trolling motor work longer to. Had a 5 speed motorguide originally on the boat and was always changing speeds and would rarely get it just right.

Didn't mean hand mount, hand control. Of course most pros highly recommend not underpowing your trolling motor. Folks spend so much on their outboard and boat and skimp on the TM. Catching crappie is finding were their at and controlling your boat to catch em.

If your budget will allow, I highly recommend a tm with autopilot and copilot. Infinite speeds lets you finetune trolling speeds. The autopilot takes a lot of work out of controlling the boat while copilot lets you control it from anywhere with a small wireless remote control about the size of a car remote lock fob. This can be mounted on a fishing rod or other places. I attach mine to a belt loop and can mind rods in the front or rear while maintaining the ability to steer, turn the tm on or off or change speeds from anywhere.

I also agree not to underpower. Not knowing the wind or currents you deal with, I'd guess that that boat needs a 50lb.or greater. Hope this helps.

your boat sets high out of the water, makes for a dry ride and all ... but, when under the power of the trolling motor, and in some wind/waves, that will work against you. You will definitely need a trolling motor with some hefty thrust to it. You may even want to consider a 12/24 volt system. Minn Kota seems to be the overall favored brand, amongst the membership. And I agree that 50#'s of thrust is bottom line, if you want/need to fight against the wind. 12/24V system will require another deep cycle battery, too.

Here's your boat, showing trolling motor mounted .... and, looking at your picture, it would appear that the front hand rails may be a problem (even though the website picture shows a TM mounted with the head above the rails ... you really don't want that TM head vibrating/bouncing against that rail) :

http://www.crestliner.com/boats/boat...TID=304&BID=28

Do some serious homework, before you go drilling holes (if you intend to install it yourself). Check with your Crestliner dealer, or other reputable dealership or trustworthy boat mechanic/fitter ... and see what recommendations they offer, how they install TM's to that style boat, and what they charge for installing (and any guarantees/waranty on their work).

.... luck2ya ... cp :cool: