Choosing the right trolling motor

With the way boating accesories are now adays you could spend days going through the options for a trolling motor for your boat. I am going to try to help you narrow down your choices. You have to choose a 12v, 24v, or 36v system for the trolling motor. For those of you that know as much about electricity as I do 12v is one battery, 24v is two, and 36v is three batteries. The way to choose the power that you need is by how much your boat weighs and what you are doing with it. For small boats under 1000 lbs. a 12v system should work out fine. The Minn Kota Endura is great for a transom mount, but a Minn Kota Edge is more suited for the bow mount. For boats from 1000 lbs. to 2000 lbs. a 24v system is required, so the batteries will not run out quickly. For bass boats a bow mounted Minn Kota Maxxum would be a great choice, and then for a Deep V or multi species boat a Minn Kota PowerDrive or Minn Kota Terrova would be ideal. Now that you have chosen the correct power you need to look at shaft length. Minn Kota Motors makes Composite Trolling motor shafts from 36"- 60". The advantages of lenth depends on the draft and height of your boat. Larger boats like big walleye boats and Great lakes Bass boats, need the longer 54"- 60" shafts to keep the motor head in the water while bouncing in the waves. Where as the shorter 48" shaft is good for shallow water fishermen. Now onto the most important part of choosing a trolling motor, choosing the thrust. The thrust determines the force the motor excerts to pull the boat. The thrust ranges are from 36 lbs. to 101 lbs. Depending on the what you are using the boat for is what you need the thrust for.

Big Waves - Heavy Boat = Strong Thrust
Smaller water - Smaller boat = Less Thrust