Outboard motor trolling speed

pecheux

pecheux

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Jun 9, 2006
Messages
1,200
Good day, On another board forum I have access to, several guys claim their 2 or 2.5 OB's generate too much speed for optimal trolling. I own a 15 hp Force and a 9.9 Johnson both 2 cycle, and I can get both these OB's idling almost too slow for trolling. These OB's date back 1997 and 1981. These guys are obviously refering to later model OB's. My question is: Has there been so many changes to late models motors that would make them idle faster ? TX
 
Barnacle_Bill

Barnacle_Bill

Admiral
Joined
Feb 8, 2004
Messages
6,469
Re: Outboard motor trolling speed

I believe that. Normal idle speed for a 2.5 Merc is 900-1000 RPM. Idle speed for a 9.9 or 15 is 675-775 RPM.
 
C

Cricket Too

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
May 14, 2003
Messages
1,732
Re: Outboard motor trolling speed

I've been trolling just fine with a 200hp Johnson for years, troll it at about 1,200 - 1,400 RPM depending on the current. Never had a problem with going too fast.

I mean if I had a 200 on a 14ft boat yeah maybe, but it's pushing a 25' boat, so it's all relative.
 
ondarvr

ondarvr

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
11,527
Re: Outboard motor trolling speed

The small single cylinder models tend not to idle down (RPMs) as low as a twin, so sometimes, depending the boat size, it may troll too fast. The other thing is very few people actually adjust the idle on there kickers and then they complain it won't go slow enough.
 
R

rndn

Commander
Joined
May 20, 2007
Messages
2,323
Re: Outboard motor trolling speed

Cricket Too said:
I've been trolling just fine with a 200hp Johnson for years, troll it at about 1,200 - 1,400 RPM depending on the current. Never had a problem with going too fast.

I mean if I had a 200 on a 14ft boat yeah maybe, but it's pushing a 25' boat, so it's all relative.
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I'm sure your setup works great on the salt water, but in fresh water walleye trolling you'll need to get down to 1mph or so, sometime less. To achieve that speed I use my bow mount Minn Kota trolling motor. Works great and on a single 27 battery I have trolled for 6 hours and still showed half a charge on the guage.
 
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