16ft Electric Auto Pilot Pontoon Idea Coming to Fruition

biglurr54

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
Messages
234
I recently purchased my first house and I was lucky enough to have it be on a lake. It?s a small, 126 acre, sheltered lake in upstate NY. I wanted to get a pontoon boat on the water so I have a boat for after work cruises and weekend relaxing. I found a 16 foot 1983 Crest II on a newer trailer with a 1983 28 Johnson on it. The motor runs and has no ours on it. The pontoon boat is gutted. No floor no seats no canvas nothing. I got the boat motor and trailer for $750. I restored my Crestliner and bought a singer upholstery sewing machine to redo the interior and I still have it. I figured floor and custom furniture wont be a challenge for me. I started to do some research online and found the MinnKota Riptide ST 80 with the I-pilot for $1339.99. It?s an 80 lb thrust electric motor that is controlled by GPS and a remote. My thought was record the typical path of a booze cruise in the pontoon boat in the I-pilot and then when ever we take the pontoon boat out just sent it on its way. No console, No steering wheel, no captains chair. Just a blank canvas for seating. I haven?t been able to find AMP draws on that motor so I cant work out the battery situation. Does anyone know the amp draw for that motor? Any issues with this set up? I want to start building it right away! Let me know your thoughts!
 

coastalrichard

Lieutenant
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
1,255
Re: 16ft Electric Auto Pilot Pontoon Idea Coming to Fruition

Interesting...guess it will really quiet!
 

newbie4life

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 19, 2007
Messages
410
Re: 16ft Electric Auto Pilot Pontoon Idea Coming to Fruition

Well, I don't have an autopilot -- but I do have an 80lb thrust Minnkota on our pontoon... and just installed a second set of batteries to get twice the time on the water without running the 40hp yamaha. Last year, we lived on the pontoon, and I went thru 2 tanks of 6 gallons of fuel. That was it.

Like you, I didn't know exactly what the 80lb TM was rated for amps wise, so I installed 6 ga wire, and put a 30 amp breaker on it... It hasn't kicked out yet. Knowing that information now, I could've saved some money and used 10 ga wire... But I figured better safe than sorry. My thought was, running the 6 ga wire and 30 amp breaker, if the breaker kicked out, then I would install a 40... and if that kicked out then, I could still install a 50 amp.

I love my trolling motor, and am glad I went with an 80 lb'er.. It pushes our 20' pontoon about 4-5 mph wide open according to the gps on my phone... but unbelievably quiet.
 

Chip Chester

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Apr 17, 2012
Messages
109
Re: 16ft Electric Auto Pilot Pontoon Idea Coming to Fruition

Will you be publishing your "float plan" in advance so the other boaters can avoid you during your cruise? Or will there be a wifi hailing frequency where both GPS units communicate and work out non-colliding routes? And without steering, how will you teach it your route in the first place?

(The new "driverless car" license in Nevada (for Google experiments, mostly) actually requires two people to act as 'not the driver'.)

Chip
 

Silvertip

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Sep 22, 2003
Messages
28,758
Re: 16ft Electric Auto Pilot Pontoon Idea Coming to Fruition

Your 80# motor maximum current draw is 56 amps.
 
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