Biggest trolling motor?

[invisik]

Hi all,

​I have a brand new 2017 14ft Porta-bote and it's been great. I have a Minn Kota Endura Max 55lb trolling motor on it. I can get the bote up to 3mph, but that is it.. no matter how heavy or light it's loaded... I even bought a 3 blade prop from Kipawa and still 3mph.

​I know I won't get it on plane with a trolling motor which will be limiting, but hoping to get 2-3 more mph out of it without going gas. I have a line on a 86lb thrust stern mount motor that I might buy, but not sure if it will really go faster.

​Does anyone have a trolling motor larger then 55lb on their bote and know how fast it goes (like with your GPS) ?

Thanks for any info!
​
-m

 

[ondarvr]

That's going to be about it for speed.

​The 86 lb motor will require two batteries, which will cost more and add weight, but you may get a slight increase in speed.

​Once you reach hull speed it takes a significant amount of power to go faster.

 

[invisik]

Hi Ondarvr!

​Thanks for your thoughts..... I do have two 105ah batteries that I could use for 24v, but yes they are heavy (60lbs each). I've read about the hull speed before and there was some formula to calculate it. I see if I can find that.

Thanks again!

-m

 

[Scott Danforth]

use this calculator

https://www.easycalculation.com/physics/classical-physics/hull-speed-calculator.php [h=4]Formula:[/h] h = 1.34 * √(l) Where, h = Hull Speed l = Boat's Waterline Length

however for your boat, 4mph is it.....until you get the boat on plane

 

[invisik]

Hi again,

​I went through the carts on psycosnail.com and it looks like about 2.25HP is needed to achieve a top hull speed of about 5 mph. Sadly, that's not happening with a trolling motor. It also said from my current max of 3 mph, I need 0.4 HP (Which must be roughly what my 55lb motor is). To get to 4 mph it says I need 0.7 HP, which I'm thinking the 86lb should be fairly close to. We'll see what develops.

-m