Advice on adding a Trolling Motor to a 25' Suntracker

[newcomlr]

Have a 25' Suntracker signature with 60HP 2stroke bigfoot. Used exclusively on a small private lake which has a no wake zone all around the perimeter and in no wake coves. We spend most of our time puttering around the lake in the no wake zone. Running the outboard to putter seems to be overkill unless windy.

Does it make sense to consider adding an electric trolling motor? If so, what length (or minimum water depth), HP, shaft size, etc? Anything else I need to consider?
My preference would be to mount in back so it is out of the way and controls would be close to helm/console.

 

[biglurr54]

Re: Advice on adding a Trolling Motor to a 25' Suntracker

My plan was to use an 80lb thrust on a 16 foot toon. Then use Ipilot from mini kota for control. No helm needed. you can control it from anywhere in the boat. Also you can pre record paths and save them. Just hit follow route and have it take you on your typical route. You have to keep an eye out that nothing is in your path. Everyone po po's my idea. Trolling motors used for regular use on pontoons apparently is not accepted as main stream yet.

 

[crb478]

Re: Advice on adding a Trolling Motor to a 25' Suntracker

If you just want to use it to put around and not for fishing I would get one that clamps to the AV plate on your outboard, that way you can set it up to steer from the steering wheel and locate the speed control on the console.

 

[calvinator]

Re: Advice on adding a Trolling Motor to a 25' Suntracker

I have a Motorguide 80lb thrust, 60" shaft. I have 2 batteries in series to produce the 24v it needs. I can run about 4 hours continuous use. My pontoon is 30'.

I love it. It moves my pontoon around the lake just fine and no noise. We enjoy a slow cruise along the shoreline seeing all the vacation homes on my lake.

I have a mounting plate on the bow.

The best part is -- it has a wireless key fob controller. I can sit anywhere on my barge and drive it.

 

[Mi duckdown]

Re: Advice on adding a Trolling Motor to a 25' Suntracker

Personally I would just putt around with the motor you have. Just my .02

 

[Silver Eagle]

Re: Advice on adding a Trolling Motor to a 25' Suntracker

I was thinking about getting one so I could go in very shallow water and get me out of tight spots .Some times we go in back water along rivers only I don't know where to mount it.My rear lounger covers the motor

 

[newcomlr]

Re: Advice on adding a Trolling Motor to a 25' Suntracker

My plan was to use an 80lb thrust on a 16 foot toon. Then use Ipilot from mini kota for control. No helm needed. you can control it from anywhere in the boat. Also you can pre record paths and save them. Just hit follow route and have it take you on your typical route. You have to keep an eye out that nothing is in your path. Everyone po po's my idea. Trolling motors used for regular use on pontoons apparently is not accepted as main stream yet.

iPilot sounds perfect...assuming the GPS is very precise.

The electric trolling motor is attractive to me because we are on a very small private lake with tight noise restrictions. I'm putting a lot of very low speed hours on the 60hp outboard. My only concern is charging the battery(s). Their is no electric near my slip space. I've seen other toons with 3-4 solar panels...i'm guessing to charge trolling batteries. It's hard to get gas to my slip as well. I have to carry cans down a big hill. Could just as easily cart batteries I guess.

 

[biglurr54]

Re: Advice on adding a Trolling Motor to a 25' Suntracker

Same issue. No power at the slip. It gets expensive to build up an off grid boat. I have done a lot of research and it seems feesable. It would take about 3-4 220 watt panels and 4 100ah batteries. Atleast in my situation. I want to make sure I have enough juice for two days with out any sun (Sat and Sun) for about 3-4 hours each day. Then the solar panels bring the batteries back up over the course of the week It gets expensive when your looking at $1200 in motor, $400 in batteries, and $900-$1200 in panels. All that and you get 6 hours of motoring a week.

I will be doing it when I get the funding. I think its viable. This is considering running the motor pretty hard and never depleting the batteries below 50% to save their lives. The prices are on the low end and dont include wiring, charger, mounting stuff and so on. The last thing im worry about is theft. Thats a lot of money sitting on a boat most likely unsupervised all day. Solar panels are a huge target for theft these days because they hold their value and easy to take and very hard to trace. If you need help with your system let me know. I have done a ton of research and know my way around boats and solar panels.

My other thought was to try and hook up a inverter generator. One of the honda 3300 to the batteries and see if theres enough juice to power the motor if the batteries get low. A hybrid pontoon if you will.