i am equipping a pre 72 grumman aluminum canoe for fishing in the adrondiak park, upstate new york this summer. will fish primarily on smaller lakes,ie meacham and deer river flow in franklin county but perhaps also saranac lake, champlain, and chataguay lakes(larger lakes)



total lbs (canoe, motor, battery, fish. equipment will range between 450 and 800, depending if i am alone or with nephews/ niece or 1 other fisherman.



will fish primarily weed beds in 5-10’ of water but also troll 30-60’ water for salmon/lake trout.



i am considering 2 motors,1) minn kota 45 lb thrust, maximizer. (weight = 20.5 lbs + 60 lbs for the battery)

2) “electric paddle” made in state of washington

(weight = 8 lbs for the motor and 8 lbs for 1

battery)

if anyone would provide any experience with either,i would appreciate and would be more than willing to reciprocate in the future

note :" electric paddle"is more $ but i could carry 3-4 batteries and travel 8-12 hrs full speed to and from

fishing sites & up the tributaries

-both are ok in the salt water

minn kota has more power and would move thru the weeds better



thanks in advance

Joe M

bluegill1213@aol.com

Can’t which is better
I don’t know anything about the electric paddle. With Minkota, it-s all about the battery.

Make sure the motor is easy to tilt up
Dear Joe,



To echo what Big D said you will need a good battery along with the ability to easily tilt the motor to rid it of weeds.



Nothing kills the battery faster on a 12V trolling motor than hacking through salad. If you keep the prop clean you can go all day on a well charged Group 24 or Group 27 battery.



If you try to rely on the motor itself to shed the weeds by constantly cycling from forward to reverse until the weeds are gone you will drain the battery.



You can get by with a regular lead acid battery if you have the ability to charge it at 15 amps overnight when it gets depleted so get a good charger. For a full week’s fishing you may want to consider bringing two batteries and alternating them.



Regards,



Tim Murphy AKA Goobs

electric trolling motors
i think you’re right about the battery. the more AH hours seems to make a big difference ;also from what i can find out, the digital maximizer seems to add some hours to battery unless you are going at full thrust. at the lowest thrust with the maximizer,not much speed, but seems to only draw 1 amp/hr with the 45 lb thrust. thanks for the feedback



bluegill1213@aol.com

Trolling motor and battery
My Minn kota 45 lb thrust with an AutoZone group 24, 140 amp hr battery will go all day. Some days are into 25 to 35 mph wind with 2 to 3 ft. waves.

electric motor
agreed. also, thanks for the idea of ridding the prop of weeds. i suppose even a stick with a frog spear to allow me to reach the prop and hook the weeds off; would work as prop would be behind me by ±30"

thanks

i hesitate to use a battery that can spill or that cannot be laid down on its side or end. will go with a gel battery



i’m still working on how to secure the battery to the canoe as is generally required by coast guard, at least in most areas or probably larger lakes?



thanks again

electric motors
thanks for the reply

sounds like a heavy and expensive battery but i will check it out. i’ve seen some up to 200+ AH hours and over 100 lbs. each.

what are you pushing with the 45 lb thrust and how heavy is it including boat, you, and every thing else you have in it

i’ve been thinking of buying 2 79 AH batteries at west marine. 53 lbs each and ± $400 for both. one in the bow and one mid-craft…one set of 8-10 marine guage wires long enough to attach to either.



i don’t expect to use full thrust, if ever, but would like to be able to go out for up to a week at a time

and move at paddle speed if tired or injured.



i think the 45 lb thrust minn kota riptide with variable speed and digital maximizer would give me ±

30 hours at a slow or paddle speed with 2 batteries and

weight under 800 lbs



obviously, on a short day trip, ie 5-8 hrs fishing ,

the 2nd motor would remain in camp



thanks again

Trolling Motor & Battery
AutoZone group 24, 140 amp hr battery weighs about 50 lbs. I use a square back canoe, all together with fishing equipment, cooler, myself I would say 350 to 400 lbs. I fish from sun up to sun down. I troll from spot to spot so not using full power until I head back, 6 to 8 miles from put in total 12 to 16 miles round trip.

Minn kota
Minn kota !! The built in Maximizer™ feature delivers up to 2 hours of continuous run time at 100 percent power on a fully-charged bank of batteries.

Single Speed?
Double check to see if they one from Washington is single speed or not. For me, single speed would not meet my needs.