Trolling vs small 4 stroke

[DaveDave]

I am trying to figure out if keep my trolling motor for my Zodiak or go to quite small 4 stroke to move me around faster.
Any suggestions?
Cheers

[calgarygringo]

I have a 5 and a 15 that we recently took out for a couple trips and put it on Jack&7 Zebec. My first couple of times on an inflatable and was impressed. We found the 5hp Honda trolled real slow like an electric and the 15 was pretty good too. 15 better for going faster but for trolling or jigging the 5 works awesome IMO.



I am trying to figure out if keep my trolling motor for my Zodiak or go to quite small 4 stroke to move me around faster.
Any suggestions?
Cheers

[Ken07AOVette]

you will run out of battery long looooooong before you run out of gas.

[Penner]

Depends on where you fish but form me I'd have both as some lakes are electric only. A small 4-stroke will literally sip fuel however they usually troll at a quicker rate of speed compared to a 2-stroke as a 4-stoke needs to run a higher rpms.

[Okotokian]

I have a 15 hp kicker and an electric trolling motor to compliment my 115 hp main engine. I use the kicker a lot more than the electric. And if I had to keep only 1 it would be the kicker. If the big engine fails, the kicker can get you back home safely. And you don't have to go through the hassle of recharging the battery.

[EZM]

Depends on where you fish but form me I'd have both as some lakes are electric only. A small 4-stroke will literally sip fuel however they usually troll at a quicker rate of speed compared to a 2-stroke as a 4-stoke needs to run a higher rpms.

And - you can put on a low pitch prop on the kicker that allows you to slow down. They typically provide a intermediate/low pitch with a remote small outboard but many of the tiller models have an intermediate/high pitch prop I find.

So if you bought it as a tiller - look at the pitch stamped on the prop and see if there are lower pitches available. If you can get it down 4 degrees less than what's on it (or more) - it's well worth it IMO.

Your top speed will definitely decrease, but you will get up on plane quicker and be able to troll down to a much slower speed. Good trade off IMO.

[Penner]

Agree changing props can help if motor is being used to troll primarily. One would loose out slightly if motor with lower pitch prop is also being used to run to/from.