60" or 72" shaft on electric trolling motor?
 

I am planning to buy a bow-mounted electric trolling motor for my 16 foot aluminium Lund. The Minn Kota I am considering comes in 60 and 72 inch models. Is there any reason not to go with 72", other than can't go as shallow with it?

There adjustable so the longer the better as you can always shorten it.

2x
you will not have it popping out of the water when its rough out.

Yup. Get the longest one you can and set it where you need it depth-wise for a given day. Better resale too down the road with the 72". ;)

I have a 60" on my V18WT Targa. On the rare occasion when it's rough enough for it to pop out of the water it's too uncomfortable to fish anyways imo so I'm heading in. Yes I'm getting old and enjoy not getting bounced around unecessarily. Lol
I posted a pic for you. On calm waters I set my prop so the top of it is about a foot below the waters surface and you can see looking at the head of the motor how much room is left to lower it. On a decent walleye chop I lower it fully.

60" or 72" shaft on electric trolling motor?
 

I’d disagree with the “longer is always better” thought. It depends on the angle that the motor ends up mounted on the bow. With some boats a 72” inch shaft will extend out past the gunnel, making docking or loading/unloading from a boat lift more difficult as you can catch the motor head. On others, the motor will extend into the bow deck area when stowed, becoming a hindrance if you are moving around the bow and the motor isn’t deployed.

The answer really lies in how far the nose of the boat sits out of the water. Some models sit quite high and others sit quite low. In my opinion a 60 inch will be just fine on a 16 foot Lund. It will also be much easier to find these days.

SS

Thanks to everyone who replied. I appreciate your input. I think I will go with 72".
SamSteele, those are good comments and just what I was looking for. I think I can manage those considerations.

Regards.

What model are you looking at. Remote or cabled foot control

I'm looking at the Terrova with a wired foot control and a remote.

Fair enough - but which issue is worse? the short shaft popping in and out of the water and you loose boat control and wearing on your trolling motor prematurely as it goes from constant cavitation to hard resistance as it plunges back into the water ..... that is so annoying, frustrating and expensive.

OR having to be careful IF your shaft is long enough to interfere or bump a dock IF there is an obstruction MAY BE at that height?

That seems like a pretty easy trade off for me, and has been on all the boats I've owned. I've had both things happen on a few boats and can tell you which one is worse ....

I'd tell everyone to get the long shaft.

I disagree with you disagreeing :):):) and I disagree :):):)

I don’t think popping out of the water will be an issue on a 16 foot boat, is my point. I had an 18.5 foot Lund a few years ago with a 60” Terrova and I can’t think of a single time it popped out of the water.

If you can line up a 72 inch so it doesn’t hang over the gunnel or stick inside the bow area on the boat, then it makes sense.

SS

go with the 72 inch my 60 inch pops out of the water on rough days in the crest liner 18 boat.

My first boat was a Lund 1650 Fisherman that I used to tourney fish back in the 90's. A 16 footer can 100% pop a 60" shaft out of the water in rough water. ;)

There is a window where it's rough enough that you can still fish with enough thrust if you can keep the motor planted, but you can't if the motor keeps bobbing in and out of the water. On Slave Lake these days were quite common.

Does the OP want to drive 3-4 hours to a lake only to find he can't fish effectively because his motor keeps popping out of the water and he can't control his boat, so he has to settle for anchoring (you'll bob up and down worse anchored BTW) and catching fewer fish? I wouldn't.

Get the longest shaft and the most thrust you can afford. I run a 36v 101lb Terrova taken off my glass boat on my Lund SSV-16. It's awesome. Just the batteries in the bow alone changed it from riding like a tinner death trap to a fully-rigged dual console boat.

I have a brand new 70 lb 24 volt power drive with a 60” shaft I took off my boat if you are interested, never been used