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Old 06-24-2008, 08:52 AM
Waxy Waxy is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Calgary
Posts: 1,203
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On a 16ft boat in windy conditions, I wouldn't go less than 55lbs if you plan on doing a fair bit of trolling. You're better off to go with more thrust than you need and run the motor at low speed than under power the TM and have to run it at close to full power in order to do what you want to do. Otherwise your battery life and the life of the TM will be pretty short.

The Max will give you better battery life and far more control of your speed, which is really nice, and important for certain presentations. I think you get what you pay for.

If you troll most of the time, consider a 4 stroke kicker, but they aren't cheap and they're REALLY hard to find used.

There aren't too many electric setups out there that will last for a week without a recharge if you're using them consistently every day. I know my 24V setup is only good for about two days at most of fairly consistent low speed use. High winds or higher speeds where you're running it hard and it's only good for the day. You'd need to have 2-3 batteries IMHO to last the week.

I really don't like the engine mounted TMs. The real beauty of a TM is the ability to steer precisely and quickly, and to travel both forward and backward with equal efficiency. You don't get either of those benefits from and engine mounted TM. You're limited to the steering range of your outboard, and the efficiency in reverse is really poor. They are an option, but if you can rig a bow mounted or transom mounted system, they are better.

Waxy
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