Trolling motor for ski boat?

[maverick_8teen]

So I'm not a skier but my brother got himself a ski boat this spring. He enjoys fishing as well so were thinking of maybe using his boat for fishing but trolling maybe an issue. We're gonna test it out this weekend, see if we can go slow enough without hurting motor.

I don't know anything about his boat so can't inform of motor or boat make/model etc. until later.

In short if it fails what's the best alternative short of buying a fishing boat? If we can mount a trolling motor what's the best solution? Electric or gas? Looking for something that's easy to attach and remove by one person when not fishing. obviously electric is lighter but do they have enough power or am I going to just kill battery. If they do have enough power, am I going to spend a significant more $ than the equivalent for a gas one. I don't want to "overwork" the motor (eg. don't want to buy a 5hp if it takes a 10hp just to push boat)

On top of that, if I do end up with a boat (fishing boat) in the future (which I will) I want to be able to mount it to my boat so it's got to be interchangeable.

[ddddd05]

These are pretty cool. More expensive than a normal trolling motor, but way more seamless. As for batteries you'll want to buy a deep cycle battery that you only use for the trolling motor. Costco has good deals on them.

http://www.minnkotamotors.com/produc...reshwater.aspx

[hunted]

I bought a "happy troller" plate for my motor. It slowed me down to just the right speed.

[Ken07AOVette]

Originally Posted by ddddd05

These are pretty cool. More expensive than a normal trolling motor, but way more seamless. As for batteries you'll want to buy a deep cycle battery that you only use for the trolling motor. Costco has good deals on them.

http://www.minnkotamotors.com/produc...reshwater.aspx

That's what I use. 24v

[cube]

With the very limited info you supplied I would definitely go with the gas kicker. Depending on the size of your brothers boat 4,5,or 6 would be good for trolling. If your plan is to put it on another small boat sometimes then the 9.9 would probably be a better choice.

I have both a 24 volt electric and a gas kicker on my boat and use the gas kicker 98% of the time for trolling. I use the electric mostly for boat positioning etc. The gas is also a lot lighter than the electric as an electric has a number of heavy batteries as well as the motor.

I can troll for weeks with my gas motor while I am limited to a few hours with the electric. The electric will not get me back from the other side of the lake against the wind while this is not a problem with the gas kicker.

If you can tell us more about your brothers boat (size, weight, inboard or outboard, does it even have a transom, place to mount batteries, place to put a bow mount electric, etc) and what you mean by trolling we could be of more help.

[maverick_8teen]

Originally Posted by cube

If you can tell us more about your brothers boat (size, weight, inboard or outboard, does it even have a transom, place to mount batteries, place to put a bow mount electric, etc) and what you mean by trolling we could be of more help.

I won't see it till later tonight so ill post what I can, probably tomorrow afternoon. Maybe even snap a pic I case my understanding of what inboard or transom mean.

[fish gunner]

Bow mount electric other wise its in the way of ski end of craft. Like K said 24 v, lots of hull to drag around. Mounting rod holders is an other trick unless you get flush mount . Tower is great for planers.

[trapshooter]

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