Electric Trolling Motor

[maltembu]

Guys, a relative of mine is considering buying an electric trolling motor,

Any advice or info would be appreciated..

Powering it is another issue..

[skip]

I think shanook had one but they are very much in my opinion things for lakes rather than the open sea. They don't produce a high hp and I suppose the only advantage is that they are very quiet and slow which may be good for live bait trolling. Otherwise any particular reason he wants to go for one?

Have a look on westmarine.com to get an idea of what is in the market at the moment.

[ForTuna]

Nick , I think if the boat is light enough you can still reach a good trolling speed and if the hull is not a deep V that would help even more. I always thought of it to be honest since we spend more time trolling you can use the main engine to get to the fishing grounds. On the other hand if the sea is a bit choppy and you're trolling against the current you might have some problems.

[maltembu]

Skip, he wants to use it as a backup for a 13ft boat and for live bait & normal trolling if efficient enough..

[skip]

I know they've come along way in recent years but i would be hesitant to buy one without first being able to try how it performs on my boat.....not sure who gets them here

[OKUMA-1976]

E-Thrust 36lbs Engine
E-Thrust 55lbs Engine
E-Thrust 55lbs Vary speed Engine

I can quote these from SvendsenSports see catalogue below
http://www.svendsen-sport.dk/eCatalogue/E-Thrust/flash.html

can be used in calm waters for bait trolling or for squid fishing

Maltembu: back up you mean as an auxillary or spare engine. you have to for sure check  the consumption.

[skip]

I would be looking at the 55lbs thrust, even though the max weight of the 13 foot boat will be alot less than the max rated on the engine you need to factor in use on the sea where currents are higher.

[shanook]

Yep u are right skip, used one years back. As you rightly said, I used it  on the lake where the waters are calm and use of gas is prohibited (environment issues). Mind you when we say lake, we didnt use it on lake Eire as that is about 20 miles wide and dont ask me the length.....there we used outboard or inboard engines as its like being in the Mediterranean sea (actually sometimes worse as being shallow water u get higher waves).
The electric motor we used for trolling the bottom and for keeping to the same spot (bottom fishing) or for moving with the fish in the case of large catfish.
I think that it can be used if you have a small area to fish but knowing the Maltese waters one needs to cover a bit of ground to troll for bottom dwelling fish. It can also be used to keep the deep drop lines as straight as possible. But apart from that I really dont know?!?!?!

[caldaland]

some of them are not good for sea water as they rust easily!

[maltembu]

Thanks for your help guys...

[caldaland]

thats what this forum is for!

[polidmar]

Guys; anyone tried [real experience] this electric outboard trolling motors for trolling at abt 4knots on medium sized boats?

Thanks for your help in advance

[blueskip]

I have used one for lake fishing over here for freshwater fish (trout) they are very quiet, & they pushed the 13ft boat along at about 4knots, but after 2 runs up the lake (& drifting back down fly fishing) it was unable to make the 3rd run back to the top. The lake is probably 1.5kms long which means that on a full battery the motor did approx 4kms!
I was assured that the battery was fully charged, I reckon that by looking at the size of the battery it was around 60AHC this was about 3yrs ago & motors & battery technology may have advanced, but I wouldn't have thought that in 3 yrs it has advanced enough to run a motor long enough to troll with effectively!
It should be a simple job to contact one of the manufacturers websites & find out what the required amperage is for each model, then work out what size battery you would need for the amount of time you intend trolling, eg 4hrs trolling with an engine that uses 15AHC would require AT LEAST a 60AHC battery (80AHC for safety) A 110AHC "Liesure Battery" is what I use to start my outboard, but on a 13ft boat it might be a bit heavy!  

[clutch_kick]

thay would be excellent i guess for kayak-Fishing

[blueskip]

"We are going to need a bigger kayak"

thay would be excellent i guess for kayak-Fishing