Minn Kota question

Hello all and thanks for any help you can give.

I am going to be purchasing a Sea Eagle 9 for some fishing with the 11 year old and myself. I am going to be purchasing the Fisherman's Dream package with hard floor and electric motor.

The motor that it comes with is simliar to the Minn Kota Endura 30 motor. The Endura is a 12 Volt motor. The problem is that I am having trouble finding 12 V marine grade batteries. Everything in Marine grade seems to be 24 Volts.

So my questions are:

1. Will the 12V Endura work well with 24V battery?

2. What Marine grade Battery should I look at getting for a fun day of fishing? (And remember that I am on a budget here guys.)

3. If the motor is best run on 12V, I have seen some 12V 7 Amp/hour gell cell batteries recommended, do these work well or does the 7 Amps go fairly quickly with this motor?

4. HELP!!!!! I am losing my mind!!! On second thought ... I fish!!! That means only one thing ... I HAVE ALREADY LOST MY MIND!!!!!! Does anyone know where it went???

5. Will more fishing help me to get y mind back???

Sorry, the wife made me ask 4 and 5!!!

But seriously, thanks for all of the help everyone!!!

Sincerely,
Reg

There are two types of marine battery- a cranking and a "Deep-Cycle"for trolling motors. Buy the deep-cycle.
You can buy a 12 volt Deep-Cycle marine battery at most automotive stores. A deep-cycle" can be drained and recharged where a automotive will not,I've used one for years priced about $30
Don't buy the 24v.
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Bill



[This message has been edited by William Fitzgerald (edited 24 March 2005).]

Get the 12 volt Deep Cycle Battery, but get the gel cell, then you do not have to worry about the battery tipping over and spilling acid all over the floor of your craft.

Parnelli

RC - I've used Minn-Kota motors for 25-30 years and I think they're the best for fishing. They are very quiet.

However, the Endura does not have a "maxi-miser" option [that reduces the amp draw from the battery] so you'll need about 30 amps per hour of full power usage for the motor. You'll use less power on the lower settings. I have a 48# thrust Min-Kota on my pram and I run a ~200A battery. It does well.

Donald

Dear Reg,

Look for a group 24 sized deep cycle battery. It will be more than sufficient to run that 30 pound thrust motor for a day or two of fishing.

Gel cell batteries are nice, but they are considerable more money than a standard deep cycle. If you are concerned with the potential of spilling the battery you can get a battery box for about $ 10.00.

Don't forget to get a good automatic trickle charger to recharge the battery. That will run you another $ 25.00 to $ 50.00 depending on the model you buy.

Regards,
Tim Murphy

I have one of these trolling motors that I have used hard for the last 4 years. I have a 40 pound thrust in the same model. It is on a 16' Lund and has been a life saver.

There are all kinds of 12 volt batteries on the market for these motors.
You need to find a battery that you can put a hard 10amp charge for about 2 hours and then finish it off with a trickel charge.
Most batteries you can only do a trickel charge and it takes forever to charge.
The best battery that I found is a CarQuest gold 24DPM. You can cook them hard and they take it.

NEVER USE A 24 VOLT BATTERY ON A 12 VOLT MOTOR!

[This message has been edited by maineguide (edited 25 March 2005).]

Hey Reg,

I have an Endura 30 and it does me a
good job. With the series 24 12 volt
deep cycle from Walmart at $48.00, I can
get about 12 hours of tooling around in
the first 3 speeds. If I use very much
of the higher two speeds, the battery will
discharge much more quickly. The lower
speeds allows me fairly close access to the
fish without putting them down. Warm
regards, Jim

Sears will have 12volt deep cylcle batteries for this application. again deep cycle is the key and you should expect to pay about $60 to $80 for the battery. For long life keep fully charged. After use charge as soon as possible, check charge often if not using and don't store on concrete floor.
Bill D

I've been using automotive gel cells for 5 years now and dollar for dollar I will never use anything else again.I have yet to have my old ford pickup fail to start with it even after sitting for 2/3 days at -40 the holding capacity of these batteries is just incredible.

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Jumping on the band wagon here, Sears, Costco, Price Club all sell the batteries you're after. One piece of advice would be to upgrade the pounds thrust of that motor. I use a larger one than the one you're planning on using for my Pram and one man pontoon.

If this is your only source of propulsion other than rowing, I'd be rethinking the motor size. If it gets windy were you are and there are two of you onboard, I'd super size the motor and go with a group 27 battery.

I'd rather have more power at my disposal and not need to use it all of the time, than not have enough power and find out I really need it some time.

Just an opinion...Dave