Hey Ya’ll…I recently purchased a Fish Cat 9Ir. I’m new to using pontoon boats as I’ve been a wade fisherman for the most part. I lived in Montana for several years and spent my time wading the area rivers…Now living in Idaho, I would like to take advantage of some of the area lakes around spokane and North Idaho. I need help with finding how much thrust I need…Is 30LBS enough and also battery suggestions. Posting any pics of your set up would be helpful.
Thanks
Flydry32
30lbs should be enough for any pontoon, but it won’t ever hurt to have more thrust. You will want a deep cycle marine battery to run the motor. These will hold up to the constant recharging. You should also purchase a battery charger designed for charging deep cycle (or marine) batteries. Most places that sell deep cycle batteries will also sell the chargers. Like California, I believe in Idaho all watercraft with a motor must be registered annually.
It’s too bad you aren’t closer to me in MT (I’m near Emigrant in the summer and my boat is stored near Belgrade over the winter), or I’d let you use my Minn Kota trolling motor to try out before you buy one. My trolling motor is 30# thrust, and it is plenty big enough for my boat, which is considerably bigger and heavier than yours - my cat is an 11’3" Kingfisher, with 19" diameter tubes that weighs about 80#.
In fact, I did something like it sounds you are thinking of – I got the boat, and soon after that bought the trollling motor for it. However, after using the motor a few times on lakes, I found it was more hassle than help, and never use it these days.
Personally, I probably wouldn’t even put a motor on your boat, due to it’s small size, but that’s just my opinion. That’s an awful lot of weight on that boat when you hang a motor, and put that big heavy battery on the back – but that’s just me. I’d think you should be able to get around fine in lakes with just the oars.
John
I have the trout unlimited Colorado pontoon boat (9ft) with a 30LB trolling motor. it is plenty for still water areas and most slow moving rivers or streams. you will easily be able to navigate the lowers parts of the Coeur d’ Alene, St. Joe or even the St. Maries rivers without rowing at all. the benefit of a 30lb over a heavier one is you could float a river like the Joe and once you hit slack water you can use the trolling motor to fish that section until you got to St. Joe city to take out, not many people fish that first part of slack water. take a look at shaft lengths if you intend to try and use it in shallow water, the larger thrust models usually have longer shafts and you will have to raise the control head higher up in order to get the propeller shallow enough and then it becomes uncomfortable to use. One last lesson I learned, research the battery weights that you are thinking about purchasing and then put that amount of weight onto the boat to see how it works out with the rest of your load plan, I went out and bought a small battery that ended up not being enough for me and then went out and bought the biggest one I could afford and it was too heavy for the boat and made it float awkwardly.
good luck and good fishing
Steve,
It’s an old adage when powering a boat that you’l never regret extra power…
However, with an eletric on a personal pontoon, that isn’t exactly true.
30# thrust is plenty for your boat. I use one that size to push around my 15 1/2 foot aluminum bass baot, and it works just fine. With the light weight of your boat such a motor will move you along right quick.
There are other considerations, though. Battery weight, as Jeremy pointed out, can be an issue. I have an 8’ pontoon, and the 30# motor and a size 24 marine battery from my boat power and balance it well. But I’m a big guy, around 250, so the fifty pounds or so of battery and motor placed behind me don’t make the boat feel awkward. If you are a little fella, that extra weight behnd you may have you looking up all day…You can usually change the tube/deck/seat placement on most 'toons to help balance this out.
Battery LIFE hasn’t come up yet. This is the main argument for a smaller thrust motor. A 50# thrust motor will use up the battery much faster than a 30# thrust one will. You’ll not likely be carrying an extra battery on your 'toon, so this can be an issue if you like to fish for longer than just a couple of hours. As an example, at full thrust my 30# motor can go for around three hours on a fully charged #24 marine deep cycle battery. If you use a lower speed, the battery life increases dramatically, and at ‘low’ speed setting it will run for over ten hours. Conversely, the 48# thrust foot controled motor on the bow of my bass boat will only run a bit more than one hour at high on a fully charged battery. (one reason I carry two batteries in the boat).
You should be fine with a 28 to 30 pound thrust motor and a regular 12v marine battery. You have a couple of size options, get the biggest one you feel will fit on your boat. If you have the funds, you can get dry cell batteries that are very light, but they are expensive.
I went for a few years ‘rowing’ my 'toon about. Fine on a small pond or if you aren’t going far on a lake. But if you get caught out in some wind, or if it’s typically windy where you fish, or you want to travel more than a few hundred yards, an electric motor will make your fishing more enjoyable.
And, don’t forget to include an ANCHOR. It can save your life as well as make it easier to fish in any kind of breeze…
Buddy
Well covered above…
I’ll emphasize shaft length consideration.
Also I have successfully used electric wheelchair batteries which are deep cycle and much lighter…however they don’t last as long…I got about 2 plus hours at a slow speed…I used them because of the weight issue and had two of them…usually only fished 2 hours till taking a break and then would change batteries on shore…at fuller throttle they disharged rapidly so have changed to a 24DC deep cycle …my relatively small Navagator II…[a oversized float tube and a small toon hybrid]…handles it well in regard to the weight.
You’ve gotten some good answers above.
30# is probably fine. Pontoons tend to have a top speed that’s relatively unaffected by thrust. A drag thing, I guess. But the 34# Motor Guide T34 with the 30" shaft might be a shade better if you can find one. The shorter shaft is handier when you have to tip it up when you come into the shallows or to clear the weeds off; the longer shafts tend to hit you in the back. The Walmarts here carry them for about $125, as I recall.
I’ll second the #24 battery - but make sure it’s a Deep Cycle, NOT a “Marine” battery. The ones labeled “Marine” are dual purpose for starting and slow drain; you want the DC type. Minn Kota makes a good slow charger/maintainer for about $70.
You can get by fine with a smaller battery like a wheel chair type if you’re just fishing small ponds. But if you’ll have to cover a mile or two a day, get the 24 and a plastic case for it.
Also look for a quick disconnect plug, so you don’t have to use the battery’s wingnuts every time. You can also wire your sonar from it.
idlerick
Would you elaborate on the quick disconnect plug…do you mean the alligator type clamps?
Just a 2-conductor with a plug that prevents polarity reversal. Something like this, in a wire size compatible with the motor wires:
I saw that when I googled but don’t understand what those plugs go into.
The regular trolling motor will use the same amount of power from battery regrdless of power settings. In order to make battery last longer on lower settings you need to have a motor capable of switching the current on /off. Minnkota maximizer technology or Motor Guide Digital variable speed control are the features you need to look for in the motor. The basic low end motors do not have them. From my own expirience extra price you need to pay for the motor is well worth it.
Just a FYI to those who may have a Minn Kota motor made before they incorporated the maximizer technology…they made a separate maximizer you can add on. I picked one up from a fellow FAOL member.
They go into each other. The picture isn’t very clear - it should show the two plugs mated. Each bare post goes into the opposite shielded rubber socket.
Picture your two hands making two pistols with your index fingers sticking out. Then turn them towards one another. Then turn the left one over. Crude example.
The wire pigtails then go to 1)- the motor, and 2)- the battery terminals. Wire the one from the battery with the + lead going into the shielded socket, so you don’t have a “hot” bare post.
Thank you everyone for your help…Very good information.
