Trolling Motor Size and Mounting Question

[clifgray]

Hi all,

So I'm about ready to bite the bullet and get a trolling motor for my Capri. The boat is pretty easy to row but some days I just want to get out and motor straight into the more fun coastal waters here on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and a motor will help me avoid some of the shoals that give this place the appropriate nickname of the Graveyard of the Atlantic. I also plan to bring out 2-3 other friends for some local fishing trips without sails.

I'm looking at either the Newport Vessels 46# or 55# electric motor (supposedly saltwater resistant) any thoughts on 55# over 46# or should I save the $50? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VYP3QOM/

How have y'all secured the battery in the boat? I'm probably going to get a Marine Deep Cycle group 29 battery so it will be big. I sure don't want that banging around in the cuddy when I inevitably capsize the boat.

I plan to add some backing plates onto the transom at some point but probably will initially just put some wood between the motor clamps to even out the load. Think this is a risk for a couple days out motoring around?

Cheers,
Patrick

 

[aquaman]

What year was your boat built? I think the Mod 2's and later have a reinforced transom, mine is a Mod 1 (1986) which is hollow in between. If that's what you have don't just clamp a motor on there, there's no meat. Let me know and I can talk you through it if needed.....

 

[aquaman]

And here's what my experiance is with the motor set up. I have the smallest Minkota unit (only cost a bit over $100 at Cabelas). Had to decide which way to go with the battery. Smaller size means easier to handle at the expense of range. So I went that way. After one season I see that about 80% of the time this was OK, but had to sweat a few when my juice was running low. BTW, I have a charge indicator mounted that accurately shows % of power left. So the solution was to buy a second identical unit (Odyssey PC 680) and run then in series. This doubled the range! And only need to use the extra unit on days of anticipated need. And I have some good pics of how I built the system, I'll send those from my work email in the near future........