40# thrust enuff ?

[captn-tin]

found a deal on a 40# thrust minnkota enduro trolling motor, tiller steer with a new agm 100 amp group 27 batt. i want to push a 15' westcoaster for trolling. will this be enuff umph for this boat. thanks

 

[FuriousMob]

Re: 40# thrust enuff ?

I've been looking into trolling motors, so I'm no expert, but what I've found is that it should be about 2 lbs of thrust per 100 lbs of total (loaded) boat weight. But there sometimes is a bit more to it than that from what I've found, such as where it's mounted, because pushing vs pulling makes a difference.

If your boat comes in under 2000lbs fully loaded, I would hope it is enough, but you'll want a real experts opinion on that first.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 40# thrust enuff ?

If your westcoaster is aluminum...probably. If fiberglass I'd say absolutely not.

My buddy runs a 55lb on his 14' aluminum and it is more than enough. He ran a 40lb and found it to be insufficient in a crosswind or headwind...he was not using a deep cycle though so that may have been part of the problem(he wouldn't believe me that crankstarts are not for trolling motors and had to learn that the hard way).

I have been using a 30lb Minnkota on my 12' tin can and it's perfect for what I need. These are all transom mount setups by the way.

Good luck

 

[mike64]

Re: 40# thrust enuff ?

I have a 50lb transom mounted trolling motor on a 16' fiberglass runabout that weights ~1000lbs. I run it on a dual use battery. It's perfect if there's no wind. Out of 5 forward speeds, I'll run it at 2 while fishing. Speed 4 or 5 will move it pretty good.

If there's a crosswind it gets a little tricky since it's a transom mount-- the front of the hull becomes a sail. Then I'll just troll backwards so it's pulling the boat instead of pushing.