[rustybaker28]

Hey guys,

I've been a shore fisherman up until this weekend! I scored an old Coleman Crawdad 11ft Jon Boat off craigslist which came with two Minn Kota trolling motors, one 36# one 28#, two anchors, and oars. It was a steal for all that was included. MY question is this. The sticker on the boat says 315lb capacity 400lb with gear. Myself, my tiny girlfriend, battery, cooler, gear, and dog is going to be above 500lbs. Any thoughts if I should strictly abide by the weight limit or not?

Also, with that in mind I'm trying to find the best battery/price/weight ratio. I am going to fish Cossayuna upstate near Glens Falls and it's about 3 miles long, by one mile wide. With weight and my wallet in mind. What battery would you suggest to get me through the day? I was looking at some Everstart Deep Cycle batteries which are in the 40-50lb range. 90ah range. Do I need to go that big?

Any suggestions much appreciated!

 

[fishallwk]

100 AH battery running a 30 ft lb thrust at high speed, med.and low speed last-
High 3.3 hr
Med 6.7 hr
Low 20 hr
A 36 ft lb thrust would cut each run time by about 20%
(These are approx. so I'd err on the side of caution.)
Keep in mind that weight and head-wind will shorten your run time.
You might consider using the wind to your advantage, check the wind direction for the day and if it's going to be from the same direction all day, I would run at low speed going into the wind to your furthest point and then work your way back.
To be safe you may want two batteries or figure on rowing some.
Hope this helps.

 

[rustybaker28]

Awesome advice, thanks! Three hours on high still seems like a good amount of time. Granted I'll have the motor on in bursts of 5-10 minutes at most moving from spot to spot this will likely get me through the entire day. Any thoughts on the weight capacity? Doing my best to search the web I've seen a few people say it will handle 500lb+ with no problem. I assume these are legally impended weight limits to cover the company, but you can likely exceed them. I guess I'll just have to test it out and see at the end of the day.

 

[rustybaker28]

Ok, this is the best I could come up with for the money, size, and weight. I would even go smaller if I could, but this is the smallest walmart carries in DC marine: http://www.walmart.com/ip/EverStart-Group-Size-24DC-Marine-Battery/20531540

Rated 115AH, 45lbs, $75 seems like a good deal. Anything else in this range anyone would recommend?

 

[Smooth]

Dont forget to register the boat if you intend on using it with the trolling motors. Easy pickens when the law sees an unregistered motor vehicle.

 

[fishallwk]

Another thing to consider is battery life and I'm not sure which makes your battery last longer. I go with running your battery to 50% of it's capacity and recharge on the lowest setting. I've tried running the battery almost all of the way down before charging it up and that shortened the battery's life.

 

[Ken L]

That battery should be more than adequate in terms of run time but it adds to your weight issue. You have to try this stuff to find out what works. The formulas give a rough idea but no more than that. The battery will actually increase in capacity over the first ten or twenty cycles as much as 20%. You can bet that is well accounted for in the capacity rating. After a while you will develop a feel for it.