DaveVE

I've been running my fish finder on a small 12v sealed battery and last night for kicks I tested it as a backup emergency battery for my trolling motor. It got me back to the ramp across an 80 acre lake.

I bought a small 12v sealed battery for my finder and no joking have used it on 4 outings and it still shows fully charged so the FF draw is very, very little. I do like having my small battery as a simple backup for the trolling motor so I will keep using it.

30 is enough but I think you'd be happier with the 50. I run a 40 and mainly stick to lakes under 300 acres. The added power will come in handy if a storm pops up and you have to get to shore quick.

I'd personally jump for the 50. A 30lb Minn Kota is 100 new.

The trolling motor depends on the size of water you fish. 20lb would be fine on a pond but I'd go bigger on lakes. The lowest I've owned was 28lb and I would never do that again. If a storm or wind pops up you'll be very glad to have more lbs of thrust, especially if it's your only means of propulsion.

I have a 4 hp Evinrude that came with my boat. Pretty cool motor, but it is overkill and I don't like messing with fuel lines/mixture/more weight/one more thing to hook up at the lake. What I'm wondering is if I should just buy another deep cycle battery so I can run the trolling motor harder to spots and not have to worry about charge. I can sell the outboard and use like 1/5 the money on a battery and the rest on more mods. On the flipside, I have seen some 2hp Evinrudes with a built in tank that look to weigh quite a bit less.

My silverado bed is 6' and with the tailgate down my boat hangs over a couple feet. It doesn't budge with three rachet straps. I just put a red cloth or strap on the end to keep cops happy. You should be fine.

I use a Minn Kota Endura 40 and after 3-4 hours of pretty heavy running I still have 2/3 charge on a 27 battery. Like wnspain said I only use 1-2 speeds while fishing though. I do push it to 4-5 when going to spots if they aren't real far from me.

Also, the Lowrance Elite 3x is $90 on Amazon right now.

This has to be the best thread ever. I love the added 7" riser. It took me a few minutes to get the feeling down. It wasn't exactly tippy but sitting up higher felt a little different. Now I don't even notice. Left the rear seat alone as my wife is only 5'1 and she wouldn't be able to reach the floor. I love this little boat so much that I robbed the Hummingbird off my Ranger bass boat until I can afford another. Added some Bass Pro cheapo rod straps and a battery tray mainly to keep it from sliding around while transporting. I installed two drain plugs in the pontoons to help with any rain water and also I was curious of the condition of the foam. My boat is older so I was half expecting foam mush but it is surprisingly good. Just ordered a small 12v battery for my FF. The best part of this whole deal is that my wife loves this boat as well so this new obsession has a green light.

Curious, are you guys running a fish finder on your deep cycle battery or do you have the seperate smaller 12v battery?

I have a Scamp and not a Bass Raider but my pre-wired setup should be similar. You attach the two cables you mentioned to your battery and then I have two metal posts up front that I attach my trolling motor cable clamps to.

Haha, yeah I'm 6'4 so I hear ya. I'm looking forward to using the riser to get my knees out of my face.

A lot of you have suggested the 7" riser pedestal for the seats. Does this make the boat more tippy?

Also, thanks Atomic for the step by step process. Funny thing is I got to gabbing with some other guys at the ramp and they all helped me unload the boat. This thing seems to peak everyone's interest.