Muddpuppy

I have a 50 on my 16' alum and I do wish it was just a little larger some days. For the most part it more then does the trick, but a 55 or 60 might be better on rough windy days.

I fish more with other people now then I did for several years, but I don't know if I prefer one over the other depends on the day. I have always gone by myself unless taken the dogs except if it's hot and seem to get into the natural aspects and feel of being outdoors alot more then with a friend. But buds keep things livelier, offer a competative spirit and help launch the boat.

I know Minn Kota sells a detatchable Trolling Motor bracket so it can be removed from the boat.

Bug repelent and sunscreen is almost a must. I like to have at least an extra quart of oil onboard too just in case. extra fuses

I keep light rain gear in the boat for me and a passenger often a pole and sometimes a mechete or hatchet a spotlight, blacklight/florecent, and flashlight a votage meter duct and electrical tape extra stainless screws and bolts battery powered arreator extra batteries tow line and cords spare T motor prop and prop wrench dispossable camera (never remembered until too late) maps bowls for drinking water and food for the dog

If you run out of any other brite ideas that you like better, you can always try.......... getting in a real big hurry to get it out of the way, then useing a 4 wheeler to drop it in a bunch of trees, so that it can't be reached with a truck and cover it with a camo screen. It also helps to make sure that you break your leg in the mean time, get several heavy rains plus haveing it placed where the tounge faces a ditch, leaveing it virtualy impossible to get back out for nearly 6 weeks. But I dought if anything will try to mess with it, unless you have horses and racoons, that is. Might not hurt to pick up anouther tail light to have onhand, just in case, for when you do try to back it out. But they're normally pretty cheap. :-/ Normally I use a hitch lock and run a security cable through one wheel and around the frame, tree or post when leaveing it. It might not hurt to have a cable or lock on the motor either if it is a smaller one.

I carry them with me and use them from time to time, but rarely skip fishing a spot that has one out, since alot of times they are used to mark brushpiles on some of the lakes I hit.

I guess I read that like it was just a couple of abnormally windy days, which isn't unusual on my part. I would check to make sure nothing like fishing line is wrapped around the inside of the prop and slowing it down and that all conections are tight and clean. If you have a meter you should be getting a reading of at least 12.5 or even a little higher when they are fully charged anything lower one of them maybe going bad so you could have those checked if you don't. You should also be getting that at the motor and if it's lower it might be in the wireing. I'm not sure that would explains the noise you hear though. That's about all the things I can think of now up to the motor itself or mechanical. There have been some pretty good tips given for things to check on some of the other recent posts dealing with t motor troubles, if I missed something.

Have you checked with Micro Munch Tackle? I think he does custom colors if he doesn't already make it. http://www.homestead.com/micromunchjigs/welcome.html

I wouldn't know why you couldn't use it like that the only significant difference that I can think of would be size and protection from moisture. Minn Kota and a few other companies make chargers that a designed for deep cycle batteries that are portable. Some do get a little costly on some of the maintaining and De- Sulfateing systems designed for long periods of use. There are some really informative sites online from chargeing to battery maintenance.

Minn Kota has some troubleshooting tips on their site, you may be loseing a little votage if the wireing is to small. It tells how to figure what size you need on there. You can try hooking the batteries parallel, on those days if your not already. I have a 50hp. on my 16' and it's tough some days, if I try to use the on/off feature on the foot pedal when set on high in windy rough water conditions it starts throwng the breaker after a while, I have to let it run constantly. Sometimes I can catch everything where dragging a sea anchor helps out but not often.

I thought it was made alot like particle or pressed boards and can be pressed into shapes but that's partly a guess for that application.

Here is one more thing before I go tell my wife that you talked me into getting anouther one ;D A well constructed aluminum will most likely outlive your next motor. As long as you don't smash it into a bunch of rocks and rip the hull open or in my case back into many more trees, it will still be dependable and look good with just a little polish, some carpet and paint for years to come. So unless you have a bunch of kids or grandkids that want to tag along your boat may continue to fit your needs for quite awhile to come. Although you probably could pull one around with a 50 on a tube, or maybe skies if they are small enough at least a little bit to keep them happy - of course the operating cost just went thru the roof.

I might be wrong but I'm not sure you will see a big change in your overall fuel costs unless you travel alot more then you do now or at least high operating costs. The performance and handleing might even help alittle. I don't consider my costs bad at all with the 40 at least compared to the big ones. I guess I burn somewhere between 6 - 10 bucks on gas on a lot of trips that's counting playing around a little although $3.00 or $4.00 isn't uncomon on the small lakes or fishing in a general area where I put in. Sometimes less, sometimes more. I thought I could do a simple search in Money and come up with a close estimate, but didn't work. I do know I usually spend more on cokes, ice and such then gas on the avarage trip. I've never broken it down into HPG or miles traveled since it wasn't an issue. With a larger motor you wouldn't have to run it as hard as the one you have now when fishing your normal areas. Most of the lakes I fish are around 2,600, 5,000 and 26,600+/- ( it's still slow on these and I don't usually run from one end to the other ). The larger motor might help the resale value of your boat at least I think it might down here. If the boat I looked at online is like yours that seems it could handle a larger motor. True it won't absorb the cost of a new one, but might help. I wouldn't want any smaller motor on my boat then I have now and wish I had a larger one. I have considered getting a newer larger boat but can't justify that even as well as just a new motor at this time, so for now I do nothing and droll out advice. Maybe I am just trying to talk myself into one. I checked into some of the jet conversions kits a while back and after talking to a couple of people on here then discarded the idea. I think they are wonderful on rivers, but you loose up to 20% of your present speed with a prop. I also fish a lot of slop at times and was told that isn't the conditions were they perform at their best because of the filters and weeds. But I have seen some manufactures in Lousiana that are now putting them on there boats for these waters so who knows.

I've had good service with Interstate, Continental batteries so far. I picked up anouther one made by Battery Plus a year or so ago almost at cost that held it's charge better then any of the others this winter, now I wonder if I shouldn't had bought all he had. I don't know what life I will get from it. Those all retail for about 80.00 - $100. Lost my cranking bat. this winter and it's from Wal Mart that had been on there at least 3 or 4 years maybe a little longer. I only priced the smaller cranking batteries last night when I was up there but they were priced $39.00, $49.00 and $59.00. I didn't see any of the Maxx Marine at the store I was at or notice which if any were the larger deep cycle.

No arguement, kind of streatching for any simple possibilities here that haven't been given. Mainly threw that out for preventative maintenace, but since the motor has had a history of binding up some in the past I would probably check or replace it if it does have one. It wouldn't hurt to know if you have one or not and it's location and to make sure theres a spare before you get out on the water and it gives you yet anouther surprise, later. :-/ What size is the motor?

One other thing that comes to mind is that there maybe a fuse somewhere between the circuit breakers in back and the trolling motor. It could be inline under the deck close to the motor or on the console.

Sounds like you could have a short somewhere to me. If you have a meter it's pretty simple to check and every once in a while even find. For no more then they cost, that would be my first step if you don't have one already. From my experience with trailer lighting you'll need it again sometime down the road. Check any splices, look for cracks and exposed places that could have worn thru the insulation and that all connections are right and that there aren't any wires or strands touching each other, and feeding back thru each other or that they aren't grounding at the light houseings if made of metal. I have had both connectors and lamp holders go bad. Make sure that you have a good ground from the vehicle and to the trailer and that nothing is feeding thru it. When I install lights I like to use a seperate battery (doesn't have to be a car battery) with a jumper wire and check each wire and connection as I go also saves me from haveing to run back and forth turning things on and off. You can also connect one wire at a time and check it, that way. It could be in your vehicles wireing too so check that the best that you can if you can't find anything on the trailer. You might also need a heavy duty flasher for your turn signals and that the correct element is burning in the bulb.

I used a bowline on mine and haven't had a problem, it's hasn't given at all. I do the same as Ben on launching. I did watch a guy one morning wheel in with a flat on his trailer, he undid the staps and tied the rope off to his truck. He then roared backwards until the trailer wheels touched the water and locked it up skidding to a stop. The boat flew off the trailer and all the way to the end of about a 50ft. rope. He got out of the truck pulled it to the bank. I almost fell out on the ground laughing. That's how he said he always does it minus the flat tire, but I don't think that was his first time like that, either. It was a fiberglass boat about like a Kingfisher.

I have an 16' aluminum Ranger Cherokee with a 40hp Merc. on it, the hull design looks quite a bit different then yours but I imagine they are close to the same weight. Mine runs about 28 to 30 with two in the boat. I get around 32 to 35 by myself, but I usually run around 25 or so since I'm seldom in a hurry. I haven't tried any other props yet and would have to check to see what I even have on it now. I have thought about going to a 60hp.

At one time you had to get creative if you wanted to use something nobody else was. I haven't tried to get real creative for some time now that there are so many baits available, but I still take my old plastics that I have used and repair the holes, cut and splice parts together. Then I store them in a bag and add some Ultrabite, sea salt and a scent. I don't seperate the colors so they can bleed into each other. The big ika turned out pumkinseed and muscadine the fat ika is blue/pink on white they look pretty good. The worms are spliced and longer then normal.

I've seen some pretty neat "outboard" looking electric motors online, some of the sites also have some really good information on detemining thrust and speed, battery requirements, ect. I think Tractor Supply even had one they sold for a while, that I thought was about the size of 5hp. gasoline motor, seems like it was a Hiawatha or something like that. I dought if any would get your boat to scream as it shoots out of the hole on take off, but they might work pretty good for cruseing around on a smaller lake. I think I found them doing a search for Electric - Marine, Boat or Fishing Motors.

I often fish a marina when heading out and most of the year, I see alot more that try it comeing back since they are in a rush to get to their favorite spot in the mornings. I've landed some nice fish in some of the larger marinas around here. We went out one night last summer and things were slow, so we gave up and headed back in. Comeing back into the cove where we launched there are some boat houses for guests that were empty but you could see fish in them hitting on the top. I think we pulled 3 out of there before loading the boat.

I know we have run some pretty good spans with 12g. cords I guess they would be rated for about 1500watts. Anything heavier then 12 ga. can get pretty costly. Underground Romex might be the cheapest way to go to get power to the boat over a long distance .

I have a 50 lb. on my boat and normally carry a spare battery. I haven't run it on a river or anywhere with heavy currents yet, just on area lakes. From what I have seen crossing the Mississippi there are times the current looked mighty strong. In heavy winds with rough water I have seen one of mine and others get pretty weak when running mostly on the higher settings. I know I have had to swap out a time or two, but some of those times might have been do to an older battery or not being fully charged to begin with on some trips. I believe the operating time chart gives about 1.5 hrs. for mine on high. I don't think I would want to risk running that river with only one battery and no other motor for back up on an all day trip.