I have a pro team 175 tracker bass boat with a 60 h.p. Motor. I am wanting to get a new trolling motor for river fishing. Right now i have a 12 vikt trolling motor and am going to install another battery for the trolling motor. I was wondering what everyone thought about how much thrust I should have 70 lbs or 80 lbs? Keep in mind i plan on doing river fishing so therefore i need a little bit bigger trolling motor to keep up on the river. Thanks

The 10lbs thrust between the 70 and 80 is negligible.

So basically the extra 200 or so dollars isnt worth it to get the 80 lb thrust? 

What motors are you looking at? The $200 may not necessarily be for the thrust but rather a 5 speed vs a variable speed. The variable speed would be the better choice. In addition to the motor, I'm guessing you will need to upgrade the onboard charger as well as install another battery tray.  

Looking at the minn kota maxxum. I will need a new tray and 3 output onboard charger. Just trying to decide between 80 lbs or 70. Fishing on the Mississippi river. 

is your boat heavy 

The 70lb Maxxum comes in both 5 speed and variable speed, the 80lb comes only as variable. As I said before, the 10lbs is negligible. If you get the 70, make sure you get the variable speed. My last boat was a 17footer and 70 was plenty of thrust. 

@slonezp were you fishing on a river? 

Variable speed is Dramatically better than the models with set speeds - which never seem right.

A-Jay

I have an 80lb Maxxum on my boat and fish in heavy discharge current without any issue. I use to have a 70lb Maxxum on my Lowe that was similar in size to your boat and it performed well in the same situation. Only thing I would say, spend the extra money on variable speed. I've had one 5 speed 70lb Maxxum, never again. In the current, 4 was too slow and 5 was too fast. 

I regularly fish the Fox River in northern IL and did it in that boat for 10 years using a 70lb Power drive V2. I'm not trying to talk you out of the bigger motor. 

Dont skimp on the batteries.  Get batteries with a high RC rating. Group 29 will be better than group 24 but im not sure you have room for 29's

Motorguide 82# digital tour.  Have one on my Lund which is a big wide boat.  I have never regretted spending the extra $$ on that motor and neither will you.  You can never have enough trolling motor.  NEVER

On an investment like that, you are going to have it a while. If I were you, I'd be getting the 80 lb thrust. Even though the difference won't be night and day difference, there will be some and it's always better to have more power and scale it back than too little. 

Seriously, if you have the room for the extra batteries, go with a 36 volt system.   Over the life of the system the extra cost will be negligible.  Can't have too much battery power.   I have a 2002 Lowe WF 180 and if I could fit an extra battery in my boat, I'd have the 36 volt system.