I bought a 14' Procraft bass boat this weekend, and I've been going over the whole thing checking things out to make sure its ready for the water. I dropped it into a friend of mines pond to check for leaks. While waiting for some results, I decided to drop the trolling motor in and get used to the foot controls since I have never used one before. Only to find that it will cut out and back in during use, BUT, only under load. When ran out of water, no matter which setting, it will not cut out. I also noticed the wires getting warm when I checked to see if the plug was loose as well when it was in the water.

I had the battery tested beforehand, and it passed fine. It was also for sure at full charge, it was on the trickle over night before being installed again and used (TM has its own battery). Some diagnostic work checking for possible shorts or what not, and reading the manual, I found that the previous owner installed it incorrectly. He used 10g wire to attach it to the battery, when Minn Kota suggests 6g wire to extend the leads. He also did not use a breaker.

Now, I plan to fix this for sure, but I'm mainly looking for a second opinion on whether or not that is the cause of power loss, or if anyone else experienced the same issue (doubtful, but can't hurt asking.)

my guess would be there is a auto reset breaker somewhere in the circuit.

Actually, you're right. I was pulling the wires out of it to replace them with the correct size, and I found that they were attached to the breaker, hiding behind the plate that the trolling motor plugs into on the front of the boat. Which I know is not the right way either. I also seen that it was only a 40 amp, which is well low of what it should be.

I went out shopping for the 60A breaker today, but I think the only places that will have it were already closed. So now that I found that out, I'm a little less worried about it. I should have it fixed and back on the water this weekend!

Make sure you replace it with a manual reset breaker.

My Minn Kota Edge hand control does the same thing after it has been run for awhile.