I have a powerdrive 50 lb thrust. It is 5 years old. Works great. I paid $300 for it a couple years ago. I updated it to spot lock/advanced gps last year. The upgrade with the wireless remote cost me about $600, so I am at about $900 in on this thing.

I bought a different boat and needed to get the shaft lengthened to fit the boat. This was supposed to cost about $150. Repair shop says trolling motor needs rebuilt lower unit due to failing lower unit seal (it worked fine when I brought it in, so I'm not sure if it actually needs to be replaced. but i am not one to argue with a shop since they know more than I do) The prop was also out of square. They said total repair would be $350 for this.

 

This gets me to about $1250. This same trolling motor brand new today$1249. 

 

I can get a 55 lb thrust terrova for about $1600. If youre me what do you do? Get powerdrive fixed or just get a terrova and sell powerdrive for whatever i can get out of motor/upgraded head/remote? 

 

I know Terrova is much nicer trolling motor and I can still use foot pedal so I'm leaning towards this. 

I sense you’ve already made up your mind.  Go for iT!

The Terrova is a great TM. Just saying.😁

I think you're making a false comparison.  You have $900 into it, but that is a sunk cost- you've already spent it.  Your choice is to spend $350 or $1250.  I'm not saying don't do it, but just make sure you're making the right comparison.  

The seal kit and new prop will probably run you around $50. I'm not super mechanically inclined (I'm a pencil pusher during the day), but I've replaced my old Ultrex's lower unit armature and seals before, it's not terribly difficult and there are many many YT videos on how to do it. $150 to lengthen the shaft seems like a bargain though. Tough decision, but how is the Terrova better? It seems like they both have the same features, after your PowerDrive upgrade.

I don't know how much you use the pedal but they are different on the two.  We had a power drive on our family fishing boat growing up and that pedal was junk.  We had to replace it three times in about 15 years.  Finally just got sick of it and upgraded to a Terrova.  My Father still has the boat and he mostly uses the remote now but the pedal alone is a significant improvement over the one on the power drive.

 

You didn't say if you use the pedal or not in the original post, so I wasn't sure.  If you are primarily a remote user, then it's a moot point.

On 7/21/2025 at 10:19 AM, Junger said:

The seal kit and new prop will probably run you around $50. I'm not super mechanically inclined (I'm a pencil pusher during the day), but I've replaced my old Ultrex's lower unit armature and seals before, it's not terribly difficult and there are many many YT videos on how to do it. $150 to lengthen the shaft seems like a bargain though. Tough decision, but how is the Terrova better? It seems like they both have the same features, after your PowerDrive upgrade.

I guess I could’ve  have explained that better. I think the proper shaft is needs replaced on the powerdrive not just the prop. If it was just a prop and seal job I’d do it. I shortened my powerdrive originally and it wad pretty easy. Tearing the lower unit apart for the prop shaft, seals and shaft replacement all together seemed pretty good price at $350 to me: I work on old two stroke outboards often so I think I could’ve figured this one out. Happy to just have it done for once though. 

On 7/21/2025 at 10:29 AM, gim said:

I don't know how much you use the pedal but they are different on the two.  We had a power drive on our family fishing boat growing up and that pedal was junk.  We had to replace it three times in about 15 years.  Finally just got sick of it and upgraded to a Terrova.  My Father still has the boat and he mostly uses the remote now but the pedal alone is a significant improvement over the one on the power drive.

 

You didn't say if you use the pedal or not in the original post, so I wasn't sure.  If you are primarily a remote user, then it's a moot point.

The upgrade on the powerdrive eliminates the foot pedal so I don’t have option to use it. I’m 100% remote user at this point due to this and really don’t have any intention to ever use a foot pedal again. 

On 7/21/2025 at 9:10 AM, casts_by_fly said:

I think you're making a false comparison.  You have $900 into it, but that is a sunk cost- you've already spent it.  Your choice is to spend $350 or $1250.  I'm not saying don't do it, but just make sure you're making the right comparison.  

It’s actually $350 vs about $1600. I hear what you’re saying about sunk cost and you are correct. I think could’ve phrased it more like is the terrova worth the money give my circumstances already owning a trolling motor.