# trolling motors for pontoon boats



## flydaddy834 (Sep 11, 2007)

what is the most thrust a toon can handle? i have a 36 thrust and would like a little bigger i think. i am curious if anyone else has one bigger than 36 and if so how long do you get out of battery and is it a lot quicker compared to the 36. thanks in advance for any info on the subject.


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

Don't know what size your toon is but normally right now you have about the right sized trolling motor.


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

You will want to test drive a larger motor if possible.
You may find that iyt isn't what you thought.
It will run the battery down faster and it may not propell you much more.
A longer shaft may also be a problem for you.
Let us know what you decide,
Grandpa D.


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## Bhilly81 (Oct 18, 2009)

I have a 45 pond thrust motor but I haven't had the time to mount It and try it out just yet I still need to get a battery for it before I can use it any way but I'm going to try for in a couple of weeks to get it out and try it I will let you know how it works


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## kochanut (Jan 10, 2010)

the creek company you picked up for me.... i saw a guy fashion a base plate on there and then out a 3 horse kicker on it.... a little over kill in my book but it worked for him.


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## Packbasket (Oct 29, 2009)

I use a Minn Kota Riptide 55 on my flats boat and transferred it ot my buddy's 24foot pontoon, it worked great, at the time i bought it it was the largest i could get without going to 24 or 36volts. I liked it and it really didn't eat up the 12v battery any more than the 36# and even used less batt if we got into heavy weeds bowfishing since it chewed them up faster.

that same buddy has a 101# Riptide on that 24footer now and it really throws a wake, the only things I don't like is its a transom mount, which is a pain to see where you are going with 5 guys on the deck, and it is 36volt, but against the tide or a string wind it will really move that pontoon even with a load on it.


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## Jeremy28 (Dec 1, 2007)

i've got a 36 lb thrust minn kota on my 8' pontoon and it zips around great and actually has more power than needed. I think that, as far as minn-kotas are concerned, that they go from a 30 lb to 36 lb thrust sized engines. The 30lb thrust engine has a shorter shaft and then the shaft stays the same for the next few size increases. I would almost rather have the 30lb size because it still goes down plenty far into the water and may allow you to go a little slower which is nice for trolling a fly compared to the 36 lber that goes way to fast even at the slowest speed. I wish there was a way to get the slowest "1" speed to go even slower though so that i could troll around without having to use fins. I could be wrong, but i think for the most part, the thrust has more to do with power and not speed so even a higher thrust motor will not go faster than a lower thrust motor but it will have the power to not be "bogged down" as much like when going against the wind. I wish the minn-kotas had more range in the speeds though so that you could go super slow if you wanted. If speed stays the same between a 30 and 36 thrust engine then i would go with the 36 but unless you have a WAY bigger size toon, i don't think you would need an engine bigger than the 36.


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