My current rig is an 03 Mirrocraft 1615 Troller and I have a Minnkota PD 55 on it. I can drag crawler harnessing all day and have battery left over. I am hoping to buy an Alumacraft Classic 165 this year and would have the dealer install another Minnkota PD 55. Does anyone else have a Classic with the PD 55 and if so what kind of performance do you get?
Thanks
I have a 16.5 ft starcraft, D star with 12 volt 55lb pd. I figure that's about size of your mirrorcraft. The 55 powered it just fine for as long as wanted to fish for one day. I also have 18.5 alumacraft with 24volt 80lb terrova with ap/spot lock. Moves that much heavier boat around with ease. First, Congrats on getting a new boat, but the alumacraft will weigh more than your mirrorcraft and might require a little more power or 2 batteries for longer time on the water. One more thing to consider, if budget allows, is the higher level trolling motors with spot lock, autopilot, cruise control, are some great features that would help anyone's overall fishing. Think about that before pulling the plug on new tm. I have never heard anyone say,( I wish I had less power.)
Good luck and have fun with new boat.
I have a 165 Classic and have been running a 24 volt 80 Fortrex for at least 5 years and would never go back to a 12 volt. Because of the size of the boat I have to run two small batteries and I have them in the rear starboard compartment. I musky fish a lot and am on the trolling motor all day often in the wind. Just personal preference. Obviously others have no issues.
If you are planning on doing an upgrade and have the option of going to 24 (because you have the room for batteries) it would be foolish not to. Is that better?
You can get your hands on a good used 24v motor quite easily and if there is something on them that needs to be replaced no big deal. They are very simple to rebuild. No special tools are required. If you can change a car battery you can put these things together. From ground up it’s possible to set together a 70lb PowerDrive for $400 below MSRP.
If you have room for two trolling motor batteries you’d be an idiot to connect two together in a 12v system. If you have the room for two go with a 24v system. Most older and plenty of newer boats are not wired right to begin with so if you are putting a new trolling motor on it’s wise to start with new wiring. A new motor is a fairly significant investment to run on old undersized wire that in all likelihood doesn’t have a circuit breaker to protect it.
I had a Classic 165 with a Terrova iPilot that had 55# of thrust. I had a group 31 battery hooked up to it. I never felt that I needed more power, or a second battery. I did have a Yamaha F60 tiller that I used for trolling cranks, but the Spot Lock feature is fantastic. I don’t know how long I could have actually trolled with the Terrova.
I have a alumacraft 170 competitor. I too bought a pd 55. I can troll about 6 hrs on 5 ish with a group 27 AGM. If I was to do it again I definitely would have gone to a 24v. Now I linked two batteries together and have all kinds of run time. However, more than a few times I’ve needed more than the 55 could give. My personal option go 24. A 12v 55 will work but a 24v 70 will be great!
