Trolling Plate Question

I have a 40 horse Evinrude ETEC on a 17 ft side console Alumacraft. I am looking into doing a little trolling this year on the Willow Flowage (maybe a handful of times per year, so don't want to buy a kicker). I was looking into trolling plates and trying to decide between the Johnson Marine and the Trol-a-matic. I like the idea of not having to pull a cord every time you use it. The Trol-a-matic recommends use for 50hp motors and bigger. Not sure if my motor would run well with it. Any thoughts between these two options? thanks

I have a Happy Troller on my Lowe 17.5' Fish & Ski. It is mounted to a Mercury ELPTO 115 hp outboard. I love it. I can choke my trolling speed down to 1-1.2 mph. The only problem is that the pull cord is not very reliable. Often I need to put it in reverse first for the plate to unlock and the spring to disengage when I attempt to raise it. I also keep a 4 ft. paint pole with the roller arm on my rig. Sometimes it is just quicker to reach down, grab the outside edge of the plate and pop it up. I can't see the need for a kicker though. $80.00 investment more the does the trick.

The trol a matic is by far the nicest trolling plate on the market. No need to worry about a cable to pull. I recently took mine off and got a kicker. The issue with a trolling plate is the steering, very hard to steer with the trolling plate. Not sure how well the 40 will do, the trol a matic has a pretty stiff spring. If you can afford it, I would go with a nice bow mount and use that for trolling.