Trolling Motors

I am in the market for a bow mount trolling motor with a foot pedal. A couple things to limit what I can get. I have a very short bow for attaching the motor to (less than two feet), and about a $700 budget. I have heard some pretty bad reviews about the minnkota terrova with a cracking issues. I have also heard bad things about the foot pedal of the minnkota power drive v2. I would greatly appreciate some input.

Spuds: Get a Terrova. Great footpedal. None of the cable drive hassle. And with the Terrova, you can get the spot lock feature that acts like an anchor using GPS. It even "remembers" programmed spots. You drop your boat within a hundred yards of a "saved" location, tell it to return to the spot and it will drive itself there. It also has the feature that automatically adjusts (when on constant) to account for wind and current. The remote is great, too. Often times I don't even use my footpedal when out fishing, especially for walleyes. Uncle: Get too much power versus too little. 80# should be good for a 14 footer, maybe even a little much. But your two batteries will last longer.

Hey all, I'm going to do more fishing this year on electric motor only lakes and I was wondering how big of a trolling motor is overkill for a 14' aluminum boat?

The locking collar that you adjust to set the depth of the motor can crack from over tightening or if the tightening knob gets caught in the power cord and you turn it too far. People will crack them by over tightening if they lose one of the washers that sits on the knob. Like I said earlier in this thread....it's a relatively minor issue. Epoxy it up or get a replacement for it and those are cheap. I picked up a new one just in case but the original that I epoxied works just fine.

What's this cracking issue you guys are speaking of? Where does it have a tendency to crack?

i havent seen any cracking on my terrova

I have the Minkota power drive v2, so does my son in law, both foot pedals are junk, if you look them up, you can see there are problems with them. installed the copilot and do like that, just keep in mind it is run by a battery ;)

Cabela's has the Minnkota 50 power drive v2 for $500 now. Add on the co-pilot for $149, and you have a great set up for your budget. Been using this for the last 10+ years. I have the older style foot pedal, which wasn't the best. Not sure if the new style is better, but with the copilot, you get a hand control that works very slick.

haven't had a problem with terrova ever... just upgraded to 80 pound and I haven't cracked of course I didn't buy local I ordered from minnkota directly

Look on ebay, craigslist, or any outdoor site with a classifieds section. 12v or 24v is a good question and can drive the price one way or the other. Depending on boat size $700 might limit you on new motors to a cable driven unit. Wouldn't worry too much about those cracking issues with the Terrova. The locking collar is an issue but no big deal. It's a $15 part for a new one or a $5 tube of a epoxy so you can epoxy the snot out of it when it does crack. Mine cracked, epoxied it up, no issues. Again....depending on boat size a 55lb Terrova could be found in your price range. Right around $1,000 new but sometimes you can nab a reconditioned one or lightly used one for less than that. Getting one of those would allow you to upgrade to an iPilot later on. A PD would as well but Terrova wins out hands down simply for the fact that you can use the foot pedal and iPilot remote at the same time. Can't do that with a PD. After running a cable drive trolling motor on another boat one time there's no way I'd ever get something like that. Some guys love them and it fits their type of fishing....for what I do nothing comes close to a Terrova with iPilot....nothing.

I just weeks ago had to change out my bow mount , had a Minn kota all terrain for about 16 years . Found a 54 # thrust motor guide at fleet farm on sale for $ 420 it even used the same mounting holes. It should do just fine ,I don't fish as much as I used to .