I need a recomendation for a bow mount trolling motor for an 18' aluminum bass
boat. Boat has a 90 hp outboard motor. Would like to use one battery, one of
the deepcycle/starting type (12v) for both motor and trolling motor. I cant
help but notice almost everywhere I look has refurbished Minn Kotas for sale.
Whats up with that? Are they junk? Why would so many be refurbs? ... Anyway,
how long could I expect to run with a 50lb thrust motor before I would be in
danger of not being able to start the outboard with a 700 amp battery?

Suggestion ... here's where a few extra bucks spent on 2 batteries ... a
starting battery (for starting) and a deep cycle battery (for trolling) ...
outweighs that one time that the outboard decides not to start first crank.
I use two batteries normally connected in parallel. When trolling, I
disconnect the deep cycle from the system and troll off it. When done
trolling, and after starting the engine, I reconnect them in parallel. So
.... except when trolling, I am using two batteries that charge as I go.

But to answer your question, it all depends. First, that 700 amps does not
figure in the calculation. It's the battery reserve capacity, the current
used (e.g. the trolling setting), whether the battery is fully charged to
begin with ... and on and on and on.

But if you have a pull cord, go for it.

"CCred68046" wrote in message
...
I need a recomendation for a bow mount trolling motor for an 18' aluminum
bass
boat. Boat has a 90 hp outboard motor. Would like to use one battery,
one of
the deepcycle/starting type (12v) for both motor and trolling motor. I
cant
help but notice almost everywhere I look has refurbished Minn Kotas for
sale.
Whats up with that? Are they junk? Why would so many be refurbs? ...
Anyway,
how long could I expect to run with a 50lb thrust motor before I would be
in
danger of not being able to start the outboard with a 700 amp battery?

I would get another battery for the trolling motor unless you're sure
you can rope start the main motor. You don't even have to go through all
the wiring hassles and expense of the A/B switch if you hook them up to
a combiner, which distributes charging current to whichever battery
needs it, but won't let one battery discharge into the other. (Not an
isolator, which uses current even when you're not using them, I'm told.)

That way you can fish all day without fear of running your starting
battery down, then charge them both up on your way home or after you get
home and put the charger on one of them.

I can't imagine trying to rope my 90 hp Honda, although they say it can
be done.

obull (CCred68046) wrote in message ...
I need a recomendation for a bow mount trolling motor for an 18' aluminum bass
boat. Boat has a 90 hp outboard motor. Would like to use one battery, one of
the deepcycle/starting type (12v) for both motor and trolling motor. I cant
help but notice almost everywhere I look has refurbished Minn Kotas for sale.
Whats up with that? Are they junk? Why would so many be refurbs? ... Anyway,
how long could I expect to run with a 50lb thrust motor before I would be in
danger of not being able to start the outboard with a 700 amp battery?

Minn Kotas are very good trolling motors. I wouldn't trade mine for
anything. One thing I really like about mine, versus Motor Guides that
I saw, was the MinnKota has a switch to set it to constant on. When
I'm fishing a bait that I want to cover a lot of territory with, like
a buzz bait, I set the motor on a slow speed, hit the constant on, and
then just steer.

"CCred68046" wrote in message
...
I cant
help but notice almost everywhere I look has refurbished Minn Kotas for
sale.
Whats up with that? Are they junk? Why would so many be refurbs? ...



There are several differnt reasons why a company would end up with a large
number of "refurbished" units. Most of the time, the units are brand new,
but for some reason they can't sell them as new. Here are a few reasons
why:

1) The product was shipped, and then the manufacturer discovered a defect
that needs to be corrected. There may be thousands of these units in
wharehouses and distributors that the manufacturer calls back. Some times
the problem is in the unit itself, and they have to open it up and fix
something. Sometimes they simply didn't include some warning sticker, or
failed to mention 25 times in the manual that spinning propellers can be
dangerous!

2) It is common for a manufacturer to sell their product under a differnt
brand name. For example, XYZ Bigname Store might slap their name on a motor
made by Minn Kota. Min Kota makes thousands of units that say XYZ Bigname
on them, and then XYZ decides that they don't want to sell that model of
trolling motors anymore and makes Minn Kota a deal that they will sell this
other model if they take back all the inventory of the first model. Minn
Kota gets all these units back, replaces the lables, puts them in new boxes
and sells them again. Except technically they can't sell them as new
because they had already been sold to XYZ.

3) There is always a flow of inventory between the manufacturer and the
consumer. From the factory units will go into shipping, and can take a
couple of weeks to ship across the ocean. Then they get trucked to some
place like Texas as a major distribution point. Then they get sent out to
the various distribution points for the major outlets and for the second
tier distribution points for the smaller stores. Then they get into
inventory of the major outlets.

Then the manufacturer changes the model. It is essentially the same unit,
except the old one was 50 pounds of thrust and the new ones have 55 pounds
of thrust. They are both the same price. Which would you buy? The stores
bitch, the manfucturer takes back all the 50 pound units and sells them
again.

So, a refurbished unit could be brand new, never been used.


Rod McInnis

On 25 Sep 2003 20:55:51 GMT, obull (CCred68046)
wrote:

I need a recomendation for a bow mount trolling motor for an 18' aluminum bass
boat. Boat has a 90 hp outboard motor. Would like to use one battery, one of
the deepcycle/starting type (12v) for both motor and trolling motor. I cant
help but notice almost everywhere I look has refurbished Minn Kotas for sale.
Whats up with that? Are they junk? Why would so many be refurbs? ... Anyway,
how long could I expect to run with a 50lb thrust motor before I would be in
danger of not being able to start the outboard with a 700 amp battery?

I've owned four Minn-Kota's, and never had a problem with any of them.
If you can afford it, I strongly recommend a seperate deep-cycle
battery for the trolling motor. I've run the troller off the starting
battery before, but the first time you over-do it, and the engine
won't start, you'll regret it.
Good luck,
....carry on.
noah

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