Ignoramus31468 wrote in message ra.com...
I have a 21 foot boat with a mercruiser. Very close to the house, we
have a forest preserve with a nice little lake. The trouble is, they
do not allow gasoline motors to be operated. I might consider buying a
trolling motor to troll around. The question is, is a trolling motor
enough to push a 21 foot boat against wind? Mine does not have a very
high profile, it is a cuddy cabin type of boat.

I had a 19.5 foot 'bass boat' before and It's trolling motor
would barely hold it in the wind. And it had a 12/24v system
that was switchable. if it was really windy, you had to
use the 24v. It wasn't much use for getting around the lake,
just manevering around the fishing spots.

I would think that a trolling motor on a 21ft with a cuddy
cabin would be a waste of money in the wind. Even with no
wind the weight of your boat would make it dead slow, even
with at $400 trolling motor and dual batteries.

If you want to use a trolling motor on that lake, take whatever
money you had planned on using for a huge trolling motor for
your 21ft cuddy-cabin and purchase a 12'-14' "John-boat". It'll
work great with a trolling motor. They are pretty cheap,
especially used. I've seen them for as cheap as $50-$100
with no motor or trailer. a trolling motor for these are
pretty lightweight and can be bought at wal-mart.

It's not a 'cuddy cabin' by using the JOhn boat, but if you
put a trolling motor on that 21ft boat, you'll never get
more than a few hundred yards away from the boat ramp,
so the john boat will do fine in that area, and more.

or heck. buy a canoe.

-mike