John Weiss wrote:
"Rick Cortese" wrote...

FWIW: If anything I think the older MinnKota model numbers reflected amps.
Figure 85 amps would roughly translate to 40ish lbs of thrust.


I don't think so. Current motors are on the order of 1# thrust per amp at 12V.

Look up motors from the 80s. That is what this is.
For example model 55 with 24# thrust
http://cgi.ebay.com/MinnKota-Trollin...QQcmdZViewItem

That will probably truncate but if you really care you can go to eBay
and find it.

Also, 85 amps is a HUGE continuous load! I wouldn't want to wire a boat for
that!

It's not my fault. I did not come up with 746 Watts/hp or Ohm's law.
Note the capital letters for the units, that is so you can blame it on
Mr. Watt and Mr. Ohm. As others noted it probably isn't an 85# thrust
like Caine originally thought. 85 amps X 12V = 1.37 hp or roughly
equivalent to a 25cc Weed Eater. I'm not sure what you think it is but I
guess that doesn't matter. I would bet that even if it does draw 85
amps, that would be peak load i.e. full throttle from standing start or
plowing through weeds. I will probably get around to testing a Weed
EaterEcho actually motor with my GPS to get top speed in the next
month just for the hell of it.

40 lbs of thrust is nothing to sneeze at anyway. I think the min
recommendation for trolling motor is something like 5 lbs thrust for every
1,000 lbs of boat and passengers. 40 lbs in some circles would be good'nuff
for a 30' sailboat with lead keel.


I don't think so here, too! My MinnKota 42EX (12V, 42# thrust, 36 amps) pushes
my 21', 1200# sailboat at about 3.5 kt in flat water -- with an aftermarket
prop. In any kind of headwind or sea, a 40# thrust motor wouldn't keep headway
on a 30' boat!

One more time, minimum i.e. for some people just moving the boat in and
out of a slip to where they can raise sails.

Another one more time, Caine seems to be very happy with his, albeit
with a smaller boat but but loaded with passengers. That would mean he
is happy with performance.

Which all means that you are not happy with marginal performance or
maybe sail where there are strong [wind, tides, currents]. That doesn't
bother me in the least. That it bothers you and Morgan that some people
are happy at lower power levels, well when I said minimum that would
mean like maybe 1 in 5 people right?