Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I have a 28' tritoon with 225 hp. I just tried out my Minn Kota trolling motor. The iPilot feature is AMAZING. I plotted a short course on the shoreline, (1000'). Hit return and it brought me back over the same course flawlessly. Back and fourth about 3 times. Had about 6-8 mph winds maybe more. Compensated for that with no problem. I also tried out the anchor feature. We stopped at a sandbar with lots of boats there. I hit anchor and it kept the boat at that same spot for over an hour. The boat never semed to move. Crouded with boats all around. Again with a slight wind worked flawlessly. Even with the two tops up catching the wind.
I highly recommend it.

def on my wish list,
what # thrust is yours?

-bb

Yep, on the wish list. It will probably stay there because of the price, but it sure would be nice.

My neighbor has that on his trolling motor but be sure you have an extra battery. The thing is a battery hog if you are dealing with a lot of wind and current.

blackberg wrote:def on my wish list,
what # thrust is yours?

-bb

82# 24 volt.

GregF wrote:My neighbor has that on his trolling motor but be sure you have an extra battery. The thing is a battery hog if you are dealing with a lot of wind and current.

All depends on how you use it. I have the same t-motor on my other boat for the last couple years. never ever had battery issues.. That one is a 55# 12 volt. Any t-motor is a battery hog in wind or current.

I bought a MinnKota PowerDrive (24V, 70 lbs thrust, 54" shaft) with iPilot about a month ago. This thing is amazing!

I was concerned about the thrust for my toon, but it's done great in 15 mph winds (the anchor function held the spot fine, and it pulls me along at almost 3 mph at full power).

I added a third battery so I don't have to mess with my cranking battery. I also bought the mounting kit, which leaves only a 4" x 6" pad when the motor is removed.

Works great, tried one out. Also made Minnkota V1's pop up like crazy on craigslist for reasonable prices (only v2's are compatable). I pick up a gently used PD55 V! with copilot, autopilot, and sonar for 350$ because the owner upgraded to a 1100$ ipilot (and gave me a demo of the ipilot). Side note, you want AT LEAST a 55# for a 20ft pontoon. After playing with mine all weekend I found mine OK, but I needed to crank it all the way to 10 sometimes to control the pontoon in a 15mph wind. Pulls my boat along at 2-2.2mph @ 10