Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I have a 24' boat. Will a 36lb trolling motor work?

toongigging wrote:I have a 24' boat. Will a 36lb trolling motor work?

Unless there was NO wind at all and even then I would be worried, I doubt that size TM would have the shaft length you need for toon also.

I would think you need an 86lb TM 24 Volt.

Maybe if you were on a small pond or where you never had any wind.
I had a 24' pontoon with a 50# thrust 12 VDC motor. Any time the wind was more than about 10 mph you could forget trying to use the tm.
There are lots of folks on here with toons and trolling motors; I'm sure they'll be more than happy to tell you the minimum thrust you'll need.
BTW, I have a MinnKota Maxxum 74# thrust, 24 volt motor on my Charger Bass boat and I even have trouble with trying to maneuver in some of the winds we get here at Lake of the Ozarks. I am seriously considering going to the MinnKota Terrova 80# thrust with the ipilot feature. It's pretty spendy, but I found out I can get about $400 for my old motor since it's in pretty good shape. Working on the sales pitch with the Admiral.

I have a 24' toon with a 54" shaft and 55# thrust motor, I HATE it. Toons catch so much wind that I have to run the motor so high to get it to react and it dosent last long at all..I'm about to sell it and upgrade to a 36volt 101# minn Kota ipilot. I noticed your name is toon gigger, do you gig flounder from your boat!

I have a 70lb (60"shaft) on a 20 ft and have used it in about a 2 1/2 chop. The same motor would work on your boat but, your boat being bigger, heavier the 36 volt, 101 lb Terrova would probably be best, with a 60" shaft. I don't think you would be happy with anything less than a 70 lb, but it depends a lot on what you are going to be using it for.

If you are trolling on a fairly large lake, you will need 24volt power with a (60" shaft) to maintain boat control. Make sure you get the 60" shaft with whatever motor you choose as anything shorter is going to pull out of the water with even a 1' chop. This loss of momentum every time the motor comes out of the water, makes boat control very, very difficult and usually results in constantly having to ramp the motor up to full power to gain control.

I have a 75 lb. thrust 24 Volt Motorguide on my 22 ft Tri Toonand it seems to work well. Only been out twice since installed but I can almost guarantee a 30 lb thrust will not do what you want.

Im gonna do some gigging once im done redoing my 24' harr8s flotebote.

Don't think that is going to do it. Would think at. Least a 78 pound. Which is what I had on my 20 foot and it work good. Even on a windy day.

I have a 20' boat on an inland lake...a windy one....and my motorguide 75 lb thrust has given us good service. I opted for the remote control unit as I can control the boat from anywhere on the boat...handy on a pontoon.

I have an 80# MK Riptide ST with iPilot on a 22' tri-toon. I can do 2.5 - 3 MPH (estimate on a windy day). Much less power and I think I wouldn't be able to control my toon in a moderate wind.
Remember:
<55# = 1 battery
~80# max. = 2 batteries
101# = 3 batteries

You've got to find a place to mount all these batteries and charge them all after each outing.

Todd

I installed a 70 lb, 54" MinnKota PowerDrive (24V) last year. It pushes around my toon with no problem, in every wind situation I've encountered so far. I especially like the iPilot features.