New electric outboard

[BassGizmo]

check this out. Â*this seems like a nice little motor for those electric motor only lakes. Â*Its somewhat like my custom built motor that i have on my boat. Â*although my motor has about 8hp. Â* http://hectorshardware.com/newbrelti.html

[catfishtonyd]

That looks great, but it's a tad expensive for my tastes.
However if I was buying a new boat for an electric only lake, I might consider it. The weight of carrying at least four batteries would be a negeative also.

Years ago, Minn Kota had a 3 and 4 hp electric motor. I never saw the 4 hp, which was a 24 volt, and I believe they had problems with them, because they were taken off the market pretty quickly.

The 3 hp ones were around a bit longer. A buddy had one and he loved it. He had it on a 14 ft, Fisher, along with a "regular" foot control one on the bow. He said it would scoot right along.

[BassNva]

i have one of those 3hp minnkota tm's for sale $50.00 +shipping. ;D

[jman534]

I have both the 3Hp & the 4HP
I've had the 3HP for several years & it works great. The 4HP came with the jon boat I bought last Sept. I've had it out 3 times & it seems to draw too many amps to last through the day. As long as you run it at 1/2 speed, it's fine. At full tilt, it runs down too quickly.

I like the looks of that Briggs & Stratton, but between the cost of the motor & 4 batteries, it's a wee bit steep. As Cajun says, those batteries are a load to be hauling around. Although, I carry 3 on mine.

[macgyver]

[quote author=Jersey_Joe link=board=Boats;num=1081183803;start=0#3 date=04/05/04 at 18:25:09]
Â*Although, I carry 3 on mine.
[/quote]

Yeah but I'm guessing 1 is a spare, imagine carrying a spare 4 batteries .

Lizards

[catfishtonyd]

I carry three on mine also. (Two motors) I've got two group 29's wired in parallel for my foot control 54# Motor Guide, and one group 27 for the transom mount 45# MG.

So If I had one of these, I'd need to carry at least five. That my friends is a LOT of weight.

That thing would be nice on a small pontoon boat where weight wouldn't be so much a consideration.

Now that you mention it, that was the problem I heard abou the 4hp Minn Kota. They just sucked batteries down.

I saw a fellow at one of the electric only lakes I fish a lot who was running a 170 Nitro, fiberglass boat. No gas engine. He had removed the gas tank, and had about 8 or 10 batteries in that space. He had a 24 volt MG foot control on the bow, and two count 'em TWO 36 volt, 100+ lb thrust Minn Kota's on the stern. When he kicked in the power, that thing MOVED. I thought he was going to get on plane. Except for the weight of the batteries, he might have.

[BassGizmo]

Cajun, Â*i guess you seen the photos of my homemade mercury ezgo outboard. Â*if not here is the link Â*(scroll to the bottom of the page) http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/members...album.php?a=72

I run this motor with 3 of the big everstarts at walmart. Â*they are heavy but you never notice it with the size of my boat. It is still lighter then when it had the 115 mercury on it. Â* I just have one battery for my bow mount. I only have alittle over an hour of full speed runtime. It really isn't a problem because i fish alot of lakes that are 300-1000 acres so it only takes a few mins to run across the lakeÂ*I am nowhere near my weight limit.

Speaking of weight limit, Â*there is a guy that runs two of those $4,000 rays outboards on a 16 ft jon boat. Â* he was hauling 23!!!!! 6 volt batteries in his boat last year. . Â* he should get fines for that. Â* he has to be 700lbs or more over weight. Â*i figured it is about 800lbs of battery weight. Â*the back of the boat is barely out of the water. Â*this guy isn't very smart. Â*one day his boat will become lake structure ;D

[catfishtonyd]

If it sinks with all that acid and lead in it, he might find he has a problem with the EPA or the state DEQ. He'll be responsible for cleaning it up that's for sure.

Where in the world does he put his feet? Tackle? etc?

[BassNva]

right now i have 6 batteries on my boat.2 for trolling motor,i crankin,and 3 extra for trolling motor.i have another tournament on another electric only lake this saturday.

[jman534]

While we're on the topic, what if I ditched my 4HP & ran the 3HP on 2 batteries in parallel? Â*Would it give me that much more running time? Â*

Tom
It dawned on me when you mentioned that you couldn't reach the power lines on Spruce Run when running electric. Â*Well, I guess I couldn't either.

Lizards
I use the third battery for the electronics, but with that 4Hp, I guess I would need it for a spare.

[catfishtonyd]

Sure. Just hook the two batteries up in parallel. Plus to Plus, ground to ground. Same as if you were jump starting a car. What it does is makes one big battery out of two. You'll get (in theory) twice the life out of them that you would one, without the hassle of having to move batteries around and hooking and unhooking connections. You can also recharge them that way too.

That's what I did with my big motor that I use all the time. The other one only has one battery. I run my depth finder off the same batter I run the TM on. That's the only "electronics" I've got on my boat, and a depth finder doesn't pull enough power to matter. My running lights run off D cell flashlight batteries. (I've never used them.)

[jman534]

Thanx Cajun
That's what I figured. Until I bought my boat last year, I would carry my 3 HP around & throw it on to a rented rowboat at the the lakes I fished. A single battery would just about last all day. Even though I only have a jon boat, 2 batteries will more than compensate for the extra weight.