Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Trolling motor value

I was granted exclusive use of an aluminum jon boat by a v good pal. It is an old beater with a v slow leak, but is better than no boat at all. It's 12' long and laying on my utility trailer, under the snow, awaiting a ride to it's new home.
It has oar locks, but no oars. My first inclination is to buy cheapie oars AND a trolling motor. Bass Pro Shops just opened their new store in Portage, IN. They have a grand opening sale for a Bass Pro Prowler trolling motor, 45# thrust, transom mount, for $120. (it must be a new or promotional model, cuz the only Prowler unit I could find in their regular inventory is a 30# thrust unit for $100) Sale paper, pg 8-9 Anyway, would this be a good model and value for dorkin' around a 5 ac pond in a beater jon boat? I am very familiar with deep cycle batteries from my houseboating days, but uncertain if there are different parameters for trolling motors...tips?

is it a one beer can leak or two?

if ya dont recall, check out this thread for leak recommendations:

leaky jon boat fixes


i suspect if you put a 45# unit on a 12' jon boat you could pull a skier, or at least haul a big ass stringer of fish. i have a 55# minnkota unit on a very heavy 16.5 foot modified v-hull crestliner and it moves along pretty well at full thrust.

i'd say good value....and happy dorkin

If it were me, I would buy a Minnkota. You dont need 45 lbs thrust. There are a bunch of reasons why the minnkota would be better. Although it would cost a little more for a even less thrust. The shaft is worth its weight in gold and the prop on the minnkota is truely weedless, the motor I am sure is much quieter to.

Buy some canoe paddles and a tube of silicone caulk. Trolling motors and a 12 volt battery are a pain in the butt on small bodies of water.
You can tell Donna-Ski that you're being responsible.

OK, if ya just gotta do it, turn the trolling moror head 180 degrees and mount it on the back of the boat. That way, you can beach the front without jerking the motor up.

It's pretty easy to fix rivets. Ya need a buddy, a maul, a ball peen and some beer...ok, so the last ingredient is optional, but it might be easier to find ingredient #1 if #4 is handy.

Have buddy inside boat with maul. Start at one rivet (agree on where to start first) and have him/her hold the maul directly on the leaky rivet, while you "peen" the bottom side with the hammer.

Do one then yell, "next one to your right" or some such thing. It doesn't take long at all...we did the last one (14' Xwide, Xdeep) in maybe an hour.

Pretty simple, and fairly easy. You can have the maul on the outside, but it's far harder to hold the dang thing UP against the hull then down...

I agree with DD1 you don't need a motor on a 5 acre lake, and by all means don't go get the thing sprayed with bed liner as someone suggested in the leaky jon boat fixes tread. I payed 35$ sight unseen for a 12' V bottom. Someone had patched the entire bottom with roofing tar. It now weighs double what the boat originally weighed. It still leaks. I use a coffee can to bail as needed.

I have a 5+ acre lake, and I only use oars when I absolutely have to, or if I'm in stealth mode.

When the wind is blowing hard, good luck using the oars, and getting anywhere. I remember one time when it was just me and the dog on my boat, and the battery died. A storm was blowing in, and I had to paddle directly into the wind. The dog was barking and being of no help, so I just hurled him into the water to lighten the load, and kept rowing. Just made it back to shore before the lightning started.

Minnkota is household, but 45lbs thrust is more than you need.

EDIT: I need to refine my last comment. If you're tight on cash, you can get by good with a smaller trolling motor. But the bigger ones are only $50 to $100 more, so if you can swing it, get the bigger one for sure.

Brettski, I have a 15 year old Minkota 32# thrust trolling motor that does just fine on our 10 acre pond, it's what I use the majority of the time with my 12ft jon boat. Every once in a while I will put my bass boat on the pond, it has a 24V 74# thrust trolling motor on it which is overkill on our pond.

I had a few leaks in my jon boat. Went to the boat store and they sold me an epoxy that you need like play dough then put it on the leak. Sets up real hard and you could sand it if you wanted. Has lasted 3 years so far. As far as the trolling motor goes I have a stern mount Minn Kota 55 pound thrust variable speed. I like it because on a windy day you can set it to just the right speed. All the other ones with 5 speed forward and 3 reverse seems like one speed was to slow and second speed was to fast. And if I need the speed or power I have it.

Sunil
Did the dog make it?

Brettski I have fixed jon boat leaks and small holes (a bunch) with epoxy from Wally-World. It works fine for pond boats. A small trolling motor (30-45lbs thrust) is all you need on a pond. I use a paddle not oars .

BTW I saw that same Bass-Pro flyer for the one here with the same deal.

BarO, yes, the dog did make it. He was barking and being very irritating during the ordeal thus bringing nothing to the table. It was not a hard decision to heft him over the side.

I also use paddles, not oars.

Brettski – Putting the kind and considerate Donna-ski in a leaking 12 foot Jon boat without any paddles? Good grief man!

You don’t want to be like Sunil.
literary latitude used for emphasis

:p

Dwight

Dwight man you are slipping badly. Look back at Sunil's posts. He had his barking , no help, etc , problems with a "SOB" - no female involved. Plus , based on past experience , most loud male SOB's could use a bath !! :p

I just checked my trolling motor. It's a Minnkota Endura 36lb. thrust.

I'm happy with it.

I have an older, & smaller Minnkota trolling motor that stopped working. I had to open it up and clean out the brushes. Put the magnets back in wrong the first time, and what do you know? Now I got 5 speeds of reverse!!

ewest - As I noted, "literary latitude used for emphasis".

Not slipping, just one step farther outside the box than you happen to be today! :p :rolleyes:

Dwight,
A little background on Sunil's relationship with his fishing partner should help clear the fog a bit. Sunil posted:
This likely explains his decision for the last minute bath. We will know for sure when we see Sunil's better half burying the invisible fence and fitting him with a new collar.

Bass Pro Shops just opened their new store in Portage, IN.

This doesnt bode well for the pond's fishing potential. Oh, yea, Ski will have all the utensils, just no fish.

To fix the leak use JB Weld and if you need some silicone use marine grade. Dont by the stuff you use in your house or you will have to re-do it.

For the price and what it's going to be used for the MG will work fine. I like a Minn Kota better but for a little more than $100 you cant beet the price. How ever finding one during the classic maybe hard. IMHO this sounds like this could be a "loss leader" to get people in the door. Kind similar to what Wal-Mart does with laptops during Christmas.

Donnie

** UPDATE **
Well, there's a box in the garage with a Bass Pro Shop Prowler brand trolling motor; $126 out the door. Last nite, I told D-ski that we were gonna take a little road trip tomorrow to the new Bass Pro Shop that just opened in Portage, IN. I called them this morning before we left to make sure they had the unit in stock; 2 of 'em. They hung my hat on one.
This was another first for both of us; never been to a BPS. The place was mobbed. I had to drive around and follow somebody preparing to leave to get a parking space. The good news (I think?) is that D-ski really enjoyed the visit. She remarked "well, I gotta admit...that place is pretty cool...I really enjoyed that".
-
She tried and enjoyed her first taste of Tilapia last night...and now this. Am I moving this exposure thing along too fast? Are there any unexpected ramifications?

"She tried and enjoyed her first taste of Tilapia last night...and now this. Am I moving this exposure thing along too fast? Are there any unexpected ramifications?"

Yes. She may want you to actually catch, clean, and cook some fish one day. Or worse, you troll her around to catch fish. You clean and cook. I'm sure you will be delighted though; she has been such a good sport and co-worker. Keep it up. Can you say 'fatheads'? :p

This was such a kooky feeling that I gotta share.
D-ski and I are ex-boaters. We have had some fairly nice watercrafts. When I cashed out, I walked away with about 1/2 my shirt and wiped my brow. Neither of us really missed it much...we moved on.
fast-forward about 12 years
Jeesh, here we go again....or are we? I have my pal's donated beater 12' jon boat (which required 1/2 a tube of epoxy to fill the holes). I got's my shiny new trolling motor and I swiped my emergency back-up sump pump battery outta the basement. LET'S GO BOATING!
Seriously, it was weird. Full circle. But, it was way cool. I can't explain it except to say it was silly-cool to tool around my own little body of water. It took me right back to when I was a boy and my dad took us out in the 16' aluminum fishing boat with the Merc 20 for a ride around the lake in Eagle River to look at all the cottages and homes owned by people with money. Just alot smaller and no cottages. Yep, I smiled alot. It was one of those moments when you have to reflect and count your blessings. We are truly blessed.

nuthin kooky about it b'ski.

that amongst a whole bunch of other simple things (like watching wind patterns on the water, admiring rising fog, contemplating reflections on the surface, seeing fish along shoreline, or ducks paddling by) is a BIG reminder of why many of us want, build, fix, and have ponds.