Anyone know about small fishing boats & electrical power?

[BlackSky]

Hey all,

I've been itching to pick up a small boat to use at a handful of small lakes in my town. I've always heard that the best two days in a boat owners life are the day he bought the boat and the day he sold it. Because of that I'm trying to keep things as simple and issue free as possible. I looked into the inflatable thing but that just sounds hokie. Me, sharp hooks, a pocket knife, lit cigarette and an inflatable boat is probably a bad recipe.

I don't want or need a gas motor. The lakes near me don't permit them and I don't really want the hassle of storing fuel on the boat and having to maintain an internal combustion engine. Smaller two stroke engines are banned just about everywhere around me. Electric motors are permitted at my local lakes and I think might be a good substitute.

I don't need fancy electronics and integrated steering. Again, it's just more stuff to maintain and/or fail.

I just need something small and have tentatively have chosen the 11 foot Sun Dolphin Pro 120 pictured below. It meets my criteria of small and lightweight.

I read somewhere that when deciding on an electric motor you need to calculate the amount of thrust you need by the equation of 5lbs of thrust for every 200 pounds on the water. The boat weighs 225lbs and has a capacity of 650 pounds. That means that an electric motor that pushes 40 pounds of thrust should be more than adequate....mathematically that is.

I'm worried that I'd only get a couple hours of use from the electric motor. You see I'm kind of looking to use the electric motor as a mini-outboard for my small lakes....not for just trolling like they were likely meant to be used. A couple hours wouldn't cut it for a whole days worth of fishing.

I have no experience with electric marine motors. If I were to get a boat such as this and put a 40lb thrust electric motor on it with a 12V deep cycle marine battery how long should I expect to be able to use the motor before the battery dies?

Looking for some help and advice here folks. I appreciate any you can offer.

 

[Mickey D]

Water and electricity don't mix.

 

[jkc]

My very limited experience is that an electric motor with gel-cell can power a a loaded canoe only for an hour or two. I'd be pessimistic in allocating power supply...

 

[Farmer17]

You can always use 2 batteries and they make a small solar panel that will help keep them charged during the day.

 

[truckemup97]

No personal experience with watercraft, but you can piggyback multiple batteries, or just carry a second and switch over when necessary. That way you know when your day is half over.

 

[smith57]

You will be better off w/ a 24 v. system,and as much thrust as you can get with a 24 v. system ... should wire it w/ 10 ga wire to get best results for amp drain. In a 10 mph wind, on a boat that size/weight, you will probably find that 40 lb thrust will not be enough, and will drain the battery fairly quickly. For that size boat, I would probably look at a 24v., 65 lb thrust system to fish all day, and handle well in stiff wind. Coupled with at least 105 amp/hr deep cycle batteries in series, you should do very well.

 

[sar4937]

In my state adding any motor to any boat requires licensing. Rowboats do not need to be licensed. Depending on how big of a lake (how much relocating you do) and what size battery or batteries it might be possible to go all day. Some will only use the motor a couple of hours to fish all day, on a bigger lake you will burn up quite a bit of your battery's capacity just getting to and from your fishing hole. I have a 10 foot jonboat with oars that I use, it doesn't wear me out, and I get a little exercise. Best of all is no maintenance, and no licensing. They make inflatable pontoon crafts with oars that will go in the trunk. And a 10 foot jonboat will fit in a pickup bed, although it is tough to load/unload by yourself.

 

[BarbC]

We have a 16' Starcraft with a 55hp Minnekota. We can stay out all afternoon.

I know someone who hooked up a solar-powered charger to his battery, which is a good idea.

The great thing about the Starcraft is the lightweight aluminum and deep V hull. It's also very easy to get it back up on the trailer.

 

[elcruisr]

Sorry Barb but that must be a typo. Do you mean a 55lb thrust? No way that's 55hp!

You can easily build a bank of two or even three deep cycle marine batteries to give you plenty of capacity or if you're feeling flush there's this:

6 Hp Equivalent, 24 Volt Electric Motor

Or you can just drop a healthy 6 figures and go for offshore sport fishing....

As for Solar it's going to take a pretty big panel to even begin to give some reasonable input for charging a battery on a fishing trip. You don't have the room, trust me!

 

[gunlovingirl]

I used to have a 12' V bottom. Mostly fished a no-wake lake. Had a small Minnkota and with 2 of us in the boat, we'd stay out all day. Just make sure you get a good deep cycle battery and you'll be fine.

 

[n4zov]

The FAQ's on this site may answer a lot of your questions:

Home | Minn Kota Motors

 

[OKFC05]

The main thing is to get a large enough battery. The little light ones just don't cut it.
A size 24 deep-cycle battery is good, a size 27 is better--but it weighs 75 pounds.

Using a size 24 (12 volt) battery on my 14' pointed bow jon boat with 30 motor, it lasts about 2 days without recharge.

A trolling motor with digital speed controller uses far less amps than the old style coil controllers.

Wind is a BIG deal. If you're having to run the motor hard against the wind all day, it drains the battery faster.

Batteries are rated in amp-hours. If you take the amps used by your trolling motor at a particular speed and divide it into the amp-hour rating of the battery, that's how long it will run.

 

[ingmansinc]

A thought would be a canoe powered by you. I have been around boats and water for years and my personal experience is anything that can fail, will, and when you need it the most. Paddling is fun, quiet, a will get you into tight spots, weeds etc. They are easy to transport on top a car and the cost is reasonable.

 

[BarbC]

Sorry Barb but that must be a typo. Do you mean a 55lb thrust? No way that's 55hp!

You're right! 55 lb.

Our friend has something like this clipped to the side of his boat: Solar Panel 1.26 Watts | BatteryStuff.com

Or maybe it's like this:
http://www.rivermarinesupply.com/xc..._Seachoice_Solar_Charge_Maintainer_300MA.html

 

[mxbob]

Never! go out without the oars!
Bob Ray

 

[MK]

You're right! 55 lb.

Our friend has something like this clipped to the side of his boat: Solar Panel 1.26 Watts | BatteryStuff.com

Or maybe it's like this:
Seachoice Solar Charge Maintainer 300MA

Solar power is an option, but those two systems are way too
small to be any good. Both have very low output and are only
suitable for very slow trickle charging on very small batteries,
or for powering small gadgets like radios, GPS, or whatever.
IE: the first one is rated at 1.26 watts, and the second one
rated at 4.5 watts. That's only a 300 MA charge rate with even
the larger of the two. "1/3 amp" The smaller is less than 100 MA.
And that's with full sun I'm sure..
Not really viable for keeping a trolling motor battery charged.
I've got a three panel 45 watt system that would be barely
usable. It's charge rate is about 3 amps, which is about the
same as the average car battery trickle charger.
It could help a good bit if you are out in the sun all day, but
with a three panel system, it's a lot larger than those little ones.
If I use all three panels, the appx dimension is 3ft x 3 ft.
I can use only one or two panels, but of course I'd lose an amp
of charge capability with the loss of each panel.
My panels " 1 ft x 3 ft" are rated at 15 w a pop, which is about
1 amp charge rate. 3x15 = 45 watts total, and three amps total charge
rate.
I would consider that system about as small as you could go and
actually do any good at recharging if you run the motor a lot.
I think extra deep cycle batteries would be a better investment
than a small solar system.
If I was running a small lake on battery power, I would not leave
the dock with less than two good batteries. I like that extra one
to make sure I can make it back. More than that is the motor is
kinda big and and a power hog.
Also, if it gets cloudy, the solar systems really drop off a good
bit from optimum.

 

[Firehouse]

This......

plus this.....

equals this....

Well, almost.