[dereke]

Im going to buy a 9ft pontoon for drifting the squamish system and for use in the interior stillwater fishery and was wondering what kind of life you guys get in general out of a fully charged battery for your electric motors? I dont mind spending some extra cash on a good battery/better motor etc. What are the better brand of battery to buy?

thanks you for any responses :beerchug:

tight loops
derek

 

[badcat]

I bought the nautalis deep cycle battery pack(canadian tire). It runs my old electric motor (and I mean old) for about 4 continous hours. I know the new motors have power savers so I think the battery pack would last longer.

 

[stone]

I have a Minn Kota Edura 30 lb thrust EMO that is a couple of years old, and on top of the motor, it will give you the approximate running time depending on the different speeds assuming that you start out with a fully charged battery in good condition.

I mainly use my EMO to reposition my 12' aluminum so as not to spook fish, or to move short distances around a structure in a lake, and on most occassions, I have fished for several days without my battery dying. This is also considering that I had a Humminbird fish finder that was powered on the same battery. The battery that I use is the Group 27 (I think) deep cycle battery from Costco...excellent buys IMO.

One important thing I learned though is to regularly charge up my battery every few weeks or at the very least every month even when it's not in use to prevent sulphating.

 

[dereke]

Wow, that is a much longer running time than i expected. I dont plan on doing much trolling, more as you said just to get me out to spots on the lake. thank you for the help.

 

[darcycote]

i hook my nautilus up to jumpers off my truck when on a shore break.my last fish trip was 6 days long,it never drained out once.

 

[Centerpin]

Hey darcycote

Do yourself a very big favor and buy one of the Minkota Maximizer electric motors. All the guys that I lake fish with have electrics and two have the old Minkota's and on average I get about double to triple the amount of battery life that they do.

As far as batteries go I used to spend the big dollars but I have found that they don,t seem to last nearly as long as you would think they should. My parents and all their friends are big into the RV's and almost all of them have switched their batteries to the Costco brand Kingsland I believe. I switched my boat and extra battery to the Costco ones and have been extremely happy since doing so.

Centerpin

 

[spring king]

when you buy a battery check the amp hour (AH) for the battery. The higher it is, the longer it will last. Also make sure it is a RV or marine deep cycle battery. Regular car batteries are meant to be charged and discharged.