TOPIC: Trolling motor different than a "regular" motor?

I mean the 9.9 four stroke outboards, not the electrics.

Is a gas trolling motor tuned different than a "speed" motor? Or could you put a 9,9 trolling motor on a proportionately sized boat and get better than trolling speeds? My Dad used to ski behind a little boat with a 35 horse.

Just one of those things I think about in the middle of the night.

my brothers and i ski'd behind a 60 aerocraft 10' lummie with a 18hp evinrude.

My 8 hp 4 stroke Honda is an outboard and my electric is for trolling. Although the Honda idles so slow and quiet you can troll with it. My Honda does put my 58 MFG on a plane too. Not fast but it works.

A "trolling motor" is simply a low power motor, usually an outboard, to propell the boat at slow speeds. Often boats equipped with large outboards or with inboard/sterndrive engines move too fast at idle for effective trolling. So a small outboard is used, also often called a kicker. This allows you to go fast enough to get good action on your lures, but at the same time slow enough for the fish to take an interest. Also the small engine uses far less gas than the big engine does even at idle speeds.

You can buy outboard engines with long shafts and big props that turn very slowly, but these are used mostly on sailboats.

Depending on how heavy the boat is, the troller may need a smaller pitch propeller to avoid hurting the powerhead.

In Pennsylvania we have a ton of lakes where you can only use 10 hp or under. It is not unusual to see a 24 foot pontoon with one on it.

It was my impression all 4 strokes were trollers no matter the size.

wavetrain75,

imVho, the ULTIMATE trolling motor (IF you can FIND a GOOD one) is an "old school" HOMELITE 55HP, that will idle so slow that you can turn the nose INTO the wind & STILL-FISH, on a QUART of regular MOGAS an HOUR!
(i've lost count of how many times that i did that with my old "homey" on a 17' Starcraft aluminum utility, in 1962-75 era.)

NONE of the "modern" 4-cycles (at least the ones that i've seen) will do that day after day W/O problems.

yours, satx

wavetrain75,

imVho, the ULTIMATE trolling motor (IF you can FIND a GOOD one) is an "old school" HOMELITE 55HP, that will idle so slow that you can turn the nose INTO the wind & STILL-FISH, on a QUART of regular MOGAS an HOUR!
(i've lost count of how many times that i did that with my old "homey" on a 17' Starcraft aluminum utility, in 1962-75 era.)

NONE of the "modern" 4-cycles (at least the ones that i've seen) will do that day after day W/O problems.

yours, satx

We have a Johnson 9.9 called a "sailor" which is made as auxiliary power for a cruising sail boat. It has a propeller that has huge blades and very little pitch. Perhaps that would be a good fit for a trolling motor as well.

My Honda will will go on idle all day and still have 2 gallons in my 3 gallon tank. These things just sip the gas and idle as smooth as silk.

robert-lorigan wrote:

My Honda will will go on idle all day and still have 2 gallons in my 3 gallon tank. These things just sip the gas and idle as smooth as silk.

So does my Evinrude. Idle doesn't use much gas no matter the brand.