I have a new to me Key West 1720. Looking at the Minn Kota 55# or 70# with ipilot. Most of my fishing will be the Wando and ICW.
Which one do you guys recommend?
Do I really need a 70# on my boat? The price difference is not that big…but I will need to have two trolling batteries for the 70#.
Scott Fulton
AgentOwned Realty
Scott.Fulton@AgentOwnedRealty.com
I think you could go either way. I have the 55 on my whaler and its plenty but much less weight than your me. Bosn has the 70 on his seafox 19 and it’s plenty. You are right in between
2000 SeaPro 180CC w/ Yammy 115 2 stroke
1966 13’ Boston Whaler w/ Merc 25 4 stroke “Flatty”
www.ralphphillipsinshore.com
I would definitely go with bigger. The 55lb will struggle in current/wind.
When in doubt, bigger is always better.
Bob Van Gundy
Marine Designs,Inc.
Custom Aluminum Fabrication
803-727-4069
70 and don’t look back
Depends on whether you have the room for the second battery. If you do, I say go with 70, if not you will be fine with 55. I run the 55 on my 17 Montauk and it works great. Kept me anchored in Stono Inlet no problem. The only place it will struggle is at the Grillage, jetties, or Winyah Bay, but I don’t think even the 70 will hold you out there, so no big loss. You will get twice the run time out of the 70 however, which to me is the biggest benefit.
“Wailord”
1979 17’ Montauk
90 Johnson
Wilderness Ride 115
No one ever said, “Gee, I wish this was less powerful”. If your motor ever dies, it would be nice to have that extra power to get somewhere. Saw 2 guys using theirs to motor up Knowles Creek one time. They weren’t moving fast but they were moving.
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”.
I agree totally with D Freedom. Never heard anyone say " I wish my trolling motor was less powerful". Years ago, the boat I was in broke down about 2 miles from a landing on a very windy day. Wished we had an even more powerful TM that day, but we did make it back to the landing.
After a day of fishing(chasing schools w/ tm) and running I ran out of gas(should have topped off after previous trip) at the forks on the upper end of Murray. 55# got me and my buddy back to Dreher(8+ miles) with no problem…just REALLY drained:smiley:
But my skiff is alot lighter than the aforementioned boats.
“I may be going to hell in a bucket. But at least I’m enjoying the ride”
Yeah, I don’t think people realize how long you can run a modern trolling motor, with a good deep cycle battery. A group 27 battery can run on high for probably 4-5 hours. A 1720 KW doesn’t seem to have a lot of storage space. The cost to maintain another battery, plus the loss of space wouldn’t be enough for me to do the 70#. If it was the 176 hull, I might consider it since it has a lot more wet hull area to move, and more storage space.
“Wailord”
1979 17’ Montauk
90 Johnson
Wilderness Ride 115