I am looking at purchasing a minn kota trolling motor for the boat and am torn between the riptide st w/ I pilot or (what I am use to ) riptide sf.
How easy is the St to operate with the remote when trying to follow a shore line and how does it hold at a reef near shore? Does it keep the boat into the wind/current or go around in circles?
As well as where is the best place to get one?
The Ipilot is hands down better. It’s the cat’s meow for sure. Yes, it will keep the boat pointed into the wind and current and keep it in place within 10’ in any reasonable wind, current or chop.
quote:
How easy is the St to operate with the remote when trying to follow a shore line and how does it hold at a reef near shore?
Simple. The one I just installed is interfaced into the Humminbird plotter/ fish finder and you can actually tell it to follow a bank and stay in 6’ of water, or whatever depth contour you want, and it does it. Gets depth info from the fish finder. If you tell it to stay in 4’, it stays in 4 feet. Or 40. Seems like cheating, almost makes anchors obsolete 
Capt. Larry Teuton
Swamp Worshiper
SF is junk, my dads fried after 18 months on the bow of his Ranger. No support, just out of Warranty. $1600 gone.
I have an SP Ipilot Riptide and love it. Granted it hasn’t been subjected to constant saltwater use, but it has done well in the past 2 years. A little slow to respond, and drifts a little off anchor sometimes, but a great unit with an awesome remote.
My dad replaced his MK SF with a new Motorguide Xi5. Really nice motor. Strong, quite, very responsive. Crappy remote without a screen or GPS speed feature, but loved the anchor response. And it held better than my ipilot. Also like the fact that you can move your anchor spot 5’ each way with just the press of a button. Can’t do that on the ipilot.
“Wailord”
1979 17’ Montauk
90 Johnson
Wilderness Ride 115
quote:
Originally posted by GeronimoSF is junk, my dads fried after 18 months on the bow of his Ranger. No support, just out of Warranty. $1600 gone.
NO OFFENSE GERONIMO, BUT I THINK YOU DONT HAVE ALL THE INFORMATION
ALL MINN KOTA RIPTIDE TROLLING MOTORS COME WITH A FULL 24 MONTH WARRANTY, AND AS A MINN KOTA WARRANTY REPAIR FACILITY, IN THE THOUSANDS OF TROLLING MOTORS WE HAVE REPAIRED, NOT ONE TIME HAS MINN KOTA DENIED A WARRANTY CLAIM.
FLAT BOTTOM
ILL TELL YOU THE SAME THING I HAVE TOLD DOZENS OF OTHER PEOPLE…
IF YOU GAVE ME A TROLLING MOTOR THAT WAS NOT AN I-PILOT, AND TOLD ME I HAD TO USE IT, I WOULD SAY THANK YOU, BUT YOU KEEP IT, I WILL BUY MY OWN I-PILOT.
I PUT ONE ON MY BACK COUNTRY ABOUT 2 MONTHS AGO, AND IF IT WERE TO BREAK, I WOULD JUST GO SHOOT SKEET OR HANG OUT AT TEH POOL UNTIL IT WAS FIXED.
I just put an I pilot on mine and don’t know how I fished without one before. With that being said, I made two mistakes. I wish I would’ve got a bigger unit. I got a 55lbs, should’ve got the 80lbs. I would get the motor guide version if I wanted the spot lock / anchor feature to work better. I know this point is arguable, but I’ve read time and time again how the motor guide work so much better in the anchor feature.
My I pilot is all over the place in anchor mode, sometimes it just gives up and turns off.
I’ve got a MInn Kota Power Drive V2 on the Lund. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. (unless it’s a newer, better version)
Bob Van Gundy
Marine Designs,Inc.
Custom Aluminum Fabrication
803-727-4069
Chris, maybe it was 24.5 months old, or maybe MK used to have a shorter warranty on the hand held motors. Bottom line, the head unit fried from salt corrosion, and all the paint flaked off the metal, and it was really loud after the first year of use.
The iPilot works great, but as said, the anchor feature on the motor guide is better. Hands down. Track back, and gps speed on the iPilot wins, but the MG is nice.
Marshals put on the MK SF hand held, and they said it was denied repair. Said salt corrosion was not a manufacturers defect.
“Wailord”
1979 17’ Montauk
90 Johnson
Wilderness Ride 115
16bayfisher
there is something wrong with what you have or are doing.
the spot lock works perfectly when functioning properly. mine holds within a 5-6’ radius
Geronimo
the warranty is 24 months from the date of purchase, not 25 and its been that way for at least the past 7-8 years that we have been a repair shop for them
if its in warranty they will fix anything, including corrosion
Also, Marshals is not a minn kota repair facility that I am aware of
We put a new Riptide ST 80 with iPilot, 24v with 60" shaft on our 22ft Seafox in February. Since then we’ve used it at the jetties and various reefs. The anchor feature has worked well with the wind and current so far. Once we see the topography we want on the sonar, we hit the anchor button and we stay put. We found that is you approach your spot slow and against the current/wind, it will anchor right up, not circle/spin around. The motor usually runs between 3 and 7 at the reefs. Glad we got the 60" shaft. We’ve had a Riptide SP 55 with iPilot on our 16ft American Skiff for years now and have had no functional problems with it (the foot had a little rust on it that we fixed recently). Make sure to get a good battery.
quote:
Originally posted by chris V16bayfisher
there is something wrong with what you have or are doing.
the spot lock works perfectly when functioning properly. mine holds within a 5-6’ radiusGeronimo
the warranty is 24 months from the date of purchase, not 25 and its been that way for at least the past 7-8 years that we have been a repair shop for them
if its in warranty they will fix anything, including corrosion
Also, Marshals is not a minn kota repair facility that I am aware ofwww.teamcharlestonmarine.com
www.joinrfa.org
Chris,
I’ve wondered that too. I have tried several different ways of using it and the anchor feature does work, don’t get me wrong. I learned to hit the anchor button twice to get it to lock into the spot faster and make sure I’m already sitting still so it doesn’t overshoot the spot etc. Sometimes it works and sometimes even without current/wind its all over the place. Thinking about it it’s about a 5-6 ’ radius like some have said theirs does, so I guess it’s normal. When fishing shallows and not big open water it’s easier to see when its all over the place.
I’ve heard several other experience the same with their I pilots on another forum as well. I mainly fish shallow water so I just use the power pole to stay in place.
Like I said Chris, I love my Ipilot. Just that the MG does anchor better but I still prefer my Ipilot for my type of fishing. Nothing against MK but I just think that a motor of that caliber should last longer than that. 3 broken set collars, rusty frame, paint flaking off, loud motor, and finally the electronics frying just seemed a little much to me. Personally I hate all hand controlled motors.
“Wailord”
1979 17’ Montauk
90 Johnson
Wilderness Ride 115
Also, here is a little tip for anchoring over the exact spot you want to be at. Drive the outboard over your spot you want to be facing the current/wind. When you are over your spot hit anchor twice. If the propeller starts to spin and you are still on top of your destination then hit end. Turn off the outboard, drop the Ipilot in the water and hit the return button back to the anchor setting you previously selected. Usually ‘A’ unless you have multiple spots. It will return you to your spot every time while you get the rest of your gear together. Best thing I love about my Ipilot. You can’t do that on the Motorguide.
“Wailord”
1979 17’ Montauk
90 Johnson
Wilderness Ride 115
You guys and your fancy contraptions.
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”.
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Originally posted by DFreedomYou guys and your fancy contraptions.
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”.
Yep, still catch the same amount of fish. Funny how that is.
wwkvdd
Actually I can guarantee that I can catch more fish because of the Ipilot. Went out last night and caught our limit of Striper, but missed a fat 28" plus fish because he tangled around the anchor line.
“Wailord”
1979 17’ Montauk
90 Johnson
Wilderness Ride 115
I’ll back you up on that Geronomo! Has increased my catch rate many times. But as it ages it seems to not lock as tight as it did new!!! Hate to loose fish on an anchor rope tho its a must do cutbait fishing with multipule rods
I’ve got an ipilot with a 36v/112lbs system on my boat (21 ft sea hunt…150 yammy). It works great. I have a t-top and in really gusty winds it struggles near shore lines, not because it’s not strong enough per se, but because I think the software is on a delay and doesn’t handle gusty winds that well. Anecdotal experience…I was out in Grillage (by myself…little extra weight on my boat) and the wind was blowing 10-15 (steady) and gusting up to 20-25+ and going with the tide (which as you should know…rips like a mofo at Grillage) and that was the breaking point of my trolling motor (when on anchor feature). The motor would hold for a few minutes but would slowly lose ground…for some reason, when in anchor mode, after the motor gets so far from the anchor point it cuts off…so when the wind is blowing hard with the current and there are 2ft seas and the prop comes out of the water every 10 seconds…then after 5-10 minutes i’d lose enough ground to where I’d realize i was in free drift.
I tell you all of that to say that I think it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. It really has transformed my fishing as it’s utterly amazing at reefs and the jetties (it can handles any current as long as it’s not running with strong wind and I’m not really out there much when it’s inordinately windy)
207 CC SeaHunt
Yamaha 150