I have the steering wheel tied because the motor will creep over to one side sometimes, it might be because of the trolling flap I use. ( it was windy, if I let the big motor do the pushing and the trolling motor do the steering even in the wind I can easily troll all day one one charge)
I went with the 24 volt.( it will pull my boat over 3 mph) As I said I read a lot and did not come up with any good reason why I needed three batteries.
I will tell you this, if I had to do it again I think I would buy the saltwater model, it does not have a foot pedal, you don't need one.
Let me know if you want to take a closer look and maybe we can have a good reason to go to the lake. I need all the reasons I can get !