Boat Advice

[J-Doc]

My fishing buddy bought a new 175 off the floor at the 2012 Spring Classic. Great ride, easy to fish from. His two regrets were not upgrading the sonar AND the trolling motor. His came with a 12 volt, 55# thrust and was not enough for windy days. I don't know whats available now but he upgraded to a 24 volt power drive with the i-pilot. Holds position fine in 10 mph blow.

A 24v is an absolute must on Beaver. My 80lb Fortrex holds me on position in 25-30mph winds at about 40-50% thrust. That means I can do that continuously for about 4-5hrs before it's really getting a serious drain. And let's face it. No one wants to hold a spot that long in wind that bad. But I can do it and that's the point.

My only regret was I could not get an 80lb thrust in a wireless trolling motor like the iPilot when I ordered my rig. Then about a month after I got it in, Minnkota released an 80 and 105lb thrust wireless trolling motors. I wish I had a wireless. I had a wireless on the wish list but at the last minute upgraded to 80lb Fortrex because if anything broke down, it’s cheaper to fix it vs. the motherboard on the iPilot breaking down could be much more expensive to replace/repair outside of warranty coverage. So I went with simple and powerfull. Now I want both. Powerfull and effortless.

If you plan on trolling or drift fishing for stripers, walleye, or crappie, a wireless trolling motor that you can control from the helm is a must. I currently steer mine with the big motor (while it’s off and trolling motor is on) which works but not nearly as effective as a wireless.

So if you plan on having only one good graph, get the absolute best you can afford at the helm and you can use your trolling motor from the helm while drift fishing. Or you can use it while bass fishing also. They don’t lose satellite connection like I’ve been told and they have their own built in internal GPS antenna. You can even link them into the fish finder unit and have your trolling motor take you to a waypoint. It’s a lot of tech that can be very nice.

[JohnF52]

Too much tech on a boat works against me. I have used my 597 hb finder for two seasons and the only things I can read are depth, temp, and speed. The graph is gibberish to me.

[Smalls21]

my dad has a tracker deep-v 175 90hp opti. he said his only regret was not getting one with a 4-stroke. I am not sure on the warranty of other boat brands, but tracker has a 5yr warranty. And a 24v trolling motor is a must IMO

[Ketchup]

John, you sound just like myself. Im not sure that ive even turned one on in a year. I still try to read the shoreline, and contour depths from that. I know i cant see humps, depths, brush,etc. in 20' of water "unless i turn mine on" but then again, i think i do ok with flippin, pitchin, chuckin every stump, tree, hump, etc. that i do see.

One day, when i win the lottery, that i dont play, i will get me one of those $3000 GPS,Sonar,Digital,Catch all locators, but until then, I will keep my eyes on the bank.

Maybe if i went to BassPro during their Spring fishing seminars, and watched how to operate one, i may rely on it more.

[Greenheadrocker]

I think maybe this new hobby of mine might get expensive.

[navery]

I bought a brand new pro guide 175 last January. It has the four stroke 115. Would not have liked the 90 horse. 90 is enough for 16 foot boats, but is a little too small in my opinion for the 17. Upgraded the fish finder and added a bank charger. Glad I did. The only thing I would like different with the Trackers is more storage. Like Fins said, I would much rather the front livewell to be water proof storage as I don't use it as a bait tank or fish storage. I just throw my hybrids straight in a cooler with ice like they do with fish offshore. Runs great and is really comfy for the wife. I would look for last years models if there are any left. I found mine in St Louis. It is a 2013 that they used for pics which took a year of the warranty for the motor, but they gave me the 5 year extended warranty for free. Only gave 19,000 for it which I think is a good deal for a new boat that had 2 hours on the motor? Haven't had any issues with the boat, but the trailer tires that came with it is another story. They went bald in 10 months. I would recommend pulling it a lot that first year and then get them to warranty the tires before the 1 year warranty runs out like I did. All in all, I really like my Tracker. It rides good in all conditions and sips gas.

[J-Doc]

Got some motor information confirmed for you on a different forum. I wanted to re-confirm what I have read and been told by actual boat owners.

I was confirmed that the 75 will cruise at the max. speed of the 60. The 60 will get you mid 30's and the 75 will get you 40mph. That's only 5mph difference but in the end, its fuel economy, extra power for passengers and gear. You can actually feel a 5mph difference. Just ask any bass boat owner with a 250. They fight for 2-3mph and pay thousands to get it!

Here is the information I was given by a Tracker owner that has a 75.

"With a 75, cruising speed would be the max speed of the 60. The 75 is probably more economical overall."

I was always told the golden rule is never sacrifice horsepower on an outboard when buying a new boat.

Read the book. It's a quick read. Only one page and that's for the table of contents only.

"I've got too much horsepower" by author Sed No-one Ever

[Ketchup]

Well heck, my 50 is gonna get hurt feelings.

[J-Doc]

Well heck, my 50 is gonna get hurt feelings.

Sorry bud.

I used to have a 55 Yamaha on a big extra wide flat bottom with a console and it would do 36 with me in it. It was rough as a crusty mutated cob but it would flat out get on plane and move me around the lake really well.

I totally blame Jolicious (forum member) as his boat gave me the speed disease. Booking it down the lake at 70mph can be pretty fun. But my little 115 does me just fine around 47.

[J-Doc]

I bought a brand new pro guide 175 last January. It has the four stroke 115.

The 175 is limited to the 75 only. Did you get the 190?

http://www.trackerboats.com/boat/motors.cfm?boat=3657

The 115 on the 190 is the way to go. You can get 52mph easily without a jackplate and a stainless prop. That's a fast tin for a 115 class outboard.

Add on the jackplate and you can get 54 easy. Now..........would I do that? Nope.

But the new 4s motors are faster than the 2-strokes. The reduced drag on the redesigned lower units have 20% less drag and you can also turn a little larger prop too if I recall correctly.