I run 55lbs 12V on the stern as kicker for my 18ft boat. Plenty of thrust. I run two 12V batteries in parallel. I have battery switch so I can charge them or use them for emergency start. 12V rules if it gives you enough thrust.

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My vote go with 12v 55lb, yah it will use more amps than a 24v, but in pics you have a kicker. Does kicker have a charging circuit or voltage regulator/rectifier?
Run a battery switch to kicker so it can charge the trolling battery if you are trolling, use the kicker to push and steer with bow.
That way your bow mount can run at min power to steer and kicker is doing most of the work and it keeps your battery topped off.

A single healthy group 31 battery has 90-110ah capacity should be able run all day with the above senario. Weight of battery 70lbs give or take.

I posted good bit of info on pro/con of 12/24/36v power here What lithium battery to buy?

 

Yeah, the kicker puts out 7 Amps I think and it is currently hooked up to my trolling motor battery. I suspect the 7 amps is only at high rpms. I have used it just as described, kicker running while using bow mount to steer.

Thanks for the input. Am leaning towards sticking with the 12V setup.

 

I looked up the 9.9/15 specs from two stroke and it uses same charging system. You're right 6.6 amps at 5000rpm, prob only puts out 1-2amps at 1500rpm.

 

Omp, I read the post you referred to. Seems there's no definitive clear choice. I know I'm able to get a long day of trolling using 12V and 100 amp hour batt even without the kicker helping. That's if theres no wind or current and trolling 1.5mph or less. 24V would absolutely go all day and likely 2.

 

One thing to note, the new 12v motors are PWM controllers, what minnkota calls digital maximizer as sales pitch. The PWM controllers are much more efficient for speed controlling vs the old resistor based controllers which would burn amps as heat. So even a new 12v with (digital maximizer) will be better than a 12v motor built 20 years ago.

 

12 volt is plenty with a super skeg. Had one on my 20’ inboard sled. Use the kicker to push and all it has to do is steer. Catch is, you may have to build your own skeg.

-Scott

 

good point, I did build my own skeg on my bow mount, clamped in front of the prop. Designed it to triple the vertical surface area and added a horizontal piece on the bottom to help if I run into something. If trolling at 1.8+mph it has really responsive steering.

 

A DIY skeg or super skeg is something I could do. Do any of you have a picture you could share?

 

Have decided to go with 12V, 55# thrust Terrova. This is a 37.5% increase in thrust over my old 40# Powerdrive. I'm already set up for most part (going 24V would have meant a tedious re-design of battery area). As for a DIY skeg - here's a pic I found on a walleye forum.

 

Have decided to go with 12V, 55# thrust Terrova. This is a 37.5% increase in thrust over my old 40# Powerdrive. I'm already set up for most part (going 24V would have meant a tedious re-design of battery area). As for a DIY skeg - here's a pic I found on a walleye forum. View attachment 949165

That Skeg extension is similar to what I made from scrap, with another horizontal plate under mine. I'll try to get a pic here.

 

I have a weedless prop and the power prop. I recommend the power prop for big water/speed.

What kind of charger are you running? I have the 8 amp older version of this charger made by ProMariner and it has been solid: https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/cabelas-pro-series-onboard-marine-battery-charger

 

Don’t have any pics of mine (sold with the boat) but it was very similar to the one Leelock makes. Theirs doesn’t work on the 12v motor because the stock skeg is positioned differently.

 

Here on ifish I've found other threads including discussion about skegs from LeeLock and Uncle Norms. Seems people are happy with either design as long as they don't have clearance issues. Leelock indicates their version is 3/16 aluminum. I can't tell for sure but the Uncle Norms version appears to be 1/8" (though it could be 3/16 - hard to tell from pics and video on their web site). I don't know about the horizontal plate though on the minnow fin. In theory it sounds good, not so sure how it would actually work in waves - seems it would push up when your boats bow is going down then slam down when bow is going up.

 

@Quiet Riot made a skeg for my PowerDrive TM. Works as advertised.