best trolling motor for pontoon

NOAH

well i say best ,but! need to stay in the 250-550 range
plan to hook up with 24volts and need good thrust,so i been told[:0].
what say you ,mind you; it is a 18ft pontoon.or do i need to think about spending more on the trolling motor,
i'm doing this for 1/2 fishing and 1/2 family cruising around the lake

Liv2Fish

I have used and abused both MinnKota and MotorGuide.Both are 24 volt and with a good hot batteries will run all day. Both of the trolling motors are very high quality but I have had less problems with the MinnKota. I never had a steering cable break in fact the only problems that I had was a bearing went out in the shaft and I had a board go bad. Both of these issues were my fault as here at the lake you are constantly bumping boat docks when fishing. Constant use and abuse were the issues on both cases I know that I had thousands of miles on my last MinnKota. I always used MotorGuide in the past and had several stearing cable breaks. MinnKota is a lot harder to remove if needed. A MotorGuide can be removed from a boat in seconds. Good for the someone that is wishing to be a crook.
Watch for sales as longer shaft trolling motors don't sell as well and sometimes you might find the real deal.

NeoBlackdog

I'd consider spending more on the trolling motor than 550. once you get up into the 800 dollar range you start seeing some motors with the right amount of thrust for an 18 foot boat. I'd go with the Minn Kota Powerdrive V2 with a minimum 65 pounds of thrust. I've got one of these on an 18.5' Lund deep V hull and it's been a great motor. It'll pull that boat around all day with 5 people in it.

Liv2Fish

I agree you have got to get a good one that has the power. If not you will not be satified and will be spending more later. The more thrust the more control you will have and a pontoon catches a lot of wind.