Adding ipilot after purchase vs waiting and buying with factory installed

Hi everyone, I bought a used project boat that has no trolling motor or fish finder, Budget is preventing me from buying the fish finder AND trolling motor with ipilot all at once. I’m wondering if you guys have done the upgrade to your trolling motors to add ipilot to the trolling motor with any issues. I think I can swing the fish finder and non GPS trolling motor right away and add the GPS unit later. If recommendations is to get the ipilot preinstalled, then I will have to wait on the trolling motor for a while which cuts into my season a bit more.

Side note, its a 96′ Lund 1700 with a 90hp, 50lb thrust is min. recommended for 17′ so I would rather step up above 55lb which rules out the 12v systems. I’m leaning towards the 24v 70lb powerdrive or 24v 80lb terrova but is the extra cost of the terrova worth it?

Thanks in advance.
Garrett

You will want to go with a 24v trolling motor for that boat. I upgrade my trolling motor to i-pilot link after having it for a while. It is way cheaper to buy the trolling motor with the GPS system. But it is not hard to add it if you need to go that route. All you do is switch out the board and a swap over a couple wires.

Yes I believe the terrova is worth it…i have a powerdrive currently and it really sucks when the battery in your I pilot fob dies and u don’t have a spare…terrova u can still have the foot pedal and not be SOL while on the water..also noted that the PD feels underpowered vs my old school black and white minnkota and that had less thrust..my buddy has a gen3 terrova and it is the cats behind…spot lock is no comparison to the older model…not to mention the motor gets up and goes and he has an older fiberglass tiller in that 16-17ft range…my dad also has one of the first gen terrova with I pilot on his 18.5ft walkthrough lund…scoots his boat at 4-5 on a glass calm day….if you can swing it and get the terrova I wish I would have

Not sure what your budget is for a trolling motor, but have you looked into used? Deals can be found on used terrovas, maybe get a cheaper power drive to get by until then?

After fighting the stow and deploy on the PD enough, you will wish you had the Terrova. Plus you will like that the Terrova cuts all power to the unit while it is stowed. With the PD, you can no longer use the foot pedal at all once IP is installed, not sure if that matters to you.

If you only deploy the unit once or twice an outing and don’t care about a foot pedal, the PD may be good for you. If not, you will regret not getting the Terrova. Adding IP to the Terrova is as easy as 4 screws and 1 plug. The PD is a little trickier, but still not too bad. It will require you to remove side plates, top cover and control board, route new wires and cap off old wires. If you ever want to use the foot pedal, it all needs to be removed.

Food for thought.

Awesome responses, I had no idea that the foot pedal on the Powerdrive becomes inoperable once ipilot is installed. I saw that all preinstalled ipilot models do NOT come with a pedal, sure makes sense why on the PD. It might be nice to have that option in case the remote dies or something happens to it. Also didn’t know that the Bluetooth models can use an app to control it in case the remote dies.

Budget isn’t set in stone yet, mainly because I cant decide on fish finder model either. I had a 898si in my last boat and sold it with it. Cant decide if I want to spend the extra $ for helix9 without SI , or smaller screen with si, or go all in on Helix 8 with SI, but that may dig into the trolling motor budget.

I will second the PD being a pain in the a$$ for store and deploy, I hate trying to get mine in the water but am running it still saving for a terrova which apparently keeps falling behind something else on the next to purchase list. I do not know if the PD has a spot lock option but that was a big deal to me as well, I know its not perfect but nice for quickly holding an area. And remote only would get to be a pain in the butt pitching jigs, casting, reeling a fish in or any other 2 handed operation in the boat.

I had a PD before all that fancy technology (or before “I” knew it existed) and made the upgrade afterwards. It was EXTREMLY” simple to do. My PD power head actually fried so it was cheaper for me to just by the ipilot power head vs a completely new trolling motor.

I love the ipilot upgrade. You do lose the foot pedal. If you troll and cast it would be a pain but I’m a walleye guy so I’m typically lindy rigging or jigging and it’s not an issue. Other than SS/DS, it’s my favorite upgrade.

Unlike others, though I’ve heard it a lot, I don’t have issues with deploying my PD. It takes all of two seconds. ****Dont you just push the lever, lift it up and forward and down it goes until it clicks in???? Push lever and raise it until it clicks back up to stow???? Curious why it’s a pain*****

No one knows your finances so it’s your call but the good news is that you CAN upgrade when money becomes available…and you’ll love it!