Question for the group. I like to leave my Bow mount down while I’m checking spots. If I mark a pod I want to mess with, I throw it in reverse for a second and then spot lock. Anybody know how fast you can go before you damage the shaft of the trolling motor?
I always limit myself to 4-5 ish mph . Curious what others have to say here.
I’m not sure I would be concerned with damage to the shaft, they are pretty dang forgiving. I would be more concerned to what your motor is mounted to on the bow. That’s a lot of torque being placed on that section of the bow, might not be as large of a concern on a glass boat.
I see guys do this all the time and will never understand it. Anything above couple miles per hour and you can see the shaft flexing. I think that potentially breaking or causing unnecessary wear is a good enough of a reason to just pull the motor out of the water when you move.
I always limit myself to 4-5 ish mph . Curious what others have to say here.
Theoretically I would not have an issue with this but I wouldn’t be cruising around the lake on plane with it down.
I disengage mine into the stowing position when I go from one spot to another. It doesn’t take long.
I don’t think he talking about driving on plane around the lake. I think he is going from spot to spot on a certain spot. I wouldn’t go above 4-5mph.
If this is how you fish a lot I would look into a minkota ulterra at some point.
You are probably losing some graphing capabilities going faster than that anyhow and most likely spooking fish that you are trying to hover over anyway.
I do the same thing and keep my speed to about 5mph max. Seems to be a good speed for SI. I also make a point to turn my trolling motor to face perfectly forward when doing this to minimize drag. Like Rip said, you could probably go a little faster, but you’d be sacrificing detail on your screen.
If you have a good boat with a good rise, you can go full speed with it down. I wouldn’t recommend it but I seen a few people do it.
I’ll go 5 mph max like that
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>isu22andy wrote:</div>
I always limit myself to 4-5 ish mph . Curious what others have to say here.Theoretically I would not have an issue with this but I wouldn’t be cruising around the lake on plane with it down.
I disengage mine into the stowing position when I go from one spot to another. It doesn’t take long.
I guess I’m less concerned about the time it takes to walk up an deploy it than I am the fact that it’s easy to lose track of your pod.
That’s about the same speed I’ve been cruising, was just curious if anyone has gone any faster. I’ve heard of people taking off after forgetting to stow the motor and not breaking them. Not that you would want to make a habit of that, but I figure there has to be a happy medium.
I’d be curious to know if the shaft diameter is the same from 55# and up, mainly the 80 and 112#s
I think of the torque put on going from 0 to full power on an 18 to 20′ boat and certainly would think as long as the nose is pointed forward it’d be good to 10 to 15mph which I’ve done plenty in the past
I thought the reason to pull the TM was so you don’t damage the motor by overspeeding the TM prop or actually reversing the prop direction.
Have done this for years when searching for pods of panfish, 5mph is good but I have went at fast as 6. When you are moving around on moving pods they sometimes don’t stay around long and faster you can get back on the trolling motor the better.
I’ve gone 5 – 6 mph with mine too. The shaft definitely shows flexing. I would be more concerned with the tension it puts on the shaft where it fits in the pivoting sleeve on the trolling motor and this getting loose. When a Terrova cost over 2K, why would anyone think it is a good idea to go any faster than this. Wide open? Good luck with that if you want to be the guy that people point to as you take off.
I’ve gone 5 – 6 mph with mine too. The shaft definitely shows flexing. I would be more concerned with the tension it puts on the shaft where it fits in the pivoting sleeve on the trolling motor and this getting loose. When a Terrova cost over 2K, why would anyone think it is a good idea to go any faster than this. Wide open? Good luck with that if you want to be the guy that people point to as you take off.
That’s the point I was making earlier. At some point, you might forget that it’s deployed and punch the throttle. That’s why I stow mine before I relocate. The entire possibility of a problem is removed.
I witnessed a Terrova shaft crack as I was standing over it. But it took a lot. 21 foot Tracker Grizzly with an 8ft shooting deck on the front and a 6 foot deck on the rear, 2 adults, coolers, generator. We were moving about 2.5mph and ran the terrova into the ground as it shallowed up really fast. The shaft flexed A LOT before it finally snapped. I was pretty amazed at how much it took to actually make the loud snap. Still totally usable the rest of the day but had to be replaced as water could seep into the motor assembly from the shaft. My point is they can take a whole lot of abuse, but I wouldn’t run mine down over 5mph simply because it creates a ton of drag and messes with steering.
FWIW, had my Ulterra in for some work at Scheels. The Minnkota tech there advised me to NEVER troll with the motor down. Can’t remember the explanation of why but I’ll take his word for it I guess.
FWIW, had my Ulterra in for some work at Scheels. The Minnkota tech there advised me to NEVER troll with the motor down. Can’t remember the explanation of why but I’ll take his word for it I guess.
The price tag of trolling motors these days is enough of a deterrent for me to not do it. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
FWIW, had my Ulterra in for some work at Scheels. The Minnkota tech there advised me to NEVER troll with the motor down. Can’t remember the explanation of why but I’ll take his word for it I guess.
A Minnkota tech said never TROLL with the TROLLing motor down?
I’d find a new tech.
Yeah 100s of people are trolling 3.5 mph plus with theirs down and the kicker pushing
If you have a good boat with a good rise, you can go full speed with it down. I wouldn’t recommend it but I seen a few people do it.
Wait-What????
Please send me a video of it.
I’m with the 5mph common sense crowd.
Could it occasionally handle more? Yes.
Could the mount and your boat handle 15+mph for prolonged periods? I’m guessing not.
Trying to go “full speed” with your TM down is beyond idiotic. Even if you have the bow up enough to clear the water, one wave could rip $3,000 off your boat in a blink of an eye.
^^^cant say I have seen that done, but would like to. 
On the river I troll mostly downstream using the TM only. When I get snagged I just pop the outboard on to circle back upstream to the other side of the snag, and I don’t pull the TM up for that. Like others, 5mph is about as hard as I push it.
we routinely go up to 5mph with the Ulterra trolling motor down and there’s never been any issue. doing this for years. i use it to get the earliest possible view of the bottom to maintain position when contour trolling in shallow water.
one accommodation that i make it to adjust the depth of the trolling motor head, running it just below the surface of the water. this both shortens the shaft so there’s less flex, but also avoids any accidental strikes to the trolling motor head if i drive over a shallow rock or tree.
we routinely go up to 5mph with the Ulterra trolling motor down and there’s never been any issue. doing this for years. i use it to get the earliest possible view of the bottom to maintain position when contour trolling in shallow water.
FF sonar has been awesome for new trolling runs on shield water. See those rocks coming from 50+ feet away
I run a much shorter shaft then most of you guys but I have definitely ran back up river at 10-12 mph. At that speed it I completely out of the water or close. I have did the same with the last 3 tm and all have lived thru it.
Early 90s, Don Shelby Bass Tournament on Minnetonka. I was an observer. We move into a spot that has a fisherman on it but pretty far away. He gets pissed, puts the rod down, starts the big motor, idles away a little. My fisherman says, “Watch this!” The other guy guns it, yes with the trolling motor still down. These had the stainless steel shafts. It comes out of the water fine, but when the boat came down onto plane and the trolling motor hit the water, it bent it back to the bow. 
A very unique sound.
I go up to 4-5 with my Ulterra down, but I can also quickly raise the prop out of the water without stowing. When trolling crank-baits I have it down with no power to the prop. When I hook a fish, I hit spot lock while fighting/netting it.
I am in the ~5mph or so crowd. I know it will handle more as it’s not uncommon on the river to see guys forget theirs is down when they motor back down or up river to take another pass through an area. It’s not worth the wear and tear though IMO.
I troll with mine down probably 95% of the time. It’s convenient to use it for steering when pulling cranks from anywhere in the boat.
My terrova self deployed one time after hitting a tuna boat wake . Had it off plane before it hit the water. No damage.
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