Storing Trolling motor in heated area Yes or No?

Does anyone know if Minn Kota has a low temperature restriction for their trolling motors? Years ago I had a trolling motor failure due to the permanent magnet stator coming loose from the housing while stored on the boat in an unheated garage. I believe that failure was caused by the steel housing contracting differently than the permanent magnet causing the bonding material to fail. I’ve been storing my motors in the house since but at age 76 it is getting harder to handle. What do you think, will it survive the cold or should I bring it in? Electronic components are also a factor.

Mine have always been stored on the boat in an unheated garage, no issues. I’ve never heard of anyone bringing their TM into the house for the winter.

dirtywater wrote:

Mine have always been stored on the boat in an unheated garage, no issues. I’ve never heard of anyone bringing their TM into the house for the winter.

Same for me and everybody I know.

Reef W wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>dirtywater wrote:</div>
Mine have always been stored on the boat in an unheated garage, no issues. I’ve never heard of anyone bringing their TM into the house for the winter.

Same for me and everybody I know.

Same here. Never even thought about bringing it inside. The GPS units I keep in the house over the winter however.

I’ve got a couple friends who had issues with the Ulterra in cold weather. It has more moving parts than other models. They’ve both gone back to a Terrova instead now because of it.

The OP didn’t state what model it was though.

My first Auto-Pilot was stored on a shelf in an un-heated garage. No issues.
My second was stored the same way. After 2 years it lost Auto-Pilot. There was a small tube filled with an oil on that motor. MinnKota changed the oil to a lighter weight and it froze and cracked the tube. After it was fixed I stored it in the basement over the winter.
My current one, Ulterra 36-volt 72″, was being stored in the basement. I called MinnKota earlier this year to ask them if it can be stored in an unheated garage over the winter and they said, “Yes”. I might try it this winter because it’s not the easiest to bring indoors. Not bad if my son helps. I don’t know if I’m going to take a chance. Plenty of room in the basement next to the rod rack.

Mine stays on the boat outside all winter always has

gimruis wrote:

I’ve got a couple friends who had issues with the Ulterra in cold weather. It has more moving parts than other models. They’ve both gone back to a Terrova instead now because of it.

The OP didn’t state what model it was though.

That was while using it in real cold and it freezing up. Had nothing to do with storing it.

Never heard of anyone bringing their trolling motor inside.

Agree I broke an Ulterra trying to deploy it in freezing rain, but the GPS still works fine after 5 years or so of that and storing unheated over the winter.

John Rasmussen wrote:

Mine stays on the boat outside all winter always has

Mine to.