Re: Motorguide or Minn Kota???
Hey Craig,<br />My 16' Fisher Deep-V came with a 40# thrust MK foot-control All Terrain. It's my first bow-mount troller and I wasn't sure what I was getting. It runs fine, deploys easily and has zero slop in the steering system. My beef with it (and I probably sound like a whiner to the old-timers) is that it's very demanding to use. It swivels so freely in its mount that, unless I give it constant attention, the boat wanders all over the place. If you take your foot off the pedal, the motor pivots 30 or 40 degrees from where you left it on its own. If there's chop or a wake, it'll pivot 90 to 180 degrees. Even with foot firmly in place the thing requires constant attention to avoid inadvertant heading changes. There's no resistance in the steering system so there's no control 'feel'.<br /><br />What bugs me is that a simple friction tensioning system in the foot pedal would eliminate most of my complaints. You could take your foot off the pedal for a few seconds to do something else and have the boat stay on course. Yet there's no easy way to add one that I've seen. Another option would be a self- centering spring mechanism on the pedal with trim capability. Got something like that sort-of designed in my head, but don't know if it's worth trying to build.<br /><br />Without cobbing something up, I think Flahthead's got the answer...a MinnKota power glide with the autopilot option. Kinda pricey (over $600, I think) but probably worth it. Seems strange that MK can't/won't make a design change to correct this drawback...they have friction adjustment screws on the pivots of their transom mount motors. But if everybody was happy with the All-Terrain motors, no one would buy the $600 power glides. Another option, the bow mount Hand-control All-Terrain, might be more satisfactory than the foot control version; but research it first.<br /><br />Sorry for the long rant. Good Luck.<br />Bob
They supposedly have the better break-away system, I liked the composite shaft idea. Here's a couple of links to view, do some searches on trolling motors, reviews, ect, I have so many articles bookmarked.........<br /><br />Good Luck 