which upgrade first?

[willthrill]

I want to make a upgrade to my boat this year. I have to choose one, minnkota's i pilot,high end humminbird(800,900,or 1100 series), or a motor upgrade from a 40hp to a 90hp. Which one would you guys pick first or which is best to pick out of the three?

 

[glengold]

Haha. This is funny. What fishing do you do? My buddy just got a 90 so my boat is now the slow one. Id be tempted to upgade my motor so I can keep up with him. That said, I do a lot of flats fishing and use my tm more than the big motor. That ipilot looks SICK! I'd probably go with the ipilot.... i have a basic fishfinder and it works fine for my needs

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Xparent Blue Tapatalk

 

[impatico]

Re: which upgrade first?

Well if you didn't have a fish finder then I would do that first, but what size of lakes do you fish? do you need the extra power? looking at pulling tubers or something? what kind of fish do you do for? what kind of boat do you have?

i pilot looks cool, a color fish finder helps a lot of ocean fishers, when i was crabbing knowing how hard the bottom was told us where to drop the traps, this could also hint at what species of fish are showing up on the fish finder.

I would upgrade the motor to a 115 as I am into tubing and wakeboarding lol

 

[willthrill]

Re: which upgrade first?

I fish for bass,crappie, and catfish. I have a 16ft deep v with a 40hp motor and a humminbrid 587ci. The max hp i can go is 90hp.The smallest lake i fish is 300 acres.The largest is lake michigan.

 

[cyclops2]

Re: which upgrade first?

40 hp on a 16 is fine.

Trolling motor WITH a BIG ENOUGH deep cycle battery. You may have to put a big battery up front & run LONG CAR jumper cables back to the motor / electrical connection area. I did that on my own to balance the boat. Cut off the clips & get some mechanic at a garage or marina to put the RIGHT SIZED LUGS ON all 4 ends that you have pre-cut. Bring him the battery. Use only S S nuts & bolts.

The ELECTRIC cable controlled trolling motors are fine in a 16' boat. You can sit, fish, drink etc. right from the only seat that does NOT cause Hemmrroids. Later in life you can thank my on that one.

The Bimini top covers the seat also.

 

[5150abf]

Re: which upgrade first?

Depends what type of fishing you do, I catfish and have a Motorguide W55 wireless with the handheld remote and a Garmin 178C color sounder/GPS(same as current 400 series) and wouldn't give up either one.

Out of an 8 hour trip I am only on the engine for maybe 20 minutes to get to my grounds then the rest of the night I troll between spots so I would make the engine upgrade last.

If you bass fish the troller and a really good battery is the obvious choice and you can always troll around on Ebay to find a good fishfinder.

Get out a piece of paper and write down the advantages to all 3 and a clear winner should come out.

Take a look at the Motorguide wireless, i have run mine for 2 years and love it.

I work for a boat company and wouldn't have either my troller or the fish finder otherwise, they sat back in R&D for a year so I got them stupid cheap, the troller was $100 and the gps/finder was $50

 

[Kyleb100]

Re: which upgrade first?

Not familiar with the i-pilot. But I can say without a doubt I love my bow mount minn kota with auto pilot. Next gadget on my boat that I appreciate more than the trolling motor is the minn kota mk315d 3 bank on board charger. Those 2 things will make your life SO easy.

 

[jdlough]

Re: which upgrade first?

If your 40HP gets you there, unless you find a GREAT deal on a 90HP with controls, I don't see a great bang-for-the-buck.

I don't know nuthing about no MinnKota anything.

If your main concern is fishing, the newer Humminbirds with the side scan and down scan could be pretty cool, depending on your fishing area.
I just got a Humminbird 798cd HD SI Combo w/GPS, and once you figure it out, it is way cool.

It's great for finding structure that fish hang out at, that aren't on any charts.
The second day I used it, I saw something that looked like a bunch of fish hanging around a bicycle. I happened to have gotten stuck on a bit of a muck-bar, and while de-mucking my boat, I walked over to it and discovered.... a bicycle.

95% of the time, it really isn't that useful. When you find some weird structure, hit the 'waypoint' button, and you got yerself a nice secret fishin spot to check time after time...

 

[bonz_d]

Re: which upgrade first?

I fish for bass,crappie, and catfish. I have a 16ft deep v with a 40hp motor and a humminbrid 587ci. The max hp i can go is 90hp.The smallest lake i fish is 300 acres.The largest is lake michigan.

If you don't have a trolling motor already then that would be my 1st choice. Sounds as though you fish simularly to the way I do. Mostly smaller lakes, emmergant weedbeds? I don't use my fishfinder much in those situations. Alot of sight fishing.

 

[NSBCraig]

Re: which upgrade first?

I'm thinking the troller.

 

[A/C Guy]

Re: which upgrade first?

I want to make a upgrade to my boat this year. I have to choose one, minnkota's i pilot,high end humminbird(800,900,or 1100 series), or a motor upgrade from a 40hp to a 90hp. Which one would you guys pick first or which is best to pick out of the three?

I would wait until the motor needs an overhaul, so that leaves the Minnkota or a high end fish finder. I would choose a low priced trolling motor (if you don't already have one) and then get the Lowrance HDS 10 (or HDS 7 if that fits the budget better). Monday, I was at Cabella's and saw the Lowrance for the first time. WOW! What an amazing screen. Incredible features and upgradeable if you want to add radar, engine monitoring (gauges on screen), etc. at a later date.

 

[greenbush future]

Re: which upgrade first?

For pure ROI I would stay away from the motor upgrade, getting there quicker doesnt really help you catch more fish IMO. Sell the 40 and buy both upgrades if you really want to change things around.