[aaument]

:helpsmilie:

I'm starting to look seriously at buying a used or new jon boat with an electic motor for lake use only, maybe 10-14 ft. I'd like one that could accommodate 3 adults for fishing and just tooling around. I'm not seeing any on craigslist and such, and I've looked at a few on line and at BPS. Doesn't need to be anything fancy or pricey, just in good shape.

I don't know anything about electric motors but would want one that could push/pull the boat with "decent" speed. A battery charge guage would be nice too.

Any thoughts, recommendations, or stores/marinas to look?

Thanks for any advice!

Andy

 

[Francis]

I got one for sale. It's beat up but I have had it for a long time and it works fine. It was my first boat. I got it when I was 13. Caught a ton of fish on it too in the reservoirs, but I just fish on my big boat now and never use it. It has a trailer. Both have clean titles

I got two trolling motors for it as well. I will take pictures tomorrow if you are interested. Let me know.

 

[Baldzilla 2.0]

Andy,
Sent you a PM.
Take care
Mark

 

[Francis]

Oh. And the little Tracker boats are hard to beat for their price. BPS makes an in house trolling motor too which is a good deal. I think it's made by Motor Guide.

 

[john pearce]

not sure what reservoirs you are going to fish but if its Loch raven, Prettyboy or Liberty you'd be better with a 16' - 18' Jon boat with a modified v in front and most are using Ray motors sold at becks Gunsmithing. They are pricey but well worth it, when I had mine it was a 48V motor using 8 - 6V batteries, now they are 60V motors and need 10- 6V batteries. Mine used to push me at about 6 - 7 MPH. If you are looking to just hit eastern shore ponds you could go with a 16' boat with one or two Minn Kota 24V motors on it, that would be more than enough. Also on the reservoirs most guys years ago made their own golf cart motors, you would use a motor coupling usually sold at Graingers and mount a 36V golf cart motor on top of a lower unit where maybee the power head was seized up but the lower unit was still good, rig up some solonoids for speed control and you have a nice motor for about $500 - $1000. I think a new Ray motor is like $7000 now but that includes the charger.

 

[sewelljx]

Andy, If you are just looking to fish the lake by your house a 10-14 ft with anything between 36-56 lbs of thrust for the motor will do you fine. The WID for the lake also do an auction there every year in July with the boats they confiscate that don't have the proper boats stickers on them. You should be able to get a decent boat there for around $300. Don't skimp on a cheap battery!

 

[spynet000]

Andy- i've got the biggest, baddest, fastest reservior boat on the lake w/ your name on it for 20k

There is a WHOLE lot more to it than you think. We've had anything from a 10ft dingy with a 40lb thrust up to the present custom 20' w/ 60volt ray. We just put the boat away for the season today (only because we were forced by a chain across the launch ramps). There is too much to even get into on this topic but if you are looking to fish 3 people then 16' would be the minimum size I would fish.. Used to fish on a 16' reservior boat powered by twin 101 minkota trolling motors and loved it until the 20' barge was put together. Send me a PM if you want to talk more about it in specifics. Glad to help.

Dave

 

[Peltz]

A couple of things to think about in addition to all the good info above. In Baltimore County reservoirs the smallest size allowed in 12 feet. 95% sure about that. Also, Becks Gunsmithing mentioned above as a source for Ray motors is out of business as of last fall.

 

[aaument]

Thanks for all of the replys and pm's. The only lake I'll be fishing is a rather small private one with almost no chance of any sort of wave action, and there are limits on how large an electic motor can be (knocks out the Ray's). The jon will stay outside exposed on a rack, so no trailer or electonics are needed. I'll also need something on the lighter end that I can drag from shore 40ft to the rack which is why I thought the 12-14ft.

Sewelljx - thanks for the WID info, looks like I moved in the weekend after auction...

You mentioned not skimping on the battery - any suggestions on a brand/model?

Thanks again everyone - Andy

 

[john pearce]

sorry about mentioning Becks, he told me a while ago that he was trying to sell the buisness so he could spend more time with the family and on the water, its a shame he's gone but you can't blame a man who want to spend time on the water and with the family