Spot lock trolling motor on a rt 178?

[kalfrpr]

Ready to upgrade the 70 lb edge to a spot lock trolling motor. Any suggestions would be great. I assume I will have to drill other mounting holes? Will I have to upgrade the wiring if I stay with the same size? Do more wires have to be run to accommodate the new motor? Any help would be great thanks

[vaw121]

Ready to upgrade the 70 lb edge to a spot lock trolling motor. Any suggestions would be great. I assume I will have to drill other mounting holes? Will I have to upgrade the wiring if I stay with the same size? Do more wires have to be run to accommodate the new motor? Any help would be great thanks

I have a 188p with a ghost. My last boat was a skeeter with an ultrex. Should not have to redrill, should also hook up just like your edge.

[Extremeboating]

The bolt pattern on the Edge is different. Even to other Minn Kota troller models. So yes, new holes will be required. Just JB waterweld the old ones and either paint over them or put some seadek over the old ones.

Do it, spot lock is worth it's weight in gold.

I use a Terrova. You have to decide first though if you want a cable driven troller or electronically driven. My Terrova is all electronic. There are some drawbacks to it, but as a whole I really enjoy it and would not want my boat any other way.

[FloridaFlyer]

You will have to drill holes. Also, I have used the electronic wire controlled motors a good bit. I much prefer the Ultrex. It feels like there is a cable steering with power steering. I did not like the lag in the electronic motor and also found I had to look at the head a lot to know which direction I was going... with the Ultrex, I know by where my foot is positioned.

[tlefire]

Put a terrova on a slide. Either a Minn Kota one or something like a Shuttleslide.

[rangerguy35]

I have an 80lb Ultrex on my 198p and it is fantastic. I would probably get a ghost if something happened to it because I have all lowrance electronics on my boat now. You need to consider all of that stuff if you are going for a one boat network where everything is connected. But I have always been a minn kota guy. Would be hard for me to switch.

[wgammill]

Put a terrova on a slide. Either a Minn Kota one or something like a Shuttleslide.

I put a Terrova on a Minn Kota slide and it works great. I really like this set up.

[GeauxTide]

The mount on the Ultrex/Fortrex is much bigger than the Edge. The Ultrex is the best accessory I've added in 50 years of owning boats.

[jm_middleton07]

My 178 came with the an edge trolling motor. I upgraded to an ultrex. The holes lined up from the edge but the ultrex hung over more in every direction. I ended up drilling new holes to reduce the amount hanging off the front and change the angle. The head hung off the side of the boat as well.

[jm_middleton07]

Here's my post on the ultrex.
http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread....t=Rt178+ultrex

[FrancoCialone]

I don't know about drilling new mounting holes, but if your going to a 24v or 36v, I would upgrade the wiring with 6 gauge, new circuit breaker and plug. And don't forget the trolling motor stabilizer in rough water

[jc1234]

I don't know about drilling new mounting holes, but if your going to a 24v or 36v, I would upgrade the wiring with 6 gauge, new circuit breaker and plug. And don't forget the trolling motor stabilizer in rough water

Unless something has changed recently, Ranger comes with 6 gauge wire. I have a 2014 RT 188, but there shouldn't be any differences as far as wiring goes. I did have to drill a few new holes when I pulled my 24 volt Maxxim motor and installed an Ultrex. The Ultrex comes with a heading puck that hooks into the wiring block that is in the front of the boat. Plenty of wire provided with the puck. The wiring block is under the recessed trolling motor pan. Easy access.

[Bill Reynolds]

Ranger has always used 6 gauge wire in the RT series. You will find a covered plastic connector where the TM wires connect to the battery wires under the foot pedal tray.
There has been some conversation about using a 60 amp breaker in the Trolling motor circuit when changing to an Ultrex but it is not necessary. The existing 50 amp breaker is fine, I have run my Ultrex for 4 years and have had it in current so strong the boat was pushed down stream and never kicked the breaker.
Being of a curious nature, I installed an amp gauge and shunt resistor in the TM circuit and monitored it under various load conditions.
This is the result of one experiment: The conditions here were about normal wind and load:


As for the bounce buster, I was never happy with the Minn Kota version so I added parts from a Troll Tamer. I tapped the center of the bounce buster shaft to accept the threaded portion of the bounce buster. It is rock solid. No more jitters when running through chop.

[FrancoCialone]

The reason I mentioned a 60 amp circuit breaker is because at full speed, my 24v Fortrex draws 56 amps of curent. Also my 52" shaft Fortrex comes standard with a built-in stabilizer.