Anyone have recs for a saltwater trolling motor brand/model? I have a 17ft boston whaler and want a trollling motor for it...


hear the riptide from minn kota is good or the ie5 from motorguide... anyone have first hand experience?

Minn Kota
The white one designed for salt water.
Get i pilot.

We OEM'd MinnKota Riptide models and Motorguide on the Center Console Saltwater products.
We put on what the dealers and consumers requested.
Riptide models were specified at least 5:1 over the Motorguide models. For the numbers shipped we did not have many problems or complaints.

For what it's worth I use MinnKota on my personal boats.

between the experience sgrem and gunny have....take their word for it!!

I can only add as someone who has a boat and uses it regularly...but nowhere near the level of sgrem and gunny....I have a minn kota riptide on our boat we bought almost 8 years ago and have been very happy with it.

I will say this....if there is one thing I could do over when buying this boat was get i-pilot with the trolling motor!!

I -pilot is like one of the greatest inventions ever. Absolutely what you said!
Spot Lock is the 2nd greatest!
Sometimes I just turn mine on to watch it work!

I have a Minn Kota Riptide Ulterra with at least 15,000 hours on it trolling and spotlocked. Rebuilt it once and Still going strong.

I have a second Minn Kota Riptide Ulterra as a back up on my second back up boat. Also been excellent.

Gulf Coast Trolling motors here near Galveston said he sells 100 to 1 Minn Kota to Motorguide ....

Just had a Minn Kota Riptide Instinct Quest w/carbon fiber shaft and lithium battery installed on my Dargel Kat. That boat is a huge sail in the wind and that trolling motor is a beast and will pull it in any wind. Spot lock will hold it in any wind. Can't believe I waited so long to buy one.

My buddy put a Garmin Force on his new Pescador Patron. The integration with GPS is sick. If my MK goes kaput, I'm swapping out. If you're not using a Garmin gps, I doubt it worth the cost