Posts: 3508
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | The autopilot is a great feature!! I like it most when I have a fish in the net at boatside. I can pull myself away from the structure (or at a minimum off the structure) and it takes care of itself. You have 2 hands to deal with the fish and no worry about your boat going up on shore or into new water that is unfished. Definitely worth the extra $$ for the AP.
I would also concur that going to a 24 volt would be best. It will take less power with a bigger motor to position your rig. With a 12 volt 55# thrust, you would be running your power setting much higher on windy days, thus draining your battery pretty quick. The only way to eliminate this would be to run two batteries in parallel, which works fine too...but the higher power setting will in the long run take it's toll on the brushes in the motor. More heat to disperse...
AP 65 would do just fine on your rig. Also, going with the longer shaft is the safe bet. you can always cut the shaft down, but it is quite costly to replace a shaft to make it longer....it's about $100 by the time it's all done (money wasted since a longer shaft is about half that price if that)
Steve |
