Pros and Cons of minn kotas

[bigfish94]

Hi
my name is Brady and me and my brother r thinking about buyin a minn kota. We were just wondering the goods and bads of min kotas and can u use fresh water ones in salt water safely.

Tanks 4 ur help

Brady

[kleyny]

dont know the pro and cons but i do know that the fresh water ones would not last long in the salty conditions.
something to do with the prop shafts not being stainless. but if im wrong im sure someone will correct me.

all i know is i have to save my bickies to get one

neil

[JT]

G'day Brady,

From a personal point of view, there are no cons to having a Minn Kota (or any other brand of electric - Motorguide or Jarvis Walker), They are a fantastic piece of gear that I could not do without now, they are perfectly suited to the type of fishing that I do, which is lure casting in the estuaries.
With regard to the use of freshwater models in the salt, you will void the warranty if you do, so its not really worth it.

Do yourself a favour and save your bickies and get an electric, you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

Cheers

John

[Gutsy]

Since having one I have not looked back. Anyone serious about fishing plastics or lures should consider getting one if they don't already have one.

Cheers,

Marcel.

[davo]

Have a good look around. My mate and I have had a lot of problems with our Minnkota bow mounts and I must admit I'm actually thinking of going for a Motorguide next time.

[Rod_Bender]

I personally own a 54lb transom mount minn kota for the last 3 years. I recently took my motor in for service at my local dealer in Townsville. They happen to be the local warranty agent for Minn Kota. The amount of minn kota's i saw to be fixed had me worried that my trouble kota might be due to break down soon. Mine's been trouble free but mind you i only prolly use it on average once a month if that. Hope that helps.

[Archer]

Ive got the 54lb bow mount Jarvis walker (RRP $799.00) on my hornet 390 and am thus far very happy with it. Its slightly noiseier than the Minn kota but hardly worth mentioning really.
Only thing is lack of Auto pilot but after abit of use you dont even think about it and moving the boat around whilst fishing becomes second nature.
As JT mentioned above there a must if your flicking lures around. Cant even imagine fishing without one now.

Joe

[hellfish]

Yeah be carefull what u buy. I have a 40lb transom mount salty (minn kota riptide). The mounting clamp, tilt/trim locking parts are all made of some kind of plastic so when u give it a bit of power in reverse the locking plate explodes, the motor flies out of the water , gives u a nice little shower and makes u look like a complete idiot > Also when u steer under power the shaft rotating in the bush makes a loud horible groaning noise that no amount of lubrication will cure. These 2 problems make it imposible 2 b stealthy when u need 2. Most people i know with them have had the same problems. Older transom mount minn kotas(pre 2003 i think?) had a solid cast alloy clamp and all the locking parts were stainless. If your after a transom mount look 4 one of the metal bracket ones.