On the subject of batteries for trolling motors. Are they created equal? What makes the charge last longer. I am getting about 1.5 to 2 hours of full power out of mine can this be improved?

Here's my two cents. First off never run your trolling motor battery all the way down this can tend to kill off cells within the battery making it never fully charged. Next get a gel cell battery like the optimas..they are high dollar but I just replaced one that I had for ten years as my cranking battery. If you can buy two of them and rotate them out easily I would recommend that also.

I had an Optima and I think I killed it by running down.

I am thinking of getting a Rolls 27 HT 90M

WALMART

Interstate come with my boat and I had Walmart Everstart in my last boat. Just be sure and keep them peak charged as soon as you come in and don't wait. Overcharging and draining batteries are what cause them to die an early death. I know Mando doesn't let his sit too long without use, but if you keep your boat in storage disconnect the battery cables or that will drain them slowly.

depending on what optima you have ...you may be able to get it replaced under warranty..they have great customer service ...i'am assuming you have a deep cycle batt if you take it to sears ,autozone ,orielly they can load test your batt to find out if you have a bad cell optima's are dry cell batteries and you can have a bad cell and the batt with work just fine for years it just wont have the capacity that it had when new...as a mechanic my dealership sold optimas and in the 7 yrs i worked there i saw less than 10 go bad they are really high quality batteries...hope this helps pm me if you need help for warranty

get a 70 lb thrust and two optimas

Man it already does 3 mph with two of us on it.

more power!!!!!

I just put an 82 lb on mine with 2 Interstates from Sam's. It ran a good 2 hours last week, was still strong when we came off the water.

One of the only things I like about the Walmart batteries is their return policy--I have had more than a couple of them that went bad after a month or 2-

XYZ, try this link great faq's
http://www.minnkotamotors.com/products/chargers/info.asp?pg=faqbatteries

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I was at sams club today and the red top optima's were about 130$ the yellow were about 160 or 170 IIRC

According to my research. Batterys have a substance inside them that is heated when used to a point of fizzling. The fizzing reduces the level of the for sake of argument liquid/battery acid. After use you need to recharge as soon as possible if not immediatly. If not the battery cools down and turns the substance into a crystalized hardened substance. Once this happens that space becomes no longer usable battery space because nothing will break this stuff up. So when you do recharge you only are able to refreshen the part of the battery that has not hardened. As time goes by if not maintained appropriatly the battery will continue to develop this hardened substance substancially reducing battery operating time and life of. Anyone who fishes should have a onboard charger to recharge after each use. These chargers have a trickle charge once the battery has reached full charge so as not to overcharge hence again reducing battery life. This is a very convenient option. I bought a 96 Ranger. The owner used Optima batterys and said he had three optimas in this boat from 96 to 06 and then decided He might as well go ahead and replace them. He said he gave the old one's to a friend who was still running them as late as 2 months ago. I was fortunate enough to buy a used boat with high dollar battery's. I have ran a 84 pound thrust trolling motor, airrateres, bilge pumps, continually cycling water and three fish finders on several occasions for greater than 8 hours sometimes closer to 12. My charger has 5 bars I have never seen these batterys with less than 3 bars.
My old boat had Wal Mart batterys and I treated them the same way as far as recharging. I also never had them show less than 2 bars. I still have that 3 bank charger if anyone wants to make an offer. Over the long run if you dont have onboard charger your shooting youreself in the foot. Or creating great back pain pulling batterys out everytime to recharge. Go this route and you will have cheapo batterys last for a very long time.