I have a 1996 19' Long fiberglass bass boat. It had a 12/24 volt 50 lb. thrust Motorguide trolling motor on it until it burned up last week, so I am shopping for a new one.

The 50 lb. thrust worked just well enough. When I was sandbass fishing I had to kick it into the 24 volt mode and it wouldn't quite keep up with the school movement so I am considering going higher on the lbs thrust.

What I am looking at is a Motorguide 24V with 75 lbs. of thrust. It has 5 speeds. Is this going to be too much trolling motor for my boat? Should I be looking at a 65 lb instead?

Link to the motor on BPS's website:

http://www.basspro.com/MotorGuide-Pro-Se.../product/74173/

The other thing I am slightly worried about is the kick when I engage the trolling motor. The old one probably didn't have a soft start on it and when you turned it on in the 24V mode it jerked badly. Is this still going to be an issue?

Any knowledge I can get from guys with more experience would be most appreciated!!

BTW.. The shaft on the current motor is 40" and I am trying to stay well under the $1000 price tag.

The rule of thumb on a trolling motor is that you can not get too much thrust. A $1000 ought to buy you a TE 82 is you want. That would not be too much for a 19' fiberglass boat. I ran one of them for 9 years and sold it so I could upgrade to the digital TE 82 a couple of years ago. It has the slow start like you mentioned but on high it will still give you a bit of a jerk.

Get at least a 42" shaft and longer unless you are one of those guys who stays in real shallow water. Another thing is the speeds. I have the infinite speed on my trolling motor so I can adjust it for current or wind. I like it a lot better than a 5 speed where usually one speed is too slow and the next one up is too fast.

Thanks for the advice!! I will look into the variable speed and the model you recommend.