When you are out on the water fishing or maybe just enjoying the lake, your trolling motor will surely be one of your best friends throughout the entire trip. So, if you can benefit a lot from having one trolling motor on your boat, what can happen if you have two of them? Will your boat go faster if you actually have two or more trolling motors?
Two trolling motors will allow a fishing boat to go faster but it won’t make much of a difference. Some people would even say that there are no real advantages to doing this. However, you can still see some benefits when using two trolling motors but they won’t make you run like a speed boat.
Using two trolling motors might sound like a good idea in theory because of how most people think that two motors thrusting your boat forward can make it run a lot faster. While that may be true to some extent, there are some people who do say that doing so has no real advantage. Whatever the case may be, let us talk more about what happens if you are using two trolling motors for your boat.
Can you run two trolling motors?
Those who are often going out on a river or a lake would be familiar with trolling motors because of how these motors are very useful for providing a simple and small fishing boat the thrust it needs. And the thing about trolling motors is that they may be useful but they only provide enough power for a small fishing boat that game fishermen love to use when they are out on the lake fishing as a hobby.
Trolling motors are usually commonly used in smaller and lighter boats such as kayaks and inflatable boats. However, they may also be used as secondary motors alongside outboard motors in larger fishing boats. Whatever the case, you can expect that trolling motors won’t be as powerful as an outboard motor.
So, if one trolling motor isn’t really that powerful, can you actually use two trolling motors for one small fishing boat?
Believe it or not, yes, you can use two trolling motors on a boat. It might sound like it’s too simple to work but it does actually work. And there are even some benefits that you can take advantage of if you are using two trolling motors instead of just one. Let’s go over them.
Higher thrust
Of course, because you are now using two trolling motors for your boat, you can expect it to have a higher thrust compared to when you were only using one trolling motor. It’s really that simple as you are now relying on two motors instead of just one.
However, don’t expect your boat to double its speed just because you have two trolling motors. Having two trolling motors won’t necessarily mean that you are going to be running at twice the speeds but it sure is better than relying on only one.
You should also keep in mind that thrust only becomes important when you are using a boat that is bigger and heavier. In that case, you probably won’t be able to actually enjoy the higher thrust when you are using an inflatable boat. That’s because, even if you are using two trolling motors, the motors won’t be able to go beyond the 6 mph speed limit they usually have. However, if you have two trolling motors on a heavier boat, it would be possible to provide enough thrust to the boat to allow it to reach 6 mph.
Improved maneuverability
You can also improve the boat’s maneuverability if you are using two trolling motors. However, keep in mind that you would need to place one motor at the front and the other at the back for you to actually reap this benefit. When you do that, you won’t be able to reap the other benefits that having two trolling motors can give you.
Nevertheless, if you have one trolling motor at the front and another one at the back, it allows you to maneuver the boat better because you will be able to switch between the two motors whenever you want to go forward or reverse. It’s a simple trick but it can be useful for some fishermen who wouldn’t want to turn the boat around and can simply rely on the front motor to push the boat in reverse.
Longer running times
If you have two trolling motors on your boat instead of one, you will be able to stay out on the water longer. Most trolling motors will be able to run for about eight hours. For those who actually want to stay out on the water to fish for more than eight hours, using two trolling motors can help.
However, what you should do is to actually switch between the two trolling motors instead of using them both at the same time if you want to last longer out on the water. You can use both of them at the same time but, for you to be able to extend your stay, you would need to use them at lower power settings so that you can extend their running times.
Will two trolling motors go faster?
At the end of the day, some of the people who advocate the use of two trolling motors do it to make the boat run faster. But is it true? Will two trolling motors actually make your boat run faster compared to just one?
Yes, two trolling motors will help your boat run faster. But what you need to expect here is that it will not double the speeds or will not turn your boat into a speed demon just because you have two trolling motors. Instead, expect only marginal increases in speed as the second trolling motor is there to increase the thrust instead of increasing the actual speed.
By increasing the thrust, you are allowing your boat to reach the maximum speed that trolling motors will allow it to go, which is somewhere around 6 mph. So, in other words, having two trolling motors will more than likely only ensure that your boat will reach its top speed instead of actually allowing it to break the top speed limit.
But there is a reason why this can end up becoming counterproductive on your part. Having two motors positioned at the rear part of your boat may push the stern deeper because of the added weight. When that happens, the boat may end up going slower. So, in that case, it would be best for you to place a counterweight at the front to make sure that the boat is leveled.
Sources:
https://anchor.travel/dual-trolling-motor-setup/
https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/19377-running-dual-or-more-trolling-motors/
