Adding a trolling motor onto your 20-foot pontoon boat is going to give you and so many more options when fishing. Having the right-sized model will permit you get on top of the fish, stay with them, and hopefully catch more.

Only it's much more than that; with the right sized trolling motor on your xx-foot pontoon boat, with just the right amount of thrust ways you won't get pushed effectually past the wind.

If you get the thrust wrong and buy something non powerful enough, you will waste time and money.

It's not ever obvious though, and y'all will hear lots of different opinions on what size you need to purchase, what thrust, what spec and so on.

The right sized trolling motor for a 20-foot pontoon gunkhole is…

The reply is quite simply zip that has less than seventy pounds of thrust, and if you can afford it, go for lxxx pounds of thrust. My advice is don't ever be cheap on a trolling motor. And don't get depression thrust ane.

Buy the best i yous tin can afford with 24 volts as a minimum.

The reason why I say 70 pounds minimum is due to the wind. Pontoon boats can be like kites and in a expert air current you demand that extra thrust to proceed her in runway.

I boat and fish in large lakes all the time and take seen plenty of days where current of air has picked upward to 20 miles per 60 minutes plus. With a 70-pound trolling motor, my 20-foot pontoon boat has zero problems.

Plus, if you are doing straight line trolling you volition need something with autopilot and cruise command if your budget allows.

Every single person I've ever talked who'south running a trolling motor with a remote command has said they'd never become back to a pes pedal. Literally no exceptions.

Then, whatever yous do, if you can afford information technology, go something with GPS and remote control.

What is the best trolling motor for a 20-foot pontoon boat?

For me it's the Minn Kota Terrova with Bluetooth wireless functioning. This one ticks all the boxes that I would look for in a trolling motor.

Information technology pulls my twenty-foot pontoon boat with ease, even in loftier winds.

It has an 18-foot cord in the pes control, and a cordless remote too, with loads of other options.

The wireless functionality is an absolute must.

Trolling motor battery and charger recommendation

Get yourself a deep-bicycle battery. Don't run off the principal battery, every bit it could bleed with you getting stuck out on the water.

Vmaxtanks are very good (view on Amazon), and are manufactured to piece of work with xx-pes pontoon trolling motors such as the Minn Kota Terrova.

In terms of a bombardment charger, you can't go wrong with the Minn Kota range.

I recommend their two-bank charger (run across Amazon prices) as it means if you have a starting battery and a trolling battery, yous tin can have care of both.

How to calculate how much thrust you will need?

One of the biggest regrets I read on pontoon boat forums is from people who bought a trolling motor, simply to wish they had gone bigger. You lot need as much thrust as you can get.

At that place is a tried and tested method to calculate how much thrust your trolling motor needs, based on the size of your gunkhole. It goes like this:

Rough Adding : Weight of boat in pounds divided by 100. So multiply that result twice.

Based on that, if your 20-foot pontoon gunkhole weighs 3,400 pounds, then divide that by 100 and you lot become 34. Multiply that by ii, and you get 68, which is just shy of lxx.

But I e'er want to err on the side of circumspection, and give me as much power equally I tin, which is why I recommend taking information technology upwardly to lxxx pounds if you can.

Tin I become away with using a 55-pound trolling motor on a xx-human foot pontoon?

You will hear of other pontooners using 55 pounds of thrust, but for me it's just non worth the investment.

Yes, information technology will push button your gunkhole fine with no wind, simply the distance you'll travel will exist very short unless you have a ton of batteries. You also aren't going to be able to pull crank baits for hours based on my feel.

A buddy of mine had a 55 on his 20-foot pontoon, and information technology was fine as long as the wind was less than x miles per hour. Anything more that and he was constantly having to employ the outboard.

You're going to have a hard time in air current and also the bigger thrust the more than voltage system. That in turn lasts longer between charges.

The battery on a 55 pounder will probably but exist 12 volts, and it merely won't last very long – become for an 80 pounder with 24 volts instead.

For a 20-foot pontoon gunkhole, I would say no less than 70 pounds, with lxxx pounds of thrust ideally.

What other pontooners say

I read some online comments from other pontoon gunkhole owners to encounter them what sized trolling motor they were using on their 20-footers. Hither's a selection of their answers, including what features they recommend.

"I have the Minn Kota Terrova V2 36v 112lb thrust threescore" shaft mounted on my 20-foot pontoon and it pulls the gunkhole at iv.5 to 5 mpg with information technology loaded upwards heavy. I bought this motor for a unlike boat, so later took it off and put on my pontoon. The wireless remote control is the only way to go! Also, if you get one of the larger motors, say 24v or fifty-fifty 36v, your batteries will last a lot longer."

"I've got an 80-pound Minn Kota on my xx-human foot pontoon. I utilize the trolling motor more often than not for moving forth the bank while casting for bass and for that information technology works really well. Yesterday, I ran out of fuel nearly ½ mile from the fuel dock and had to utilize the trolling motor to get me there. We made it there, but it overheated and auto-shut-down twice on the way."

The last word…

Ownership the correct-sized trolling motor for your xx-pes pontoon boat lets you lot develop the perfect angling set up-upwardly, without having to spend out big on a manufacturer's angling package.

Buy big, and over-gauge the amount of thrust you volition need – you won't regret information technology!