Electric motor for a driftboat?

[Old Dog]

I'm thinking of adding an electric motor to my 2012 16' Clackacraft SSG.  I've already narrowed it down to the Minn Kota Traxxis.  I just need help on deciding how powerfull the motor should be.  The boat itself only weighs about 300 pounds, but my brother and I together add nearly 600 pounds, so with our tackle I figure the motor needs to push 1000 pounds against the current. 

[WSU]

One thing to think about is how many batteries you want to lug around.

[Bob70]

I run a 80# thrust 24 volt on my clack, I mainly use this in the lower cowlitz in the fall and its a great setup as I'm able to motor up the river without any issues. I would go with a 24 volt setup at a minimum, as far as run time goes I would guess that I'm getting at least 6 hrs of hard run time on a charge.

[Old Dog]

Hey Bob, thx.  That's just the info I needed!  I went ahead and phoned the guys at Clacka, and they said the same thing.   

[Bob70]

You will like it its a great setup that will treat you right, one last thing is get yourself a piece of poly or some other materail to slide in between the screw mounts and transom, I cut down a old plastic cutting board 1/4 inch thickness. This will keep the transom from becoming damaged.

[Old Dog]

I was worried about just that.  Once again thx.

How powerfull are your batteries? 

[Superfly]

I am a fishing guide and run a 24 volt, 84 lb thrust motor guide on my drift boat for side drifting and fly dogging and it works great.....get the 12 volt deep cycle optima batteries and put them up front and run your wires under your deck................

Peace
Fly