Electric Downrigger Amp Draw

[flyman013]

My father in law recently bought a new to him boat It is pretty bare bones, so there is plenty of room to rig it out. Both have back problems and would like to put electric downriggers on. The boat has a Yamaha 175hp outboard. Does anybody know if there will be enough power for 2 Big Jon Captain Pak riggers with Nav lights, fish finders and marine radio on? Would hate to get these on and find out there wasn't enough power to operate them. Thanks.

[allout280]

That engine will put out plenty of power for that .You may want to think of putting a kicker engine like a 9.9 high thrust which also will power that stuff up instead of trolling with that big of an engine .Just some thing to think about.

[flyman013]

Thanks Ed. I suggested a kicker also and I think it is on his list.

[Nailer]

Every boat should have two batteries in it. Most of the time the riggers are not drawing anything, and the nav light go off when the sun is up.

If they end up trolling with the big motor, they may want to get some Trolling Bags.

That will allow them to bump the rpms a tad.

[1mainiac]

Well they will have more on than just the riggers while trolling so total draw needs to be considered. Big Jon Captain packs draw about 7 amps when running none when sitting so if you used 2 min per use down and up on a rigger 30 cycles would be 7AHR 2 riggers would be 14AHR using that if the 2 riggers were wired to a cheap group 24 deep cycle battery rated for 70AHR and cycled 30 times per trip you would get 5 trips before the battery would need to be recharged. I would install a second battery for the riggers and charge it when needed.

[sherman51]

you shouldnt have any problems with your riggers. they only draw juice when in use, the motor charges all the time and will recharge batteries in between uses of your riggers.

and it is a good idea to have 2 batteries on your boat anytime your running on the big water. just a safety thing.

sherman