Trolling Motor

[Bfishn]

If you haven't had problems with an Ulterra you either haven't had it very long, don't fish much, or been very very very lucky. Convenience comes at a price, all those moving parts will eventually have issues.

 

[SerchforPerch]

Nothing but problems for me as well. Had the 2022 and any dirt inside the trim module was enough resistance to keep it from storing properly.. Had to do the "manual store" on it one afternoon as the shaft was stuck in the stow mode with the shaft/head unit high in the air. Trim module was toast. Guy at the ramp asked me if was trying to be patriotic - Lol!

I was not a fan of the touch screen on the remote either. I wear the remote around my neck and numerous times while in spot lock the motor would go into stow mode unexpectedly and get blown off the spot.

 

[SLE]

I'm on Ulterra number 3 on three boats, 1 24V and two 36V versions. I have had minimal issues considering all of the hours I have spent on the water over the last 10 seasons using them. First one had zero issues, sold the boat after 4 seasons. The second one that that was on my 2018 219 TFX started to give me some issues on the 4th season. It would deploy and then wouldn't react, move, or anything. I would reset it and get it to work till the next day and it would do the same thing. After about three days of the same, had batteries charging only to lift the tarp and smell that acid rotten egg sulfer smell. Turns out I had one battery of the three take a shit. Put in a fresh battery and back to normal. So not the TM's fault and not even a deploying issue, but instead had a battery take short out and apparently the old 2018 36V versions didn't work so well on 24Vs, lol. Later that year noticed a clicking sound when it was retracting, ran ti for a month that way and finnaly ordered changed the lift belt which was a 15 minute job and clicking went away and worked fine till I sold it.

The newest one I have only one year on it. 36V Ulterra quest, so far so good. Probably jinx my self and it'll act up this weekend, lol.

If anything, I would say the spot lock on the older ones would search a bit if you dropped them and hit lock before getting fully stopped and set. New quest seems to be better that way. I hated the touch screen remote on the last version, it would bounce off my chest on the lanyard and was so senistive it would push on of touch screen button and send it doing something I didn't want. The new Quest remote is deffintely better.

The downside of the new Quest is they are bigger, heavier, and have to hang off the bow further than the old ones and require a special 2 location sliding bracket. It's kind of a PITA. It's not an issue on my boat and trailer (24' 219TFX), but I've been told on some boats that because of how far the new Quest hangs off the bow, it hits the bow roller on some trailer/boat combos. So they have a bracket that you pull a latch, slide it back about 4-6" and then relatch before loading. Kind of defeats the purpose of an Ulterra because you then have to launch, go stand on the bow and get the trolling motor slid in to place so it can be deployed. Then do the reverse when you come in to load. For me, it hasn't been as big of a deal as I only have to slide it back to get my tarp on as the tarp won't cover with the TM in the extended postion for deployment.

All in all, I have very few complaints with the Ulterra. I wouldn't be afraid of one at all. Wipe the shaft down with pledge once in a while to clean it. Overall the the convieniance out weight the negitives for the most part. With that said, there's are less mounting options for live imaging transducers and it's not compatible with minkottas new target lock system. Food for thought.

BTW, if you notice, most of my complaints and nuances that I have had with my Ulterra would also apply to the Terrova as they weren't stow or deploy issues.

 

[Allen Gamble]

The new boat has a 36v Terrova...love it so far. Only thing I miss from the Motorguide Xi5 is the "jog" function when spot lock on...loved being able to hit an arrow direction and move 3 feet in any direction with spot lock on...the Terrova does not have that...unless I'm missing something!

If you have iPilot then you'll need the heading sensor for spot lock. Cheapest place I've found them is Lakeside Marine, which is where I purchased the upgrade kits for my last two powerdrives. Minnkota jogs in 5' intervals rather than 3. The heading sensor should help your spot lock as well. I just upgraded my current TM to the one boat network iPilot version and I can say the spot lock was really back until the heading sensor was installed and everything was calibrated.

My first model wasn't like that at all... the spot lock was nailed tight!

 

[Allen]

I have a 2016 80 lb / 24V, 60 inch shaft Ulterra. Here are the most common issues (I've had them). DUST, those MF'ers at Minnkota don't know their customer base around here worth a crap. To get to a lot of the lakes not named Sakakawea, Oahe, or Devils Lake requires a few miles of gravel roads. Dust is a real PITA. It gets up in the release mechanism for the stow/deploy and will keep it from doing one or the other. I now keep a spray bottle of water/soap (keep it light on the soap) to spray up in their whenever it struggles. A good splash of water will often be enough by itself to lube it enough to store/deploy.

Failure to store/deploy is really hard on the pins in the controller (not sure what the actual part is called), but it's the part that controls the up and down on the shaft, as well as the steering. Those pins will bend when the motor jams, and eventually they will either bend enough to be a problem themselves, or they will break the plastic holders for them. This will cost a couple hundred bucks to fix.

The belt used to control the up and down on the motor needs to be kept tight. If it is loose, the motor may jump a cog on the belt. Again causing a trip to the repair shop for a couple hundred dollar repair. You can tighten the belt yourself, but if you keep tightening it, the shaft will eventually start to warp.

Mine has an awful lot of hours on it as it gets used for both the boat and pontoon for a minimum of 50-70 outings a year. It's had the pins replaced, the belt replaced, and a couple of adjustments. That being said, I really like the power deploy and store. It's almost a safety feature when I am fishing alone in high seas.

 

[Allen]

Oh, and when you absolutely can't get it to store (a dead battery will do that), you will want to have an Ulterra mounted on a quick detach plate that allows it to be lifted straight up. I am not sure if the quick detach plates that the motor slides into from the rear even fit on these, but there's a quick detach plate that uses a "U" shaped pin to hold the motor in place. Get that version, I've had to use it a couple of times over the years to remove the motor so I could trailer the boat.

Part # MKA-21 quick detach plate fits my older Ulterra

 

[Allen]

Oh yeah, last piece of advice. Get the bluetooth version, the remotes on the original non-bluetooth models can be really frustrating. Even in line of sight, a mere 6 ft away and it can take 2-5 pushes on a button to get it to communicate with the darn motor. I hear the bluetooth models are much better. The originals are like the old style TV remotes, anything between you and the motor will block the signal.

 

[AR-15]

How is the Sales and Service at Scheel's in Minot?