05-23-2021, 04:06 PM
I've got a couple of Terrova's and an Ulterra, 24 volt 80 lbs thrust. The Terrovas are older, without the jog feature, and they have been really great motors. Like everyone else, I am waiting for a new Terrova for my small boat to come in, maybe next month. But it will have the Jog feature.
Now for the Ulterra. Had it for three years now and it is really nice to have the deploy feature, but just as convenient is the trim feature. Coming in to shore you can keep the expensive main motor prop up and just drive in using the bow mount. Then just raise the motor out of the water as you reach shore. It really works great.
The stow and deploy portion is really nice when it works, which is about half the time. The safety features built in to the motor are fairly sensitive and will cause a motor error if anything touches the motor while stowing or deploying. The weight of the control head on a long shaft will cause a motor error in rough water as it reaches the high point in the trim prior to stowing.
Two weeks ago, at Lake Powell, there was a couple of thousand tons of red sand moving around. I had just cleaned and greased the locking mechanism and it was soon just a mess of red grit. So, without any degreaser, the motor just had to stay up the whole week, but the trim feature still worked fine.
In short, if you get and Ulterra you need to become and expert mechanic on how the stow and deploy works and how to fix it on the water. I have seen a lot of videos on using it as an anchor after launching. Looks great if your motor deploys, but otherwise your going to be swimming.
Fishing I use the Ulterra for the steering on my Hewescraft, with the 8hp trolling motor for most of the propulsion. Works really good and the front pulling motor is much more controllable that just rear pushing. Battery life is pretty good with this system.
Built a frame and put the Ulterra on my 11.5 foot Zodiack inflatable. Really worked great and superb battery life, but the boat is so light and short that the autopilot function was always cycling back and forth as it tried to keep a constant heading.
The I-link function with the Hummingbird would be nice, but I don't use Hummingbird. Apparently only Pineview has a map usable in Utah. So, that function would be very limited. However, the pendant controller for the I-link looks bigger and more user friendly than just the I pilot controller. Might be worth the extra money just for that.
These motors are all GPS controlled, with the good and bad that comes with it. In the flat country I'm sure they work much better than in the mountains. Sometimes at Lake Powell or Flaming Gorge the cliffs will block signal strength on locked on satellites and the motor will just go bizzerk. So, keep your controller handy.
All in all, I would still buy an Ulterra. Who knows maybe I just have one of the more troublesome motors.
Hope that helps some.
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Now for the Ulterra. Had it for three years now and it is really nice to have the deploy feature, but just as convenient is the trim feature. Coming in to shore you can keep the expensive main motor prop up and just drive in using the bow mount. Then just raise the motor out of the water as you reach shore. It really works great.
The stow and deploy portion is really nice when it works, which is about half the time. The safety features built in to the motor are fairly sensitive and will cause a motor error if anything touches the motor while stowing or deploying. The weight of the control head on a long shaft will cause a motor error in rough water as it reaches the high point in the trim prior to stowing.
Two weeks ago, at Lake Powell, there was a couple of thousand tons of red sand moving around. I had just cleaned and greased the locking mechanism and it was soon just a mess of red grit. So, without any degreaser, the motor just had to stay up the whole week, but the trim feature still worked fine.
In short, if you get and Ulterra you need to become and expert mechanic on how the stow and deploy works and how to fix it on the water. I have seen a lot of videos on using it as an anchor after launching. Looks great if your motor deploys, but otherwise your going to be swimming.
Fishing I use the Ulterra for the steering on my Hewescraft, with the 8hp trolling motor for most of the propulsion. Works really good and the front pulling motor is much more controllable that just rear pushing. Battery life is pretty good with this system.
Built a frame and put the Ulterra on my 11.5 foot Zodiack inflatable. Really worked great and superb battery life, but the boat is so light and short that the autopilot function was always cycling back and forth as it tried to keep a constant heading.
The I-link function with the Hummingbird would be nice, but I don't use Hummingbird. Apparently only Pineview has a map usable in Utah. So, that function would be very limited. However, the pendant controller for the I-link looks bigger and more user friendly than just the I pilot controller. Might be worth the extra money just for that.
These motors are all GPS controlled, with the good and bad that comes with it. In the flat country I'm sure they work much better than in the mountains. Sometimes at Lake Powell or Flaming Gorge the cliffs will block signal strength on locked on satellites and the motor will just go bizzerk. So, keep your controller handy.
All in all, I would still buy an Ulterra. Who knows maybe I just have one of the more troublesome motors.
Hope that helps some.
+