What is the lifespan of a Terrova?

[JoeBee]

Does anyone have an estimate for the average lifespan of a Minn Kota trolling motor? 5 years? 10 years? I am sure that many variables come into play, but I am mostly looking for a rough, ballpark estimate.

[NEBRASKA JOHN]

Used my last terrova 5 years 150+ days a year without 1 single problem. 1 summer on new boat with no issues. Really good motor.

[REW]

40 years, as long as you replace any parts that break.

Simply put, any thing made by man has a service life. It may be a minute or a thousand years. But also, any thing is made is composed of parts.
If you have an infinite supply of parts that wear out, you can keep the motor running for ever.

Most trolling motors run with few issues for 10 years or more.


REW

[kliph]

Originally Posted by REW

40 years, as long as you replace any parts that break.

Simply put, any thing made by man has a service life. It may be a minute or a thousand years. But also, any thing is made is composed of parts.
If you have an infinite supply of parts that wear out, you can keep the motor running for ever.

Most trolling motors run with few issues for 10 years or more.


REW

Good point. I had a Power Drive for 9 years before up grading to
a Terrova i-Pilot.
When I sold the Power Drive it was working fine.

I've seen them last seven years, and I've seen them go up in flames (literally), within the first month.

[Lake Wisconsin]

I would say it all depends. My current Terrova I had a seal go out - that has cause a lot of issues. It is 3 years old and just replaced the armature at the cost of $110. I have owned all sorts of Minn Kota's and overall have been happy with them. Have they broke through the years - yup - some my fault, some MK. But at the end of the day it is a machine, and there are two kinds of machines. Those that are broke, and those that will break. They are easy to work on, fairly easy to trouble shoot and easy to repair. So rather than replacing my motor at the cost of over $1000, a new $100 part and seals and good to go.

[peter8]

Billy hill hit it on the head . My 7 yr old Terrova went up in flames this spring. Looked and sounded like a flare w/ flames shooting out of the base.. About a 200 mile round trip to Scheels and I had a new I pilot mounted and ready to go...... Hopefully for more than 7 years this time !!

[JoeBee]

Thank you for the replies. I have a 5 year old terrova and, based on the replies, I feel that it makes no sense to upgrade to the ipilot link. I think that it would make much more sense (to me) if the upgrade cost was reduced by ~50%, but I guess that everyone will have their own price-point

[peter8]

If it helps w/ your decision Scheels did give me $$ for trade in on my old Terrova. It was a computer board that failed on my motor. I did not want to risk installing a new board and having another failure since I was 700 miles from home on a fishing trip. Scheels gave me a fare trade in price and I made the deal. I can't say enough good about the people and the experience I had at the Grand Forks Scheels store !!

[gumbygold]

Originally Posted by JoeBee

Thank you for the replies. I have a 5 year old terrova and, based on the replies, I feel that it makes no sense to upgrade to the ipilot link. I think that it would make much more sense (to me) if the upgrade cost was reduced by ~50%, but I guess that everyone will have their own price-point

I believe you can add the ipilot to the terrova you have. You don't have to buy a whole new motor.