It's been a great boat, Jim! I do see why you needed a bigger one when I was out on the big lake with those 2-foot or more swells, but it's been awesome for anything less than 20 mph winds. Thanks for decorating it so nicely! Ha, ha. I've left all stickers in their positions and may add more in the future.

Thanks man! I take that as a high compliment even though I see lots of room for improvement in the video and hope to update it at some point in the future.

Glad you enjoyed it! It's my first drone. It's amazing to use.

Thanks, Joe!

I have definitely spot locked long enough to find my remote quietly powered itself down with the auto-shut off feature. The spot was still in the position I had started many minutes prior. I can't say I trust the newer, feature-rich remote system, though. My basic remote that allows me to choose old waypoints and tracks I've had for years is probably the best way to go. The newer remote requires charging multiple times a day even for a friend of mine. For my remote, one set of batteries lasts most of the season and never failed me yet.

I only did the video like that with those conditions because on top of putting my boat in the water, I was flying my drone by myself. The only time I won’t put my boat into the water with my trolling motor, which is very rare, is when the wind is blowing back toward the ramp or trailer direction. I plan on making another video this summer detailing my thought process and preparations for varying conditions. I also don't fish the river currents (never experienced it in my own boat yet). Wind in North Dakota is pretty much a given. We deal with it. I do consider my options on lakes and ramps depending on the wind forecast, however. When I started putting in, I'd only do it when nobody was around. Now I'm more confident in my skills for launching it that I know it will save me and others waiting for me time. I’ve put in at a boat launch with the dock occupied at both sides and enough space on the side of the ramp to slide my boat into the water. The guys at the dock were all yelling at me that I just let my boat float until I deployed the motor. Then they claimed I was making a commercial for the company and wished they could be on the water as fast as I was. I met my boat at the end of the dock and beat the two guys jumping into theirs tied up along the dock. The line of boats behind me, around 10 that morning, were happy I was able to get in and out so quickly and not make them wait. I actually asked the guy in front of me if he minded that I swing around him to put in since I could and he was also alone. You're correct about the range. The remote loses connect at the top of the ramp as I'm parking, but will pick up the motor again as it is spot locked as close to the dock and traffic down-wind as I dare. I used to have a special spot-locked position I had set, but with the changing water levels on my reservoir, I made a judgment call on that not being a great idea, plus seeing the range is only good for 30 feet, I was lucky it worked for as far away as I had the spot-lock position when I first started doing it years ago. Now, I will maneuver it remotely and spot lock each time with the windows down in the pickup. I also don't advise doing it if you don't have a GPS puck on the boat to accompany the trolling motor system. As long as you put in with the breeze or wind blowing away from the dock, you’re good. I don’t use my boat in conditions above 20 mph often, though, and my regular ramp is very sheltered if I do. I also make sure if there is nobody around, my boat would float to a shoreline I can walk to or have a lifejacket in preparation to swim or better yet, only do it with someone else nearby and a $20 bill to flip them for their trouble and risk of helping me get to my boat. I’ve had great success and no failures so far after at least 100 deployments and four summers. So, I’m ready for that first time to happen anytime now. Ha, ha! As I always have been from day one actually. I expect the unexpected. Enjoy that new boat! I'll be going to pick up a Lund ProV 2021 with my buddy on Wednesday. It's his new boat, not mine, but I'm excited for him anyway. If you're ever in North Dakota at the big lake, I can show you how I put my boat into the water in person if you're really interested. Tight lines!

@RD S I have one and it’s easy at any dock with traffic just send the boat to the side away from the dock I know minkota states 30 feet I do it well over that closer to 100 feet with no problem I even trim up the ulterra and drive it right on to the trailer and stow it before it hits anything My wife and daughter just stand at the dock as it truly is a one man job with the ulterra

That's awesome! I do the same with family or friends who are nautically challenged or just not interested in learning how to launch a boat. It sure can't be beat when launching my boat, that's for certain. I'm in the works of making another video detailing my thought processes and techniques for launching. When I was making it yesterday, the traffic at the launch dock got busy and I decided to drive my boat over to the courtesy dock while at the top of the embankment and nearly out of sight from the camera on the boat. I had plenty of signal and was more than 100 feet away the entire time while the boat would have merely ran into the embankment in the marina had it gotten free. Glad to meet another guy who is savvy enough to actually launch with the trolling motor. I've never seen it done in person in all my time on the lake. What kind of boat do you launch with the Ulterra? Have a great day and thanks for watching and commenting! Tight lines!

Yeah I do it every weekend and the remote disconnects while Iam at the parking lot bit boat stays put!! And it reconnects at 130’-150’ I have a 112 lbs 36 volt I pilot link Bluetooth mega side imaging lol With a 20’ Legend X20 and a 150 pro xs

I bought it in 2017 and have not had a single issue with it. There was the one time I accidentally launched it too close to my trailer and got it stuck on top of the bunk. It wouldn’t move until I waded out to take it off and reset the system. I thought I may have screwed it up, but no problems for years after that. I use it to deploy my boat every trip and have gone out about 60-100 times a year since 2017. My friend has a new Ulterra(c. 2020) on his rig and has had some trouble, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a quick call to the nicest Minnesota lady we’ve talked to at Minn Kota. This season, I'm upgrading to lithium to see how that goes with duration. I hope to post some videos about that entire process.

The GPS puck that came with it is great on the Ulterra. I made it fit into a cup holder near the driver side of windshield with a little custom fit wood and black electrical tape. My Crestliner doesn't do well in winds over 20 mph anyway, so I rarely have to wonder if my trolling motor is going to keep up with the wind. If it is 20 mph, about the only thing I can manage is spot-locking anyway and will tend to drift those higher winds and big motor back. Thanks for the compliment on the video. I try to produce decent stuff. I've had a hobby in video production a little longer than my fishing hobby. It's been fun stretching my skills on something that combines my two passions.

@@rippinglipsadventures That sounds like a wonderful combination. I enjoy what you're doing with the video's because I can't be there now and you are bringing that past experience, fishing in North Dakota, back to me. Thanks again.

At Scheels Sporting Goods they are $2600 and at Reed's Sporting Goods they are $2449 and not much different in price than mine was 5 years ago. This is is pretty much the same exact unit I have. Scheel's Sporting Goods: www.scheels.com/p/minn-kota-ulterra-i-pilot-us2-80lb-60-trolling-motor/02940204272.html#q=minn%2Bkota%2Bulterra&lang=en_US&start=1 Reed's Sporting Goods: www.reedssports.com/catalog/product/view/id/266596/s/minnkota-ulterra-80-us2-ipilot-bluetooth-45-1358922-029402042739/category/88/

Zero issues so far. I just found my receipt for the motor. I bought mine in 2017. I can count the number of times on one hand I had to tie it up and launch it "old school" compared to the hundreds of times just shoving her off the trailer and motoring it back to the dock side for me to walk into the bow. It's been the best upgrade I've ever made for my boat. I'm hoping to get lithium batteries for the trolling motor whenever I need to change out the Interstate-27s. I figure the cost is about break-even if I can get 10 years out of them as they have an 11-year-warranty. It does help that I've got a smaller, lighter boat to work with on launching. My buddy's Lund Pro-V doesn't quite make remote launching easy or even possible.

Ha, ha, ha!

There wasn't a soul in the parking lot nor approaching. I always move it off to the side if there is traffic. The best time I've used it was with a line-up of pickups and boats waiting and two boats moored to either side of the boat ramp (effectively blocking the ramp for anyone who doesn't have two people to launch). I pulled in on the far side of the 4-vehicle wide space and dropped my boat in the water downwind from the dock and two moored boats. I had a guy yell at me that my boat was getting away before I put my motor down. Then I maneuvered my boat even further away in case someone else had the guts and technology to complete the launch, which to this day I have not witnessed in person. I was out on the main lake before both the boats moored to the dock where and I didn't hold anyone hostage. Just yesterday, I maneuvered my boat away and over to the courtesy dock to hop in. It is about the best thing since sliced bread and I don't always have a boating partner to make my launching as easy as this has been the last few years. Thanks for checking out my video and commenting. Have an awesome day and tight lines!

The ones who can’t afford it will always find a way to say something bad about it

Pretty cool how he didn’t have it tied off at the dock blocking the ramp. (This is actually much faster when alone). What is the difference? I think the other side was open? I have an ulterra as well, launching like this when fishing alone. Good video. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Ha, ha! Sorry to hear you've had to deal with it. I'm expecting it and have prepared myself for the moment (about 200+ successful launches so far without fail). I normally wait until there is a boat around that I might be able to flip a few bucks to help me retrieve it if I need to, but the marina I put in at the most has little chance of it floating off into the big open water anyway, so I figure I'll probably just have to walk over to the shoreline it puts itself onto. This particular video was done in a more risky launch where it could have floated into the vast openness of the main lake.

It’s real. Just part of the conditions I needed in order to fly the drone, drive the pickup, and operate the boat and drop the drone in the boat within 20 minute flight or lose my $900 drone or have other issues. I’ve actually got video in the can showing me launching with boat traffic and navigating it to the curtesy dock about 100 yards from the boat launch. As of today, I’m into this launching 4 years and about 100 times each year. The only conditions I avoid launching with my motor are if the wind is blowing straight into the ramp. Then I’ll choose a different ramp or if it’s too windy for my 17’ aluminum boat, then I just shoreline fish. Thanks for the comment and advice. The video will come out when I’ve got other paying video projects completed so I can come back to my hobby channel and continue videos on deck. Have a good one!