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Minn Kota warranty, I'm impressed!

6K views 15 replies 12 participants last post by  lastcast 
#1 ·
Bought my Minn Kota Riptide Ulterra 112 in July 2018. Wonderful piece of equipment. It has increased our catch dramatically. Holds the spot better than a seasoned Captain! However, mine has spent more days on the repair bench than days fishing.

Broke again for the 6th time this week. My local marine repair has been closed since the virus thing started. So, I called the factory and asked about possibly extending the warranty. We talked for several minutes, Tracy (the agent) looked up my repair record. It showed my motor had been in for repair 5 times already.

Then came the unexpected; Tracy said "our plant is closed due the virus right now, when it's open again we'll send you a brand new motor and a prepaid label to return the old one. ". Needless to say, I'm impressed with the warranty and over the top service.
 
#3 · (Edited)
That's awesome. Mine worked great till it was a few months out of warranty and I could have bought a new one by now with the repairs I've made. Had I known when the first issue occurred, I would have just done that, but of course can't see the future. When it breaks again, I'll probably just replace it.

Glad your experience has been good. Mine with MK has been ok but not stellar. I do love and use the motor quite a bit, and after having to anchor the old fashioned way, I have become quite dependent on the spot-lock function. It makes such a difference for may family's fishing day, not to mention for my back!
 
#4 ·
My father in law went down this road with the ulterra they sent him 2 brand new ones as the deploy part kept breaking. He called the last time and they said this is your last one, I talked him into having them send the terova instead we have not had an issue yet. I also put one on my boat but I got the 72" and his is the 60".
Get away from the auto deploy and you will be much happier especially when it becomes your dime on the labor and deploy motors.
 
#6 ·
The repair shop has replaced the rubber seal for the auto deploy feature because the motor kept getting water in it and making it go bad. Then when we reached out to minn kota when it happened again, they said we will send you the new trolling motor model with the new housing and improved seal. They did we put it on and 3 weeks later the motor would not auto deploy. My father in law was about to make it a bay reef and post it on youtube or was going to run it over with a 60,000lb truck and send it back to them lol. The 1st motor was in the shop more than it was on the boat it would get stuck in the middle of deployment or not deploy at all. We both now have the terova Manuel deploy and would never consider the ulterra again. It looks cool when it works but looks like crap when it's stuck up on the boat. We keep out motors inside my shop out of the weather and take care of them you saw the one in my shop Bobby.
 
#7 ·
Yeah my Ulterra went out a few months before warranty ran out. It was basically rebuilt and was like new when I sold the boat. Andalusia Marine told me to sell it and get the Terovva due to all the issues with the auto deploy/stow....
 
#9 ·
"Get away from the auto deploy and you will be much happier especially when it becomes your dime on the labor and deploy motors. "

Not really practical on my boat. C-Hawk with pilot house. At age 68, crawling out on the bow more than once daily isn't an option. If I had a CC boat, I'd get the manual deploy.
 
#10 ·
I get it but I hope you have a quick release on it as we had ours get stuck down 3 times on the water. I was at the edge one day and a guy on a 26' yellowfin had his stuck down with no tools to unbolt it because he didn't have a quick release. I gave him some tools to take it off which took over an hour to get it off.
 
#11 ·
I has one of the original Ulterra ProPilots (name might be wrong).

It was ALWAYS a "motherboard" issue when it failed. It would power up, the prop would work but it would not steer. Eventually, after I assume, some upgrades, it worked fine. After a few years the tough panel on the control head scree n separated from the head. Obviously not under warantty.

I recently bought the self deploying 48v longest shaft model. It works great, but is very CLUNKY (think BANG, then BANG as it deploys. I think it'll lead to problems, but so far it has worked really well. It's not user friendly to deploy and retrieve (double clicks on the mushy button), but it has worked as advertised very well so far.

Jim
 
#12 ·
By the way , on the older Ulterra models, you could reverse the collar on the shaft, (unscrew it, pry it off, turn it upside down and press it on then rescrew) to save a day of fishing when the motor worked but would not turn.

Careful though as you remove the collar then turn it upside down, it's easy to loose the one screw and nut over the side.

Jim
 
#13 ·
I have a Riptide which I've had since 2012 and it's been in the repair shop 4-5 times during that period. Whenever I'm asked about getting a trolling motor, I always suggest they buy an extended warranty. When the Ulterra came out, I asked a dealer about moving up and he said not to buy the 1st generation of any MK since they are usually problematic. That was almost 6 years ago and it sounds like they still don't have the bugs worked out with that unit. I'll stick with my older manually deployed unit for a while longer.
 
#14 ·
Have any of you had multiple control board failures. I put a new board in last fall and used it a few times then it sat all winter then last week I went to use it and the fob was flashing f. It’s the terrova 112, 36 volt, 72 inch shaft. Also it has been unplugged every time I charged it.
 
#15 ·
I had purchased a used transom 24 volt motor with the bracket that held the extended handle in place was broke. I called with part number and a week later I received it. My cc was not charged so I called and their service center tech said we notice you support our products so we support you. No charge.
 
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