Minn Kota PD55 battery life

I have the Minn Kota PD55 trolling motor, that doesn't seem to give me the life I would like on a full battery charge. I replaced the battery last year with a new one, charged it fully & went out today & got just over 2 hours of use before it drained the battery. When I checked the battery meter before using it on a full charge it read, full, but as soon as I started the motor & checked it again, it read low. At this point I am at my wits end, looking for any suggestions that you may have. It is a 12 volt system, but it seems to me like it should give me a little longer use than it has. Thanks.

a fully charged good battery should read 12.7 or 12.8...check to make sure you dont have mono filament wrapped around the motor shaft behind the shaft...another problem is you could have water in the motor...it will work in fresh water but eventually it will just become a rusty pile of junk inside...what load are you pushing?...two hours continuous on max may be all you are going to get.....

The trolling motor is on a 17ft Tracker Deep V. Just wondering if I set it up on a 24v system if that would extend the battery life.

its a 12v motor so you would have to have the batteries in parallel...i would keep it simple..just have a 2nd battery and switch them out as needed...make sure your battery(s) is deep cycle and as big as you can fit in the battery compartment...you should have a #6 wire feeding the motor...two hours seems low but if you are running it at top speed continuous i would expect some dropoff in power in that time....another thing you may do is put a 50 amp fuse in the circuit...thats the recommended size for that motor....if it blows that fuse you are drawing too much current...a resistive ground such as water in the motor or a problem in the controls may cause this...so will a bind in the prop or motor...it takes a little doing but i would also get to the wires going to the motor itself and see how the motor voltage compares to the battery output when the motor is on high..you are going to have to get in the controls for this...and it will take 2 people or some extra long meter leads...what you are looking for is a voltage drop somewhere..keep in mind that you dont see a voltage drop unless you are operating the motor in the water and pulling current...