Frank,
I have a Santana 22 that I use a trolling motor on for all my motoring needs. I use two of the largest 'deep cell' batteries that Wal-Mart sells as my power source and once had to motor about 5 miles directly against a 10-15 knot wind, we had stayed at the lake side bar a little too late and the night wind had shifted from the north to the west. With the wind along side or behind, the trolling motor can push that 2,900 lbs boat at about 4 knots. Directly into the wind, we were struggling to get 2 knots. It was a very long trip back to the marina for the night, but 2.5 hours of motoring and the batteries got us home. The trolling motor that I use is just a mid-sized Minkota available at Wal-Mart as well.
Lots of people look at me weird when they see my boat with the troll motor take off from the dock, but they quickly change their mind about how much motor they actually need on their boat when they see my boat quietly and quickly glide out of the marina. The only issue I have with my trolling motor is that I purchased one with a really long shaft. If I had it to do over again, I would have gotten the one with the shorter shaft because the longer shaft is more flexible and under full thrust, the bottom pushes itself forward to interfere with the rudder. The long shaft also makes it a bit harder to pull it up high enough out of the water when under sail.
The Rhodes with it's off-set motor mount on the transom shouldn't have any of the problems I have with the rudder, but the short shaft trolling motor would still be all that you need because of how the mount lifts and lowers the motor.
James
71' Rhodes 22
Unnamed
