08-14-2005, 07:48 AM
my thoughts are....
evey boat has a rating for what it can handle. (check the plate that is permently mounted in the rear of your boat.) I tend to want to be safer than wishing I hadnt have to high.....
if you are running a deap V aluminum 15 horse is all the motor you need. no you are not going to pull skiers but you will get to where you are going in a reasonable time.
I asume you are talking about tracker boats that are enlarged john boats when you mention motors that large. some are rated for 40 horse merc's and johnsons, (newer modle motors are much lighter than the older ones) If you take a 1960's 40 horse and place it on a tracker you bet you will be trolling from the bottom of the lake.
by all means there is such thing as too much motor for a boat horse power wise. you can flip the boat right over top your head if you have more motor than what it is rated for.
personaly if I need to go 35-60 miles an hour to get to my fishing spot then I need a bigger boat. I spent many a day in small rocky john boats wondering which motor boat was going to be the one to sink me to the bottom of the lake.
I have a 12 foot shallow V aluminum boat that my 5 horse briggs and straton is to big for, not speed wise but weight wise. with the motor and me in the back of the boat the water level is one inch from submursing sitting still on calm water.
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evey boat has a rating for what it can handle. (check the plate that is permently mounted in the rear of your boat.) I tend to want to be safer than wishing I hadnt have to high.....
if you are running a deap V aluminum 15 horse is all the motor you need. no you are not going to pull skiers but you will get to where you are going in a reasonable time.
I asume you are talking about tracker boats that are enlarged john boats when you mention motors that large. some are rated for 40 horse merc's and johnsons, (newer modle motors are much lighter than the older ones) If you take a 1960's 40 horse and place it on a tracker you bet you will be trolling from the bottom of the lake.
by all means there is such thing as too much motor for a boat horse power wise. you can flip the boat right over top your head if you have more motor than what it is rated for.
personaly if I need to go 35-60 miles an hour to get to my fishing spot then I need a bigger boat. I spent many a day in small rocky john boats wondering which motor boat was going to be the one to sink me to the bottom of the lake.
I have a 12 foot shallow V aluminum boat that my 5 horse briggs and straton is to big for, not speed wise but weight wise. with the motor and me in the back of the boat the water level is one inch from submursing sitting still on calm water.
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