I need some advise on Horsepower

[trap50]

I think like you do. Not much HP for that boat. Look at the BIA rating. Go with that. Cheaper to put power on now (if new) than later. Nice to have it when you need it.

[Mojo]

I have never seen an over powered boat when the wind blows up and the waves got to 15 feet. Get the biggest motor you can put on the thing. Underpowered is way worse than over powered. You can always run at half power.

[Reel Premier]

Is the motor a prop or a pump? If it is a prop it should work, although maybe a touch under powered. That motor should work fine on the Willy and CR, but at B10, you probablly would want some more HP to fight the tides.

[Small Fry]

I know the new alumaweld boats are much lighter weight then the older boats. So I don't think you need to go with a 200 horse like I have on the back of my 18 footer. I asked some question when I was at Stevens awhile back about 2 stroke and 4 strokes. The answer I got was I could go 30% smaller in horse power if I went with a 4 stroke. Whish meant I could drop down to a 140. Which by the way Merc dosen't currently offer.

So to answer your question: In my opinion I would go with no less than 115 horse power. That should give you a good hole shot and top speed of 40 + MPH. Just my 2 cents.
You may want to aske this question on the Boat doctor pages.
Anyone out there have a 115 want to offder any input.

[Fish Hawg]

I would go with a 115

[greenbuttskunk]

if it's a pump, 50 will be very light on power,
if prop, i'd say it the bare min. I'd go 90 or 100 if you can, especially for bouy 10. Get out out and back quick if needed.

[Silver Hilton]

Way underpowered. I had a 40 hp prop on a 16 ft boat that weighed 400 lbs bare, and it was about right. I had an 85 hp pump on a 17 ft boat, and that was too little. I have a 19 ft boat with 175 jet, and it's just right.

If you can't afford to buy the boat with enough power, don't buy the boat. That boat needs 75-90 hp at the prop, if you want my opinion. If you put a pump on it, I wouldn't go less than 140 hp.

The single biggest cause for buyer dissatisfaction, according to JD power, is too little power.

[Pickles]

I would go with at least a 90 hp prop. I had a 50 hp on my 16 foot starcraft, it was alright, but it still could have used more power.

[hookumhi]

Definately need more power atleast 115hp If they are pushin the small motor dump the deal. TOO under POWERED SAFETY FIRST!!!!!

[fishgetter]

I would go with twin 225's and look really cool passing everybody on the river

[blacktail]

I'd say 75 prop minimum and 115 ideal.

Mike

[trap50]

Right on. The twins would be awesome passing everyone on your way to see davey jones at the locker. :grin:

[Blazerboy]

The more power the better

[ICHTHYDEMON]

I have a 2003 17' SuperVee with a 50HP Yamaha running a prop. Its a pretty good match for my boat,but I'd want bigger on that boat. I to would go 75HP minimum.

With 3 guys and our gear,my boat runs about 30mph. By myself I see around 35mph. With 3 guys it gets out of the water fine,its not lacking in hole shot.

I use the same hull with a 90hp and it works. It would be nice to have a bit more power.
A 50 is too small.

[ 01-28-2004, 03:44 PM: Message edited by: Keta ]

[Joe Schwab]

What's this obsession with HP? If any of you have been to the Kenai Penn. you would see a lot of 20 foot plus boats there with 50HP motors. Of course there is a reason for it. They are restricted to 35HP on the Kenai. So they buy a 50, put a throttle restrictor on it to comply with the rules, then tweak the linkage to get more throttle and "presto" back to 50HP!

These boats can get up on step with 5 and 6 people in them. A few of the guides even use them out in the salt and think nothing of venturing out 12-15 miles for halibut.

Propped right, a 50HP motor will deliver the mail. No you won't go 40+ but when it gets windy who wants to? I have 150 HP on a 24 foot Duckworth and propped it down because it was too fast. I still hit 43 MPH by GPS but hold it to a lot less than that.

100 plus HP on an 18 footboat is over kill IMHO.

But the motor sales people love it.

The right pitch prop is far more important than loads of HP.

[fishbait]

I have an 18 ft Alumaweld super vee light, 6 degree bottom with a 115 Merc Jet (80 hp) and it is about right. I have ridden in same boat with an 80 with a jet (55-60 hp) and it works but with fish and a few guys it's kind of doggy. Remember, you will have fuel, safety gear, a few tools, a few coolers, couple of your 200lb buddies, rods, reels, tackle boxes, anchor or two and hopefully 4-6 30 pound fish. I would think hard about buying that boat with a 50 prop. Think it would be ok but my guess is you be dissatisfied in the very short term. My 0.02 worth

[DownTime]

There's two things in life that there is no substitute for.One is horsepower,the other is cash. I bet some of you thought I was going to say something else !

JB

[Chrome Bumper]

Channel Marine has a 4 stroke 115 Johnson he wants to liquidate and install on someones boat real bad. Seemed like a good price.

[YaHoeeFishOn]

What horse power rating is the Coast Guard Sticker ? There should be a yellow sticker in boat that shows Max HP and weight the hull is design to carry.
Did you test run boat ? Lighter hulls and efficent quite 4 stroke power. Smoke free , easy starting Honda's , yesss. But on Ebb between 12 14 and under powered noooo.

[jaydee]

I agree that you'll want more power on that boat.
But keep in mind that the bigger the engine on the back of that boat, the more weight, and the lower the transom is in the water while fishing.
A family member of mine has a 18ft Almar sounder which he's had for about 15 years. When he repowered a few years ago, he went from a 2stroke 115 Merc to a 90hp 4stroke Honda.
We couldn't be happier with the preformance of the engine, but the down side is the extra weight of the 4stroke. When fishing in chop, the lowered transom can be a hinderance, especially with two or more folks in the back fishing.
(I still like the idea of twin 225's :smile:

J.D.

[Mr. BrownTrout]

Save on the weight of two engines and go with a single 300hp yamaha.

[Jignfloat]

Alumaweld seems to be conservative on their hull ratings. For insurance purposes, I think its not a good idea to exceed the manufacturers rating....however, I think I would go with the max recommended hp. I think that is 115/80 on the 18ft intruder. Good luck!! Russ

[blacktail519]

The more horses you have towin ya the merrier :grin:

[Get Bent]

ONE THING I HAVE NEVER HERD AT THE DOCK IS I HAVE TO MUCH HORSE POWER :grin:

[fop]

I had one of those 50hp 4 stroke Yamahas on my 20'6" Willie Predator with the 35 hp restriction on the Kenai and I would run great with me a 4 clients in it. After I retired and brought it to WA. I switched it back to full 50 and picked up 200 more RPM's. Ran it in the Columbia with 5 of us in it and no problem at all. Can't run them wide open in the rough stuff anyhow.

The Yama always out ran the Hondas for some reason up there.

With myself and 2 guys in it it would run 27mph according to a GPS.

I don't know what the boat you are looking at looks like but if it doesn't have a bunch of "gingerbread" in it to make it overweight I would think that the 50 should move it right along.

I am also assuming that you are talking about a prop motor. Jet, forget it, way to small.

But, as mentioned before ya gotta prop it right.

I recently put a 100 hp 4 stroke Yamaha on it but haven't really tried it yet. Waiting for some nice weather. Not because the 50 was to small but I found a deal I couldn't turn down on the 100.

fop

[ 01-28-2004, 07:58 PM: Message edited by: fop ]

[Fish Hawg]

ONE THING I HAVE NEVER HERD AT THE DOCK IS I HAVE TO MUCH HORSE POWER :grin:

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">I have never herd that, Not even at the drag strip. You just have to get that HP planted :grin:

[Pandion]

I looked at an 2002 18ft Alumaweld Intruder with a 50Hp Honda four stroke. I'm concerned that it may be underpowered but don't have the mental database to support the opinion.

I probably will use it on the Willamette, and Columbia out to Bouy 10.

Any opinions?