Will 6HP be enough?

[kenmyfam]

Re: Will 6HP be enough?

I would grab the 6hp no matter what and base the decision on how it performs.

 

[jstme]

Re: Will 6HP be enough?

I had the same boat a few years ago with a 4.5 johnson on it....me (225 lbs then) 3 bushel of crabs, trot line and gear and she would still get on plane.......barely but it would. 6hp is plenty for the boat.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Will 6HP be enough?

I gave the boat a quick try the other day with the 9.5 and it gets up a goes really well, but it was only me and a battery for the electric trolling motor. Its actually pretty fast like that and I don't doubt that it wouldn't have any problems with another few hundred pounds power wise. The 6HP should do fine. I'll grab it either way, if not for this it will come in handy as a spare. I must say that I like the simplicity of the tiller motor after having larger electric start boats all these years. I can be in the water and fishing so much faster with the smaller boat.

 

[usda]

Re: Will 6HP be enough?

I have a small 12 foot alum...narrow with 2 swival seats...I pack in 250 lbs, wife, and 2 grown kids (about 130 lbs apiece and wife at 125). We use a 5 hp 95 merc outboard and literally jet across the lake. Actually we exceed the weight limit for the boat with all of us and gear...btw...we just did this a few times...moving without unstablizing the boat is a consideration. I generally lean on way or another and that does the trick.

But the power of the outboard is quiet sufficent, but the boat itself may only weight 150 lbs.

I should add...all the above was in a quiet lake...on a river like the Rogue with strong currents and rocks all over the place...going against a strong current...is scarcely faster than walking...and that is with me and just one kid. Definitely not strong enough for that river.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Will 6HP be enough?

The river where I nornally run isn't real strong, but it is too much for a 4HP 24v MinnKota trolling motor, that barely keeps me moving against the current in the same boat. The current is slow enough there that you can't see it running by, but it's enough to tax the trolling motor. I ran a 15HP on my old 15" modified v hull jon boat there and it did good with about 22 mph as top speed with two people and lots of gear. I had a 9.9 before that and it did about 12 mph in that same boat. This boat is way smaller and way lighter, I now have an older 9.5 Evinrude that I tried and it does ok with me in it, but with two people and gear it does about 16 mph of so. I tried a 3HP motor, which came with that boat, and it moves the boat almost as well as the 9.5 on flat water with no current but the 9.5 does much better with stronger current. There is one section that I fish that has some pretty fast moving water, the 3HP slows to a crawl, but the 9.5 doesn't seen very affected buy it, the trolling motor is useless there.