Outboard Hp on a 14 ft Boat

[anders]

Hey all,

 

I have been using a 15hp motor on a 14 foot motor boat for many years now and have not had an issue with it being under powered. I have had it on Lake Superior in rough water and had it back lakes. A great set up. What i am wondering is...in a few weeks I am going on a camping trip that will require about 2 hours of boat driving...two portages, 1 being short (75 ft), and the other one being about 500 meters. We have done this trip many times before with the 15 hp. What i am concerned about is that we are going with 5 guys, 2 in my boat, and three in the other and i will end up having to take lots of the gear. Would a 25hp be overkill for the boat? I know the 15hp will get me in there, just it willl burn a lot of gas

 

Any thoughts?

[Pigeontroller]

I wouldn't want to be the guy carrying the 25 hp, in fact, I wouldn't want to carry a 15 hp either!

 

On another note, my Dad had a 14 footer years ago with a 25 hp on it, man what a rocket, I doubt it went much more than 35 mph but it sure felt fast!

[Victor]

wouldn't a 25hp be too heavy to portage?

[jwl]

it all depends on the horsepower rating of your boat...for example I have a 14 footer ultralite tinner and max rating is a 15 horse, I run a 9.9 on it and it works great..boat itself is about 243 lbs according to Legend specs. and this boat is easy on gas, I am still working on the same tank of gas now for 3 trips of about 8 days on the water all together, not sure how much running time, but it's still got about a 1/2 tank and it's a gas sucking old motor..lol,it is ideal for travelling around and popping the boat in just about any spot you can get down to the bank with, and 2 people can easily unload all the stuff and motor from the boat, bring it to where you want it, put er all back together, paddle out and go. On the other hand I know other people with different 14 footers that are deeper with for example a deep V modified hull and the max rating for that boat would be a 30 horse....but that's not really the kind of boat that you would be picking up to portage with, and there is quite the difference in weight of the motor for carrying around as well.

[anders]

The 15hp is not that heavy actually...its an older johnson with a carrying handle just under the head of the engine. And the last portage there are 2 wheelbarrows that on lodge put there to help transfer the gear for ther clients

[johnnyb]

does the boat have a tag on it that tells you the max horsepower? Considering how loaded you'll be....it's probably not a big deal, as long as your transom can handle it. I suppose that's where the tag would come in handy. (You probably already know this but...) it looks like a metal credit card stuck on the inside of the transom. Should list your max allowable power in Kw, which someone on here should be able to convert easily enough