Thinking of repowering my 16' Princecraft

[Randy]

I'm thinking of repowering my 16' Princecraft. I do a lot of trolling for salmon on Lake O and it seems that this trolling causes a lot of plug fouling on my etec. I'm wondering if a 4 stroke would be a better choice.

[lew]

4 strokes are the ticket for trolling Randy. No oil mixed in with your gas to foul your plugs. Also nice and quiet, good on fuel and no more blue exhaust smoke to breath in all day.

[Roy]

I agree. Took me a while to go to 4 stroke but finally pulled the trigger 2 years ago. I have a Princecraft

pro series 167BT. The boat is actually 16'9" and the max. HP rating on the plate is 60HP. That's what I bought, a Merc 60HP 4stroke tiller. Get the maximum HP for the model boat you have. My concern at the time with maxxing out the HP is that I didn't think I'd be able to troll down slow enough for walleye. I was wrong. I've taken it down to 1mph and can consistently stay at 1.3mph. After one season of trolling for walleye mostly, the plugs were absolutely clean.

I don't fish Lake Ontario but I assume trolling would mean staying in the 2-3mph range? You'll have no trouble with that at all. I can't speak for other brands but I have absolutely no problem with the Merc.

Not to mention all of the advantages that Lew gave as well.

 

Good luck.

[Grimace]

I agree. My 115 and my 9.9 are both 4 strokes, I use the big one for Salmon, and the small one for Salmon and Walleye and have not fouled a plug in 4 years.

[DanD]

I agree with Grimace a kicker is the way to go when it comes to big water trolling.

If your etec is in good condition no sense in replacing it and a kicker is going to cost you a lot less to hang back there.

There’s also a safety factor in having a kicker; no matter how well maintained or new a motor is, things can go wrong.

10 plus miles from shore and the main motor quits; the kicker is there to bring you home.

 

Dan.

[Roy]

I agree with Grimace a kicker is the way to go when it comes to big water trolling.

If your etec is in good condition no sense in replacing it and a kicker is going to cost you a lot less to hang back there.

There's also a safety factor in having a kicker; no matter how well maintained or new a motor is, things can go wrong.

10 plus miles from shore and the main motor quits; the kicker is there to bring you home.

 

Dan.

 

That's an excellent point, Dan. I my case, I don't really fish big waters and if ever I encountered problems, I'm always close enough that I could power back with the electric and the club is never more than a couple of miles away. I can certainly see that on a Great Lake a kicker would be very useful if not essential. Very good point.

[DanD]

Thanks Roy.

 

I’ve been lucky that it hasn’t happened to me (yet); but I know a number of people that had to use their kicker to get in. Long slow rides but they were safe and didn’t have to call a Pan Pan for help.

 

Dan.

[bigfish1965]

Your e-tec can be reprogrammed for trolling. You can also buy a different prop which will let you go slower and maintain a higher RPM and reduce plug fouling. A new prop would be the cheapest way to go.

[BillM]

Kicker sounds like the simplest solution if you ask me.

 

If the only thing the big motor doesn't do well is troll, I wouldn't replace it just to fix that single issue.

[Billy Bob]

I wouldn't jump into anything without first checking out some of the other suggestion first.....I know on my 1985 Johnson VRO 50 hp motor I can run two different plugs depending on if I want mostly high speed or not.....my plugs never foul up from trolling and it's seen a TON of that over the years.

[dave524]

Another vote for a kicker as someone who had a steering cable break long ways out on the Big O, was nice to unhook the eazi-steer and motor back in at 8-10 mph on the 9.9 and the tiller.

[Randy]

Thanks for all the replies folks. From checking on another forum a guy named Seahorse says that the etec, properly setup, should troll all day without any fouling of plugs. He says the problem is caused because the engine isn't maintaining proper temperature and therefore the computer adds more gas to compensate causing fouling. There are a few things that need to be checked including calibrating the TPS sensor with the computer. The motor is under warranty and I have taken it back to the dealer to fix. I have also passed on Seahorse's comments to them to help them.

 

I like the idea of a kicker for Lake O trolling and am currently leaning in that direction. I'm looking at a 5 HP mercury for that purpose.