Weedless gas motors

[Weeds]

As I recently came into a 14 foot Sportspal I've been looking for a small motor for it. Thought I had a 2hp Johnson lined up but decided to pass on it when it wouldn't start. I've had a few people offer me older gas weedless motors and I don't really know anything about them. I understand that the prop sits at a downward angle rather the typical 90 degrees. My main question is how much speed is lost in favour of weedlessness. Is it worth it? Do they actually work well? Would a canoe and a 3 be able to power through heavily vegetated areas?At the moment I'm considering a late 70's 3hp weedless Evinrude. I'm not looking for the canoe to fly across the lake but I'd like to be able to move with something resembling speed in open water, maybe 12 to 15 km/h. Any thoughts?

[DanD]

I had a 1972 weedless 3hp Johnson on my 16 foot Starcraft, as a kicker motor; at wide open it would push the boat 6-8 miles an hour.

These motors were nicknamed “dock bashers”; direct drive no gear selection or neutral, start it and off you’d go; to back up you spun the motor 180 degrees.

 

Dan.

 

[Weeds]

Thanks for the reply. 6-8mph is actually pretty encouraging considering the size of your boat compared to my canoe. I'm very capable of dock bashing regardless of what I'm piloting. I think it's genetic after watching my pop dock his sailboat. Does that motor do a good job of snaking/chewing it's way through the weeds?

[mike rousseau]

I had a 2 horse Honda four stroke on a flatback canoe when I saw younger... Goes pretty good... Don't think you'd get 15km/h tho...lol

[Dabluz]

Seems to me that I get almost 20 km/h with a 32 lb thrust electric motor on my 14 foot Sportspal canoe. I took the reading with my GPS. When I was using a 9 lb thrust Minn Kota electric motor, I could get 10 km/h when I was alone in the canoe.

 

A 2 h.p. gas engine has more thrust than a 32 lb thrust electric. Increasing the h.p. to 3 h.p. does not add all that much more speed. However, the 3 h.p. engine will give you a higher speed if the canoe has another person and more equipment on board.

 

I get almost 30 km/h on my 14 foot aluminum boat and 7.5 h.p. Evinrude. However, the speed is a lot slower when there are 2 or more people on board. I have a 9.9 Chrysler that I want to check. The last time I tried it out, I was alone and I was getting about the same speed as the 7.5 Evinrude. However, when loaded down with more gear and another fisherman, I think the 9.9 h.p. Chrysler will be faster.

 

The old Chrysler needs a new prop and I did a tune up (in a barrel) so I'm hoping that speed will have increased quite a bit.

Edited January 21, 2012 by Dabluz

[DanD]

Thanks for the reply. 6-8mph is actually pretty encouraging considering the size of your boat compared to my canoe. I'm very capable of dock bashing regardless of what I'm piloting. I think it's genetic after watching my pop dock his sailboat. Does that motor do a good job of snaking/chewing it's way through the weeds?

 

I never had any problems going through weeds; with the angle of the lower unit, the weeds sort of slid off more so then wrap around the skag. The prop blades are also shaped in more of a spiral then a paddle of regular props; kind of like a food processor’s blade (I know poor comparison all I could think off) and chopped up the weed pretty good.

As for shaking this is a two cylinder motor, which is much more balanced then a one lung; the 2 stroke head shake wasn’t too bad at all.

Sold the boat a few months back to a member here on the board; talking about the old rig, brings back a lot of good memories.

 

Dan.

[scugpg]

I would check the weight of the motor it might unbalance things on your sportspal. A 55lb electric would really move it too and do well in the weeds.

[davey buoy]

I run my 15' aluminum canoe with a minn kota 30lb thrust motor.Runs well with two large fellows and gear.There is actually a descent wake when running on small lakes and rivers.

[Weeds]

I would check the weight of the motor it might unbalance things on your sportspal. A 55lb electric would really move it too and do well in the weeds.

 

I should have mentioned it was a square backed model.