How many horses do you need?

My first boat was 18' and had, dare I say it, 9.9hp. Fine for the River, but it all depends if you have other plans where you want to use you new toy and how fast you want to go.
 
Gavi said:
My new 15ft toy has a 60hp engine and I have a grumpy old mate who says it is too big for the river. Personally, I like it. Just like I enjoyed having an S4 and a V6 Alfa. 2 of the latter actually.

So what is the consider opinion... do I keep the 60hp, or go to... what hp? Here she is:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27911471@N05/6747918165/in/photostream

(sorry, still cannot figure out how to post photos here)
Click to expand...

As Jj says, a four stroke 9.9 will be far better for river use than a 60hp 2 stroke. Oiled plugs would be the order of the day with the 60 I suspect.
 
60 Shetlands Maybe..more like 25/30 real horses ?

Gavi said:
My new 15ft toy has a 60hp engine and I have a grumpy old mate who says it is too big for the river. Personally, I like it. Just like I enjoyed having an S4 and a V6 Alfa. 2 of the latter actually.

So what is the consider opinion... do I keep the 60hp, or go to... what hp? Here she is:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27911471@N05/6747918165/in/photostream

(sorry, still cannot figure out how to post photos here)
Click to expand...

Being an olde skeptik will be amazed if that is actually 60 horses,outboards tend to fib in the HP decal on the cover dept.Would just be inclined to use it and see what happens.
Would far prefer to have more power than you need than not enough.
 
Last edited:
Gavi said:
(sorry, still cannot figure out how to post photos here)
Click to expand...

There you go ...........

gaviboat.jpg
 
rr_123 said:
tell your grumpy old mate to get stuffed, 60hp is perfect

here's a short video of Gavi on the way to the pub with the engine at tickover

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-_uxi7Xaq0

:eek:
Click to expand...

Just paint a big 15 HP on the cover and no one will know..
If you had 300HP on the cover of a 15HP outboard and were putting down the river you would probably get all the locals dob you in for speeding anyway.
There is no such thing as not enough horsepower...
I think its jealousy as youll notice its only the people with small HP outboards that shake their heads at you...
 
My 16' 9" cruiser has a 7.5HP Mercury. Yesterday I did a full throttle test upstrem and in to a reasonably strong wind. My G.P.S. told me I was able to go at 1 k.p.h. per hour fater than the speed limit.

Of course the moment I noticed that I slowed the boat to a more sensible speed...
 
Moxon said:
My 16' 9" cruiser has a 7.5HP Mercury. Yesterday I did a full throttle test upstrem and in to a reasonably strong wind. My G.P.S. told me I was able to go at 1 k.p.h. per hour fater than the speed limit.

Of course the moment I noticed that I slowed the boat to a more sensible speed...
Click to expand...

Full throttle on a 7.5hp of course being much more efficient than a quarter throttle on a 60.
 
Gavi said:
My new 15ft toy has a 60hp engine and I have a grumpy old mate who says it is too big for the river. Personally, I like it. Just like I enjoyed having an S4 and a V6 Alfa. 2 of the latter actually.

So what is the consider opinion... do I keep the 60hp, or go to... what hp? Here she is:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27911471@N05/6747918165/in/photostream

(sorry, still cannot figure out how to post photos here)
Click to expand...

Keep your engine by all means but for gods sake change your rugby team :D
 
Great set of replies, thank you. I will stick with the Johnson for a while. And the Quins :)
 
You don't need more than 10hp for sure but where's the fun in that, even if you don't use the power there is something much more satisfying about having a big motor running slowly with power in reserve than a small buzzy thing running nearly flat out:)
 
I think that you are best sticking with what you've got.

Once you've got your tiny fuel efficient engine on the back you wont be able to safely take it anywhere else and you'll de-value your boat.

Oiled plugs are not the end of the world and a bit of fast idle will soon sort them out. Absolute worse case scenario is you'll have to take them out and clean three plugs.....its not rocket science!

CJL
 
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