Need advice on equipment and stuff

[trout]

My friend (Curdog) and I just bought an 70s/80's vintage aluminum boat
14 foot with a beam about 61"
First four or five feet are covered type bow
two bench seats, basic fishing boat.
We will trick out the seats and maybe add storage compartments.
My question is what motor should we run, for the St Clair river and a few smaller rivers.
Long shaft or short?
HP? the rating label is gone.
Make of motors and prices for used motors.
We have a few leads on trailers but might still be looking.
Any input would be great.

[jpollman]

Kirk,
Just measure the height of your transom. I'm pretty sure that you're going to need a long shaft on that boat. I had that same basic aluminum 16' fishing boat and I had a 40 hp long shaft and it worked fine. I'd assume that a 25 or 30 hp would be fine. If you'd like I'll do some checking but I had a site that I found before that gave a formula for calculating the maximum recommended HP rating for a boat. You just plug in some basic measurements and work the formula and you'll have your answer. I had it in my favorites on my other machine but lost it when my HD crashed. I'll do some searching and see if I can find it. If I do I'll post it here.

Congrats on the "new" boat!

John

[ESOX]

Measure from the top of the transom to the bottom of the keel, that will tell you what motor shaft you will need.
Next you need to read all of this.:)
http://www.uscg.mil/d8/mso/louisville/WebStuff/comdtpubp16761_3b.pdf

You know a guy with some spare rod holder stuff around. ;)
I can probably scrounge up a few of the other items you will need, but it's too damn cold out to go looking now.

[TONGA]

You say the first five feet are covered bow,,, are you going to set her up with a station or are you planning to rig her for tiller drive?

[k8vol]

if your boat is from the 70's or newer it will have a hp rating on the tag on the back plus a V.I.N. number tage or stamping on the right hand side as you look at it from the rear. it sounds like a boat from the late 50's to the 60's thro. and is most likely a short shaft motor style boat likley 25hp is about all that boat is setup for max. It may say some thing like max 30 hp and convert old rating of hp at flywheel to new ratings at prop. thats 24.5 hp or as i said 25 hp for max. just food for thought . Steve k8vol

[LilyDuck]

Measure from the top of the transom to the bottom of the keel, that will tell you what motor shaft you will need.
Next you need to read all of this.:)
http://www.uscg.mil/d8/mso/louisville/WebStuff/comdtpubp16761_3b.pdf

You know a guy with some spare rod holder stuff around. ;)
I can probably scrounge up a few of the other items you will need, but it's too damn cold out to go looking now.

That website is pretty cool!!!! and very informative!

[trout]

I'm going to measure it in the a.m.

Alot to think about and we are trying to learn as we go.
Thanks for the link Paul.
Tonga, she has a wheel and some old cable linkage we will replace.
k8vol, we were thinking 20hp
JP, thanks also

We'll be asking more questions as we go along.

[Slick fishing]

Hey trout any chance you have a electric trolling motor? or maybe Esox does tell him you need 4 rod holders:lol:, you also will need two long rods and two short ones with bait casting reels of some sort, I am sure Esox has that hidden around his place to:lol:.. I will get you trolling 4 rods out of that boat no problemo.. Cya Slick


Here looks to be a good trolling motor..http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Motorguide-Electric-Trolling-Boat-Motor-30-lb-12-volt_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ124105QQihZ004QQit emZ140082050556QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Here is a good link for a great price on some rods you will only need two of these and a couple shorter ones's...http://www.franksgreatoutdoors.com/item.asp?id=17296

[ESOX]

My first boat was a 1958 15' Lone Star aluminum planing hull with a closed bow and a narrow beam. It also had some real stylish tail fins.LOL It was powered with an Evinrude 35 that weighed more than my 90 of today. That was a cool boat, it seemed real fast back them.LOL We used to take it from the Detroit R up around Harsens Is and back.but that was in the days when the lake wasn't infested with morons in tuna boats.

[jpollman]

Thanks Paul, that's the link I was going to look for. Now I don't have to bother and I can just put it back into my favorites where it belongs. ;)

John

[TONGA]

Tonga, she has a wheel and some old cable linkage we will replace.
k8vol, we were thinking 20hp
JP, thanks also


yea I bet she is older than you think sporting that kind of hardware,,, bet she is a pretty heavy gauge aluminum? Don’t suppose she say’s feather craft on her dose she?

25hp is about all that boat is setup for max. It may say some thing like max 30 hp and convert old rating of hp at flywheel to new ratings at prop. thats 24.5 hp or as i said 25 hp for max. just food for thought

Still one thing you cant forget cubic inches = torque and that is what puts a boat on plane. So if you take a 1956 35hp johnrude and say 1980 50hp johnrude they will tend to push about the same when it comes to getting a boat out of the water because they are almost identical in displacement.


My first boat was a 1958 15' Lone Star aluminum planing hull with a closed bow and a narrow beam. It also had some real stylish tail fins.LOL It was powered with an Evinrude 35 that weighed more than my 90 of today. That was a cool boat, it seemed real fast back them.LOL

My first boat was a 1958 14' Empire fiberglass runabout with a 1959 35hp super seahorse Johnson on the back. Esox those old 35s were a hole-lota-mota , they had a bit of free hp in those motors if you down propped and spun them past redline ,,, I’m sure your old boat got into the 30’s ,, how far into the 30’s depends on how much of that free hp you were using,, a few mods and those motors would really scream,
We did a lot to my old 35, welded up the relief valves and shaved a 40 rude head till the shaved pistons were just about kissing it, added another carb, got rid of the runaway valve, and did a real custom job on the exhaust (to say she was a little loud on plane is an understatement),, but man did that little boat run, well when it ran, there was a guy that had 16’ hustler with a merc 115 tower of power on the back and I could just humiliate him with my ugly little blue boat, of course I think my motor used more fuel than his and I broke it all the time but hey being young and stupid has it’s privileges

[trout]

I'l be measuring her in the morning I forgot to today.
Tonga I'll be in touch with you as to a motor.

[SabikiRig]

Trout,

25 HP would be perfect considering that the Transom is in good shape.

Cabela's has two brand new, late model, remote steer, Long Shaft, 25 HP Johnson's. If I am not mistaken they were priced at $2099. I just saw them yesterday.

Considering that I paid $2200 for mine I think they are quite a deal.