pwiseman
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- May 4, 2005
- Messages
- 207
Hello,<br />I am ready to order up a new boat and would like some opinions. I just sold my 2001 Lund Explorer 1650 (16'8" deep V 80" beam) wich had a 2002 Merc 50 EFI Four Stroke. Hull of the boat was about 860 lbs. Overall this was a good setup, but learned a few things on 4 strokes. I used this boat for 3 years. I was running black Max 12 pitch, and could have went 13. With Medium load I was able to get 33-34 mph on the GPS.<br /><br />New boat has different requirements, but I still want to apply what I have learned. I am looking at a shorter boat that will fit in the garage without taking over the whole thing. I have narrowed the field to 2005 Lund Rebel 1450 and Triton DV150T. Both boats are a about 14'11" with 75" beam and 600 lb Hull weight. With a swing tounge they will fit my space. The main difference on these boats is the hull. Lund has the IPS (lifting Strake) where the Triton is a traditional deep v. Both are rated for 40 HP. Right now I am leaning hard on the Lund as it is rigged a little better for walleye fishing in terms of the livewell and I do think the list srake will have a bennifet. Triton has no wood and spray in liner available, which is nice. I don't think either boat is a bad choice.<br /><br />The tricky thing is selecting the right motor. I want to take this boat to some lakes that have a 25 limit. I also think it would be wise not to go maximum HP without regard to weight. My last boat had great hole shot and top end speed, but there were issues staying on plane at lower speeds. I also noticed that at top speed when trimed out, cavitation in tight turns is likely. I was able to minimize this by moving some stuff around and backing off optimal trim at tad. Might have been able to go with a bit wider diameter, but speed is not such a huge deal to me. I am more interested in stability, and being able to troll down to very slow speeds for fishing.<br /><br />Motor choices that make sense to me:<br />1. Honda 25 - 3 cylinder, 156 lbs. 552 cc with tilt and trim the weight jumps to 184<br /><br />2. Yamaha F25 - 2 cylinder, 136 lbs lightest available. 498cc block<br /><br />3. Merc 25 Bigfoot - same block as the yamie, lower gears and wider prop diameter. Could answer cavitation problems and get out of the hole well with heavy loads. A bit heavy though.<br /><br />Eliminated:<br />Suzuki/Johnson 25 - at 212 lbs they are very close in weight to Honda 40, Yamaha F40 and Merc 40 EFI models. They do have advantage with displacement on all other 25 four stoke, but my opinion is why not go up 15 HP for a few more lbs. Merc 40EFI is a very nice motor. Note that the suzuki does include tilt and trim in the weight and those others do not count it in marketing material. Overall the the suzuki is a head sratcher to me. how are they selling these?<br /><br />The prop tools and such things seem to indicate that a 25 HP motor should get me pretty close to 25 MPH with a moderate load. Since the numbers are close on my old boat, I believe them to be in the ballpark, but perhaps a bit high.<br /><br />As it sits right now I am leaning on the Honda because it has 3 cylinders and an edge on displacement over the Yamaha.<br /><br />The big question in my mind is this: Should I really be looking at a 40 to move this boat with a load? I will do loads up to 1500 including motor, boat, people gear. Yamaha and Merc both use same block for 30s and 40s. Honda has a 30 HP that is same as the 25. How much extra do you really get? Honda 40 is in same weight class as Yamaha and Merc. Seems they all are pretty close in 40 range, but Merc is only one doing EFI at this point.<br /><br />Lot of info, post any feedback you have. Thanks Much.
good luck in whatever you decide...