Should I swap motors on Pontoon?

Hi there. My wife and I are working out the details but we are expecting to purchase a mid 90's 22' Pontoon with 25" toons. It currently has a 40hp Force motor (2 stroke I assume). I have a late 90's Bigfoot 50hp 4 stroke motor on the back of the tri hull I have now. I plan on selling the trihull as soon as we get the pontoon and my question is this. Is it worth all the work to swap the motors? I know it is 20% more horsepower, but I would assume it is considerably heavier. Both the controls should pretty well match right up, but if not I will swap control boxes and/or wiring harnesses.

Basically my wife wants to know if the boat is running 17ish mph now is it worth spending a weekend doing all this. I know the newer/better motor has a higher resale value too so this will go into consideration. Both motors run like champs too. I was just curious if the weight added to hp gained would basically make it a wash...even if so we might swap them as my motor is much much much quieter and there is no oil to mix, just change it once a year.

Re: Should I swap motors on Pontoon?

mpilot said:

. Is it worth all the work to swap the motors? .

.

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Yes. However, if you exceed your HP rating, you are putting yourself in a situation (insurance wise) that you may not be able to defend.

Re: Should I swap motors on Pontoon?

It's rated for up to either a 90hp or 115hp according to all the manufacturer specs I saw so I am well within that range.

Re: Should I swap motors on Pontoon?

Yeah, any 22' toon will be rated for a lot more than 50 horseys. If it's a good fit logistically (controls, shaft length, etc.) I'd swap 'em in a heartbeat. Not sure if you'll realize an appreciable speed gain, but you're definitely improving your power plant, and the bigfoot is great for barges.

Re: Should I swap motors on Pontoon?

The extra 10 horses won't make a lots of difference, although some. If the budget allows, I would sell the 40 and the tri-hull and then look for a 90 for the toon.

Re: Should I swap motors on Pontoon?

EGlideRider said:

The extra 10 horses won't make a lots of difference, although some. If the budget allows, I would sell the 40 and the tri-hull and then look for a 90 for the toon.

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Even better. I'll +1 Eglide this time.

Re: Should I swap motors on Pontoon?

+2 ^^^

Re: Should I swap motors on Pontoon?

EGlideRider said:

The extra 10 horses won't make a lots of difference, although some. If the budget allows, I would sell the 40 and the tri-hull and then look for a 90 for the toon.

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That would be a good idea if we planned on keeping the boat for a long time...honestly we were going to buy a brand new triple toon boat this year, but there were some job changes and unexpected expenses so that's a no go. We had resigned to keep the smaller boat after all that but a friend of ours came along with this awesome deal because he is buying a new boat. If we buy the boat we will probably keep it for 1 or 2 summers and then sell it/trade it in. We are definitely selling the trihull though with either the 40 or 50hp motor rigged.

Re: Should I swap motors on Pontoon?

The 4 stroke will be quieter and more fuel efficient. One the other hand, I doubt the controls will match up, requiring a cable/ control swap. Further to this, the cables from the tri-hull likely won't be long enough, and finally, you will probably need a different prop (14x11) on the pontoon.

Re: Should I swap motors on Pontoon?

I have a 20 foot wiring harness for the 50hp, and the 14x11 prop. This motor came off of a Pontoon as did all the hook ups so that won't be an issue, just wondering if it is worthwhile to do the swap.

Re: Should I swap motors on Pontoon?

In that case ditch the force and install the bigfoot, the merc is a better motor and no mixing oil. Even if you only get 1 mph in the swap it would be worth the work.

Re: Should I swap motors on Pontoon?

rrhodes said:

In that case ditch the force and install the bigfoot, the merc is a better motor and no mixing oil. Even if you only get 1 mph in the swap it would be worth the work.

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That's what I am leaning towards. The price difference in selling the trihull would be a couple hundred bucks at best as it is a 15 foot older boat (fully restored though) so it has a price cap. Now I just have to convince my wife we need to go through a motor mounting again as we just mounted the bigfoot on our boat in June of last year....and on that subject: The dry weight of this motor is only listed at 255 lbs....do you think two or three men could pick it up and mount it....I had to use a skid steer last time and it wasn't the most graceful job in the world but it worked. I was thinking I could get a couple of my neighbors and we could swap them out in an afternoon if we didn't have to bring in heavy equipment.

Re: Should I swap motors on Pontoon?

You can lift the 50 off and back on with a couple of friends to help. It's a lot easier with a strong tree branch and a come along. I think if you can do this with the material on hand (cables, controllers etc) you would be better off with the BF on the pontoon even if it's for a year or two. The BF is a pontoon motor sort of, with a gear case designed to turn bigger props suited to pontoons. The 4 stroke is probably a more reliable motor than the Force which often get a bad rap for fragile power heads, whether they deserve it or not.

The controllers are probably not the same, but the cables probably will swap out between the controllers if you need to do that, as both are Mercury products and I think the ends are the same. The mounting holes in the transoms are probably the same. The wiring harness should be long enough for either boat.

If I were in your shoes I would absolutely swap them out.

You will need to make sure the motors are propped right to run in the recommended RPM range at wide open throttle on the new boats. I've found that used props can be swapped out for a different pitch, for just about even money, by buying and selling on ebay.

One final thought is the BF will make the pontoon more attractive to buyers when you do sell it and will get you back any $$$ you may lose on the tri-hull sale now.

Re: Should I swap motors on Pontoon?

mpilot said:

That would be a good idea if we planned on keeping the boat for a long time...honestly we were going to buy a brand new triple toon boat this year, but there were some job changes and unexpected expenses so that's a no go. We had resigned to keep the smaller boat after all that but a friend of ours came along with this awesome deal because he is buying a new boat. If we buy the boat we will probably keep it for 1 or 2 summers and then sell it/trade it in. We are definitely selling the trihull though with either the 40 or 50hp motor rigged.

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If you are going to keep it for only 1 or 2 summers, then I would leave it as it is. IMHO, the extra money and time required for an exchange is not worth 10 horses for two seasons.

Re: Should I swap motors on Pontoon?

Since he stated that he already has the cables and prop that came off of the Bigfoot that was previously on a Toon I don't think money comes into play.

The Pontoon community shy away from Force OB motors and Love the BigFoot.

Re: Should I swap motors on Pontoon?

mpilot said:

That's what I am leaning towards. The price difference in selling the trihull would be a couple hundred bucks at best as it is a 15 foot older boat (fully restored though) so it has a price cap. Now I just have to convince my wife we need to go through a motor mounting again as we just mounted the bigfoot on our boat in June of last year....and on that subject: The dry weight of this motor is only listed at 255 lbs....do you think two or three men could pick it up and mount it....I had to use a skid steer last time and it wasn't the most graceful job in the world but it worked. I was thinking I could get a couple of my neighbors and we could swap them out in an afternoon if we didn't have to bring in heavy equipment.

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A buddy and I installed my 60 Bigfoot. Picking it up was out out the question. We carted the motor behind the boat, and place it upright on a small piece of plywood, then raised the trailer tongue until the back was low enough to put the bolts in. As a side note, it's easier to hook up the steering cable to the motor BEFORE you put the bolts in.