Sea Nymph SS195 needs motor

[aburke120]

I bought this boat with a non running 1975 mercury 850 and want to replace it. The plate on the boat states that it will hold up to a 140 hp. I don't think I need or want a 140 hp motor so I'm asking what would be a good motor for this boat. I'll use it for walleye fishing, trolling, and nothing else. and will use a kicker motor for trolling. I don't want a new motor, or a 4 stroke. Something in the 1990's-2000's. Thanks in advance.

 

[TyeeMan]

Not sure if this still holds true today, but a rule of thumb was to rig a boat with 3/4 of the maximum h.p. motor if you didn't want the max h.p motor. So another 80-100 h.p motor would probably be what your looking for. Maybe as low as a 70 h.p but you need to know all the stuff and people you will have in the boat most or all of the time and go from there.

 

[ahicks]

As I'm totally spoiled by 4 strokes, there's not much doubt that one of those would be my first choice. That choice removed, I would go with a mid sized (90-130) 4 cylinder 2 stroke. Yamaha would be my first choice, followed by Johnson, Evinrude, and Merc, in no particular order.

I think the 3 cylinder engines (70hp and smaller) might be a little underwhelming for anything other than maybe fishing fairly close to the dock.

 

[Silvertip]

A big displacement 90 HP Merc triple of that vintage would be fine on that boat for what I feel you intend to use the boat for. Those are good motors. I had a 75 Merc triple on my 17 ft Alumacraft walleye boat and it was a nice performer and reasonably economical. Nice sweet spot at 3800 - 4000 rpm.

 

[TyeeMan]

Depending on the weight of the OP's boat, for his needs the 70-75 Johnny/Rude might be nice. Having had a 70 on a dual console 17 foot Lund I found it to be just right after I propped it properly. No, you're not going to run out at 45 mph, but I could still troll with it all day if I wanted to. As far as trolling goes, the 70 hp came in where my bow mount left off.

 

[aburke120]

I want to thank everyone for their responses to my question. Pretty narrowed down as to what I need. I'll be looking, thanks again.