Re: 2 big guys in a little boat
I've got a 12' flat bottom v bow Duranautic that I consider a one man boat with me in it, the boat is rated at 540lbs total but me and a 9.9hp motor, two oars, and fishing tackle is its max in my opinion. At just over 300lbs, I have about 3" of freeboard at best if I sit at the tiller on the rear bench seat, its better if I use a tiller extender and sit in the middle.
I've been in a 1236 jon boat before and they don't have much freeboard even empty, if I were you I'd look for something bigger or something with deep sides and a higher weight rating. Being at or even close to the rated max weight often isn't safe and sure isn't fun if conditions turn bad or someone gets careless.
I watched three guys in a 12' jon boat get dumped in the river a few year ago by a passing boat, I'd guess their weight at about 250lbs, 170lbs, and the little guy was 140lbs or so. The boat was nearly at the water line and all three were fishing in fast moving water. A larger boat passed by with a huge wake, the boat swamped and sank almost instantly. One guy swam to the far side of the river into the marsh area, another swam to a nearby bridge piling, the other guy, the only one with a life vest quickly floated down stream. He was later found and pickup up by a passing boat almost 2 miles down river.
The boat was never found. Either the flotation in it was water logged or it wasn't enough to float the boat because I watched it roll to one side, and sink out of sight in an instant. The boat never surfaced, and was never found. It was in 44' of water where it sank and the river moves pretty fast there but they were on the far side of the main channel and in maybe 22' of water or less. We scoured the area for a few hours after they found the third man that went in the water but never found the boat. The only thing found was a small ice chest and one guy's tackle box lid and a bunch of floats. The two guys that swam to safety weren't wearing a PFD, the third man was and was carried by the current and into the channel. All were in their late 60's or 70's.
They were probably at or just above the max weight of the boat in a section of the river about 500' wide or so. They had come downstream by paddle about 6 miles, we had no clue how they intended to get back to where they launched with just two oars.
None of them owned the lost boat, it was borrowed from a buddy.
I generally figure one no more than half the rated capacity for normal use on any small boat, taking into account the size of motor as well. If you only plan to run a 5hp motor, then you may well find that you get the same or better performance from a larger boat that's not so far below the waterline when loaded as you would from the smaller hull.
A buddy has a 16' boat and owns several motors, he's got a 6hp, a 9.5hp, and a 15hp motor, the 6hp and 9.5hp run almost the same speed wise, with the 9.5 being a bit stronger in fast current, the 15hp does a bit better but not great, it takes a borrowed 25hp to plane his boat with two guys in it. With one person, the 15hp does no better than the other two smaller motors due to the boat being so low in the stern with one big man at the tiller. It actually does better with two people and more weight with any of the smaller motors. The boat is rated at 40hp max, and he's never even close to the max weight of 1480lbs.
Any motor will 'move' the boat, only the max hp will move it efficiently in most cases.
