6hp Johnson seahorse

[putvalley1003]

I am fairly new to boating and I recently was given a 12’ Jon boat which has a max capacity of a 6 hp motor I have been looking at a couple of 2 stroke 6hp Johnson seahorse motors from the mid 80s and from doing a little bit of research it seems like the 6hp and 8 hp are around 60# and the 10 hp is 65-70# they seem to be close in weight would I be safe enough to step up to and put an 8 or a 10 hp with out causing damage to the transom or should I just look to stay in the 6hp range thanks I. advance for any help!

 

[cprodave]

I own 6 and 8 and 9.9 (10) hp OMC's. The 6's weigh 53 to 58 bs, the 8 weighs 60 lbs and the 9.9 weighs 73 lbs on my bathroom scale. If you are worried about transom fragility then avoid the 9.9. For a flat bottom 12 foot Jonboat the 8hp (or older 7.5hp) might be adequate to plane with 2 people in the boat (depending on person's weight of course). Small person's even a 6hp might plane. My 12 foot Seaking vee-hull requires the 8hp to plane with me (175lbs) and wife (115lbs) aboard. Same boat planes with just me using the 6hp. PM me if you want more details.

 

[jimmbo]

There is more to consider when overpowering than just the weight of the engines, A 9.9 has a much bigger Wallop when given gas than the 6 or 8. That is where the Transom takes a beating. Then comes the Safety and Handling aspects, some boats get real Squirilly when overpowered. Finally comes the legality, some areas jump all over you if you are 1 hp over the boats rating, other areas could care less, but Insurance companies will often try to weasel out of coverage, and then there are the Oily Shark Skinned Ambulance Chasing Lawyers who can sniff out an overpowered boat like Radar

 

[putvalley1003]

Thank you both for the information I think from what you guys are saying 9.9 HP is definitely gonna be to much for my boat my rating on the Jon boat was 6hp and max motor weight of 86 pounds even though the 9.9 would come under my max weight it will probably be to much power to handle I’m going to still consider the 8hp only because the lake I live on they never bother anyone and being between me my wife together weigh 330 plus occasionally a 45lb dog we are maxing our capacity with only 20-30# of gear so I might give the 8hp a shot.