Your opinions,solutions and comments

[ddayacos75]

I want to know what you would do. My boat is a 20'with V-8. Was thinking of repowering with a 4 cyl I/O, but changed my mind. Want to use an O/B mainly because there is a lot more choices ex. makes,HP,2 or 4 stroke,singles or twins,new and used. I would use this for mainly trolling and bottomfishing.We mainly troll the 100 fathom ledge for ono,mahi and check the FADs out for any action or cruise along the 1000 or 2000 fathom chasing porpoise, birds or looking for rubbish. With the V-8 the stern sat pretty low and burn more gas in 5-6 hours than my honda would use in 2 weeks. The boat goes up hill perfect cant recall it ever slamming once but downhill sometimes a little iffy swells would make the boat surf for a petty good distance having to steer and cut gas sometimes. In the picture the waterline wasnt exactly like this but just to give you an idea. The transom you can see I was sketching out what size of a bracket I wanted never seen one in person and was wondering how do you calculate flotation to get rough estimate. If the transom is good i will do upgrades in phases. I hoping of getting a bracket, new fuel tank and a used O/B for now(no $$$) and raise the floor and all the drains later. What do you guyz think or would do? I just wanted some input from other seacraft owners. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
If money was no object I would want any of these: [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] Friends boats.
1. 29' Surrat troll all day rough weather
2. 26' KamiCraft Great all a round boat
3. 33' Kinfe Fast,toilet, roomy, overnighters



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[ScottM]

Dano,
That is scary how high your water line is! [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] You definitely need to get some weight out of the stern. Since you already have a closed transom, a bracketed O/B would be the best way of lightening the load. The favored bracket on this site is the Seamark. Check with www.hermco.net for more info. This is a positive flotation bracket and would counter the weight of the engine. IMO, the perfect engine for this boat is a 150hp 2-stroke DI (choose your brand). With over 400#s of buoyancy, a single engine Seamark would work really well.

[Miles Offshore]

Dano- JMHO BUT, Id go back with the 4 cyl i/o- that is perfect set-up for that boat-doesnt ride ass down too bad and runs like a dream (my brother had the same boat). i think if i were looking to move up i would move up to a 23!!!!! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[ddayacos75]

I talked to this local shop that sells, riggs, and repairs suzuki's,johnson/evinrude's and volvos. He had just repowered a 21' seacraft suzi 115 to a 140. With only 10 hours burns about 3gph and hopefully around the mid 2s with top speed around 35+. trolling speed from 6-10 kt or mph distractions around me [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] Does this sound right? I will hopefully have good timing and catch him when he's not to busy. $13k for a 140HP 25" with all suzi controls,hydraulic steering and rigging. He said forget the bracket and just notch it or buy something bigger which I read it here somewhere, and volvo deisel better in the long run if using it alot and if you go gas a 4.3 EFI. He doesnt car if I buy it from someelse but those were his advice having enough power,good fuel effiency for the conditions here.
Does any body know something about Mercury vs Johnson and 2006 or something like that? could hear
[img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] DANO