03-05-2021, 05:11 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-05-2021, 05:19 PM by SkunkedAgain.)
I'm switching the boat over to just fishing, not skiing and tube pulling... It's a tired old boat and I just want a good reliable motor to get me out on the water... I'm not fishing tournaments where I need to race to a spot, but I also want something faster than the 5 mph I'm getting out of my 9.9 hp trolling motor...
The 115 hp was too big for the boat rating to start with and it was really heavy on the back end of the boat... I'm thinking I should still get 20+ mph and have a machine that is a lot easier to handle... plus it will float higher in the water, which is needed out on Cutler since it's only about 3' deep and some areas even less... One spot I have to cross is only about 16" deep so a lighter motor floats higher so I can push across the shortcut a lot easier than the heavy motor dragging bottom... It's not a powell boat, but it should do the little lakes I fish, and be okay for Bear Lake on reasonable wave days... I'm not ready to buy a real boat yet, but this one will get me by for what I do... at least I hope it will... I should get a new boat, but this one is set up pretty well for how I like to fish and the price is a lot easier for me to handle...
As far as Evinrude/Johnson out of business, that really is unfortunate, I understand they are much better motors to work on than the Mercury and foreign built motors and with as many motors around as there are, I've got to hope someone will still be making after market parts to keep them running... The biggest drawback of this motor is, it's not a four stroke, that is the one thing I'm most unhappy with, but it also saved me $2500 off the price of a comparable four stroke... so I can deal with the inconvenience for the price difference as long as the new president doesn't outlaw 2 strokes in the near future... which is always a possibility, but I hope he don't...
Anyway long explanation for my trade offs that I've made, but I think they will work out okay... If not I'll whine later...Jeff
The 115 hp was too big for the boat rating to start with and it was really heavy on the back end of the boat... I'm thinking I should still get 20+ mph and have a machine that is a lot easier to handle... plus it will float higher in the water, which is needed out on Cutler since it's only about 3' deep and some areas even less... One spot I have to cross is only about 16" deep so a lighter motor floats higher so I can push across the shortcut a lot easier than the heavy motor dragging bottom... It's not a powell boat, but it should do the little lakes I fish, and be okay for Bear Lake on reasonable wave days... I'm not ready to buy a real boat yet, but this one will get me by for what I do... at least I hope it will... I should get a new boat, but this one is set up pretty well for how I like to fish and the price is a lot easier for me to handle...
As far as Evinrude/Johnson out of business, that really is unfortunate, I understand they are much better motors to work on than the Mercury and foreign built motors and with as many motors around as there are, I've got to hope someone will still be making after market parts to keep them running... The biggest drawback of this motor is, it's not a four stroke, that is the one thing I'm most unhappy with, but it also saved me $2500 off the price of a comparable four stroke... so I can deal with the inconvenience for the price difference as long as the new president doesn't outlaw 2 strokes in the near future... which is always a possibility, but I hope he don't...
Anyway long explanation for my trade offs that I've made, but I think they will work out okay... If not I'll whine later...Jeff
(03-05-2021, 05:04 PM)elkantlers Wrote: I would have traded you. I have a 70hp Suzuki that runs like a top but I wish it was just a bit bigger when I have 4 people in the boat. I would like a 115 someday.Wish I would have known when I started this last fall, however, I wouldn't have wanted to see my old 115 go to anyone I knew... It had insulation peeling off all the wiring, and the shop told me it would cost about $1300 to update the electrical... So I sold it for $400 just to remove the temptation... It was a good motor, but getting old and needing some attention... Didn't want to put that much into a motor that I really wasn't happy with because it was too heavy for my boat... Hope this new one will be a good balanced fit... Later Jeff
When things get stressful think I'll go fish'en and worry about it tomorrow!