engine for boat

pm.

hi lads, i do a bit of duck shooting and a bit of fishing ive got an 19ft lake boat and was wondering witch engine to go for, my choice is an evnrude 9.9 hp or a mercury 20 hp, the 20 hp is long shaft and the 9.9 hp is short, is 20 hp too much power for a lake boat??

Citizen_Erased

Yep pretty much 20 hp would be complete overkill , we have a wide bottomed 19ft laker too and we gladly chugg it along on an old 4.5 hp yamaha outboard. So 9.9 is more than enough and because it has a short shaft it will be more suited to lake use. Most lakes in Ireland tend to be choked with reed in places so a long shaft would only lead to many unhappy reed tangles and the like. So my verdict 9.9hp , but see if you can't get it in a different make like yamaha or mercury.

macnas

20hp is not a problem for a 19ft but the long shaft will be very awkward to use on a lake, a shallow draft and a long shaft will mean lots of props and pins, not to mention lifting the thing up and down out of the water I have a 9.9 Yam for a 17ft O'Sullivan I use for duck. What make of boat do you have?

Umiq88

15hp imo is the ideal size its only slighlty heavier than the 10hp but packs a little more punch when you go up to 20hp its gets alot heavier.

2 stroke/4 stroke personal choice comprimise between weight and noise

Short shaft is a must, have used long shaft and between weeds and rocks your heart would be broke.

I would go for a 15hp 4 stroke Suzuki they are a very well made and smooth running engine.

And for duck shooting on a lake an electric motor is a must we have a min koto and wouldnt be anywhere without it.

Series_iii

I have a 19' Kingfisher, with a 15HP Mariner 2 stroke, it flys along. Depends if you have to lug the engine about much, a 6HP one would be ideal. Anything above a 10HP would probably require the transom to be strengthend. I bought mine (boat and engine) in Newry and they kindly supplied stainless steel brackets for this purpose.

astraboy

I spent a summer working on Mercury engines of all sizes. Reliability was excellent. We had several 16ft fishing boats running 15hp mercs and they moved along fine. For a lake boat 20hp would give you great progress, but it depends how fast you need to go and how big the lake is! Obviously short shaft would be better for a lake. 10-15hp should be plenty for your needs. I would recommend a 4 stroke motor(I think all the merc outboards in your range are 4 stroke) as they would be more reliable and also quieter, a must to get close to the ducks I suppose! A 2hp electric motor would also be benifical to allow you to get close without any noise, the larger outboard could then be used to move the boat from the shore to where you shoot and back with good progress. Hope that helps!

macnas

Series_iii wrote:

I have a 19' Kingfisher, with a 15HP Mariner 2 stroke, it flys along. Depends if you have to lug the engine about much, a 6HP one would be ideal. Anything above a 10HP would probably require the transom to be strengthend. I bought mine (boat and engine) in Newry and they kindly supplied stainless steel brackets for this purpose.

Kingfisher, McAlinden makes a great boat!!