Sled question

[Camo]

Looking for some advice on a jet for my boat. I have a 16' Lowe that I want to put a pump on and I can't get a good answer as to what I need for power. Since 2-strokes are almost impossible to find, I am leaning towards a new Yamaha 40/30. I think the Merc 25Jet isn't going to be enough. Both are very heavy at 223# & 186# and it will be a tiller. Add the lack of hole shot with the 4-stroke. By the time I add a 4hrs kicker and my big butt, with fuel, battery, and gear, I have a lot of weight in the back of this dingy let alone another guy and gear, (or my dog and dekes). Some of the dealerships are telling me to go to a 60/40. Seems a little much, and that adds another 50# to the back of the boat. Anybody have any experience with this type of set-up? Thanks for any input.

[Hoytstaffshooter83]

In alaska we ran 40/30 yamaha jets on 16ft lowes.. they got up fine with all my gear and 2 guys plus me..  its a perfect motor for that boat/size..... nothing beats a yamaha...........

[Antlershed]

What rivers do you plan on running? You could always look at the Etecs from Evinrude...

[jeepasaurusrex]

I have a 16' Valco river sled with a 75hp Johnson short shaft on the back. It gets up and scoots pretty good. It will plane at about 1/4 throttle. It has a center console with the fuel tank inside it. That way the weight is distributed more evenly.

[cohoho]

What are you running as in rivers, deep channels, extreme shallows? Combo boat?  Which Lowe boat do you run first off?   Welded/Riveted or Roughneck? The displacement factor is bad in the roughneck, you'll have issues with hole shot for certain unless you go big with power, the roughneck wasn't design for jet even though they sell them with the way too big and squared tunnel....  Had several friends, they had to power them with 90/65 to get similar performance as I could with smaller motor.  I ran an 18/60 foot ATEC boat that is similar to the G-3 except for a 2" tunnel with 50hp Honda bringing 35 at the jet pump and a center console  and front fuel tank to even out the boat.  It rode flat with no drop on start, a huge concern when your in 4" of water, the last thing headed out from shore is you don't want the jet sucking up the bottom or grass.  I ran where  only the Air Boats could go... And farther up rivers than I probably should have for safety reason.... Not fast, but could go where 99% would stop.  What is the width of the boat?  48/55 or 60?  another concern when needed planning surface.  Is the river your planing on using it in have a HP restriction? If I was you and were concerned about hole shot power, the ETEC are great, don't know if the smaller bores are out yet in pump? Spendy buggers but man what power they got...   If your planning on only fishing with two guy everytime and no gear then you'd be fine with the 40/30, but if you want to do more you'll need to step up into some power, 60/40.  Avoid the 25hp at all cost, way under powered for anything river wise.... You'll also have the concern with tiller and all the extra weight in the back without the benefit of length of boat to compensate for the back planning much lower, even more if it is narrow 48" boat, then the front will ride high and back drop down low causing a pushing motion versus straight up planning with that style boat.  But trade-off with that is it is very tough to back troll using a console.... Some might argue some of my statements, that is OK, I went through almost every combo and experimented with numerous boats in AK till I got it right with the setup I mentioned above, miss that boat and missed where I could go with it, wish I would have brought it here for some of these smaller rivers.  Sorry, I rambled but I love talking about what works in shallow water for Jet Boats...  Reason I quit working for a local boat dealer, they were trying to sell crap that didn't work and setups that were right in the small jet arena. 

[BIGBULLBALLS]

Have you ever heard a guy complain he has too much power?  I havent. I sure hear alot of guys who complain about lack of power.  Hope this answers your question.  "when in doubt, wrap it out"

[huntnphool]

Here you go guys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JE_QLwlk1k

[backyard bucks]

now that looks like fun!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jackelope]

Have you ever heard a guy complain he has too much power? 

too much  power in a little boat can be bad.

[Antlershed]

Have you ever heard a guy complain he has too much power? 

too much  power in a little boat can be bad.

Especially if that power weighs a lot on the back end of a light boat.

[jeepasaurusrex]

What you really need to watch for, is that wake that catches up to you once you slow down. Slow down too quickly, and you could swamp the boat very easily. I typically use the wake wave to beach the boat. Chop the throttle, let the wave catch up, and nail the throttle and ride it onto the bar, cutting the engine just before ya hit the beach.

[Intruder]

PM me..... I can give you more information than you'd ever want on the matter. 

[BIGBULLBALLS]

huntnphool, I watched that video and I will refer back to my previous statement.  "when in doubt, wrap it out".  Those are some crazy *censored*s.  Back to the boat thing, I had a 16', 5' bottom, all welded custom flat bottom boat and ran a Honda 90/65 jet.  A tad heavy on the back (385lb) so I never put a kicker on it. I now run that motor on my 18', 5.5' bottom boat with a 10 degree bottom and i'm a little under powered.  Still does 35mph

[Camo]

Thanks for all the replies and help. To clarify, this is a "jack-of-all-boats", it is not going to be perfect for anything but trying to make it suitable for a number of situations. I do realize there is no "perfect" boat having owned a number of boats in the past. My intention is a few trips each to fish the Skagit in the winter, Cowlitz in the summer, fly-fish Eastside lakes, smallies on the Columbia/ Yakima, kids to Rufus twice a year, Banks for Carp and throw in a couple duck hunts. That covers the nine months I'm not chasing deer/elk. The boat is the riveted john with 48" bottom. I know I'm pushing that fine line between length and power and making it worse with a tiller. I don't want to add additional weight to the back with unnecessary power, the four strokes make that a challenge. River fishing I will never have more than one other person with me as I am a space whore and hate being crowded.

Hoytstaff - Were those four strokes you ran in AK?

Cohoho- I am genuinely concerned about the drop at start especially with a 4-stroke and tiller. I know I can play games with moving fuel and batteries up front as 50% of the time I am by myself but the other times I don't want to sacrifice the deck space.

Thanks again everyone.

[jackelope]

hit 3 rivers and see what they say...nice guys.