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[patagonia]

Does anyone have any experience with putting a motor that is over the HP rating on a boat? I have a 12' Smokercraft with 20" transom, its rated for 15HP, my buddy has a great 20 HP 2 stroke that he is willing to sell for cheap.... he knows a bit about boats, I do not. According to him its fine, says the 2 stroke 20 is nice and light and wont be an issue... any thoughts?

[crazypop]

Sure it will handle it.
My only concern is if you get pulled over by dfo or the like, would they look at the plate and say your over hp and ticket ya?
Just a thought.

I dont know if that would happen but maybe give them a call...

[fullahead]

The Boat will have a transom weight restriction, and what is the weight of the motor you are going to put on? That is what you have to watch.

I have a 14 foot life timer, with a transom weight restriction of 175 LB. The boat is rated for thirty horse power. I mounted a 40 Yamaha power head 4 stroke, that produces thirty horse power at the pump. The weight of the motor is 201 pounds,  over the transom restriction by 26 pounds. The same weight as a 5 gallon gas tank that is now in the bow.

[canso]

go for it, sounds like fun.
I've got a 19' inboard with over 400hp and I still want more

[patagonia]

Thanks for the help, sounds like a good bet, the boat has a very wide beam at 63 inches so the extra HP will be nice.

[skaha]

--Its not just the weight of the motor.. its the torque of the extra horse power on the transom that over time can cause cracking at the corners and general metal fatigue.
--Like adding extra sail to a boat that isn't engineered for it... you can get away with it for awhile but can cause problems down the road.  Racers do it all the time but eventually someting breaks when you push the limits.
--Overline your flyrod... maybe not a problem but... down the road?

--Not intended to be a lecture... as I put an 85 hp on my hourston which was rated for a 70... burned a bunch more gas for years.. had to rebuild the transom... now run a 60hp 4 stroke.. of course better gas mileage but also surprisingly almost the same speed at WOT...

[3/16ths]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but I believe that the HP rating on the transom tag is just the manufacturer's max recommended HP.  In Canada, it is not a crime to exceed it.  There's probably an exception to this rule, like if one was to put a 100HP motor on a transom rated for a 50, then caused an accident because you couldn't control your vessel.

3/16th's

[76t7]

i'm sure that there would definately be a problem if you ever were going to put in an insurrance claim as they would look at the boats rated horsepower and deny your claim on that basis, they will use any excuse to get out of paying, but then maybe you were'nt going to insure it anyway.

[skaha]

i'm sure that there would definately be a problem if you ever were going to put in an insurrance claim as they would look at the boats rated horsepower and deny your claim on that basis, they will use any excuse to get out of paying, but then maybe you were'nt going to insure it anyway.

--that question was right near the top of my insurance form...along with speed of the boat... extra for over 40 mph and is motor larger than boat is rated for.