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Re: Advice on boat-motor combination

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Hi tk,

My opine is to go to a flat bottomed 14' skiff in the tradition of the Chesapeake... The flat bottom would get you on a plane sooner with a load, and 15 hp. outboard (mid '80's Evinrude or Johnson 85lbs. Or how about that 20 hp Honda at a 100 lbs.?). The boat would be easier to drag up the beach with a winch or a 2 or 3 purchase 'handy billy' (blocks and tackle). Look at Polyform Fenders HTM2s (hole in the middle), they are 8” X 20”, and with 2 or 4 of these placed under the flat bottomed boat -- up the beach she goes.

If the boat is a 14’ Amsbury skiff, it would have most of the carrying capacity you are looking for, with its 5’ 5” beam and high 22” dory sides. Note how the sides of this boat curve a bit to the rather narrow bottom, important for not too rough a ride in a chop at speed. When the water gets too lumpy it will not matter as to the bottom shape, for safety sake you will have to cut back on the throttle and go ‘with’ the weather.

V bottom in a small boat does not soften the ride. The V is too shallow to be of much good (let alone trying to drag the boat on its 'pointy' V keel up the beach). The shallow V does, however, take more power to get on a plane with or without a load and 25hp is needed with 3 people aboard. You can do the rough math: Each 25lbs of weight (not displacement) needs about 1 hp. to get the boat on a plane – actually this refers to the weight on the water plane area, so a flat bottom boat buys a bit of insurance for this formula.

Hope this helps.



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  • Re: Advice on boat-motor combination - Thom V 09:11:41 08/24/04 (0)


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