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15 HP 4 stroke Mercury outboard

G

Gibill

New member
Looking to buy me a small boat. The boat is an 06 Crestliner 1600 Angler. 16' with a dry weight of 1200 lbs. It is rigged with a Mercury 15EL 4STR 15 HP 4 stroke outboard. My question is, would this be enough motor to get this boat, at that dry weight plus a few people and gear, up on plane? And while I have your attentions, would a 20HP be that much difference?
thanks for your help, I was just about to make the purchase but wanted to find out before being totally disappointed first time on the water!
 
No, and No.

Boats are often "packaged" with a motor that is nowhere near powerful enough, but that keeps the pricetag looking "reasonable".

There were two different versions of the 16 foot Angler - one had a hull weight of 850 pounds, the follow on had a hull weight of 1200 pounds (as you note).

The lighter model had a max horse rating of 60 with the heavier, a max rating of 75 horse.

To get a boat to "perform as designed" you need to fit it with "minimally" 80% of it's max rating - so in the case of the 1200 pound model 75 horses X .8 = 60 horses minimum.

Now, I do have "actual on water test results" for the 1200 pound model fitted with a 40 horse (EFI 4 stroke Merc) and a 75 horse (Evinrude ETEC). With the 75 it tops out at a "respectable" 36 mph. With the 40 (so about half as many horses), the top speed drops to 27 mph.

Now, while not a straight line equation you could estimate that you "might" make 16 or 17 mph with a 20, and probably somewhere in the 13-14 mph range with a 15 horse. And that would be with "you by yourself" in the boat. Add a couple more passengers and gear for the day and I would say that you would not get on a plane with a 20 horse - just not enough motor for that rig.

Anyhow, here's the test charts....
 

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Thanks so much for the info........I found out that the boat I am looking at is of the lesser weight.......860# and it has a 15hp 4 stroke..........so even the lesser weight it wouldn't be very effective? And a 20 horse wouldn't be much better? One situation is that the lake is restricted to 20HP.........but I think it would be a pain to try to run on the lake with the bow straight up in the air whereby you can't see a thing where you are going. We have a 20' bass boat with a 225HP on the back.......but with the he restriction, only being able to run with the trolling motor, on a breezy day it takes forever to get anywhere.......we use the boat when we go on vacation up in the finger lakes..........at home the restricted lake is only 10 minutes from our house.......so was looking for a little 16' aluminum boat to be able to get out on "A" lake whenever possible. I really like this Crestliner and the price is pretty good...........so with the explanation, what be your thoughts?
 
I run a 14 foot, 250 pound (hull weight) with a 15 horse. With two of us in the boat and a bit of gear - and a good tail wind I get about 16 mph.

A buddy of mine just bought a brand new 15' Legend (Canadian brand on par with Tracker), hull weight is 600 pounds. We packaged it up with the (optional) 40 horse Merc "command thrust" (formerly the Big Foot) instead of the 25 horse (as packaged).

With two of us on board and fishing junk it gets up on plane well and tops out in the high 20's (27 mph gps measured). That is "sufficient" for that hull but I really wouldn't have wanted to go with any less horses than the 40 (he waffled over the 50 or the 60, but the cost increase was prohibitive for the minimal performance increase).

I would suggest if you need something 20-horse/under for that specific circumstance that you look quite a bit smaller/lighter because otherwise you will have a drastically under powered rig. With a 20 horse I personally wouldn't want to be pushing much more than 400'ish pounds of hull weight which would leave in the 14/15 foot utility, tiller models, perhaps with a solid floor.
 
Thanks for the input!
and I am assuming boats of that size (400 to 500 pounds) are max 2 people?
what can you tell me about the Carolina skiff jv15? Any experience or knowledge of them?
 
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