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Question about 4 stroke small propellers and gear cases

fastback4

fastback4

Member
I've been looking at 60hp Mercury 4 strokes for an upgrade and i've noticed the lower units are skinny and the props are very small or at least they appear to be. Now i've been running a 1999 2 stroke 60hp Mercury for 8 years and it's lower unit is big and beefy with a large prop. I swear i don't think the prop on the 2012 Merc. 4 stroke was bigger than 10" across if it was that...Why so small?
 
Your 2 stroke is a " bigfoot " model------------Likely a 90 HP gearcase !!-------------The regular 60 HP 2 stroke came with a smaller lower unit.-------------I think you can get 4 strokes with the " bigfoot " as well.
 
Thanks...but are the 4 strokers lower units and props small or is it just because I happen to have a 2 stroke Big Foot model to compare them to?
 
the 60 4cycle bigfoot is available .......you may give up some top in speed with it but not much.....the commercial fishermen are using them in louisiana swamps so i would not worry about durability.....i have a new one but havent run it enough to really critique it.....no problem coming out of the hole though.....i was running a 90 evinrude on the boat before and i did give up some top end speed but thats not important to me...there is going to be some weight difference in a 4 cycle....if i remember right the 90 merc 4 cycle is about 400 pounds vs around 300 for the 90 evindrude or the merc 60.... the main difference to me is the sound and that will take some getting used to.....for 50 years i was used to the roar of a 2 cycle coming out of the hole.....its a whole new ball game and you may as well take your tools out of the boat.....they are like the modern cars...without the computers we cant diagnose crap....
 
Your right about the "remove the toolbox from your boat". We decided to make the switch to 4 stroke for the quietness and the absolutely starts every time advantage. We are putting it on a 17' Tracker fishing boat. The motor has a stainless prop. I may save that prop and put an aluminum prop instead to help lessen the blow if i should hit a submerged stump or as my wife would say, "what was that we hit? a "53" buick?
 
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