Outboard upgrade time

[Archer]

After some advice guys,

Im about to replace the old 90HP Yammie 2 banger on the back of my Haines 146. Its not your standard 146 its been rebuilt into a Bass boat side console.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v125/Archer/22052010356.jpg

After looking around my personal prefrence would be a 100HP yammie 4 stroke.
However one Yamaha dealer has suggested this may be to heavy for the boat? He mentioned a min water height i can only assume he meant at rest and possibility of water ingestion into the engine??
Others have said it wont be a problem ive seen those boats with 150's on them etc etc
The new 70HP Yammie was suggested but im not sure that would be enough for my boat. Its roughly 600Kg's loaded up plus outboard plus people...
Would 70HP be enough?
I have become use to having the speed that the 90 delivers so not sure i would be happy with droppnig to much top end.
The other options are a 90HP etec or Suzuki 4 stroke.
Current outboad at best guess weighs between 140-150Kg's
Yammie 100HP 174Kg's
Etec 90HP 145Kg's
Suzi 90Hp is 155Kg's
70Hp Yammie is 120kg's

Bloody tough decison its alot of money and i dont want to go the wrong way...:-?
Thoughts??

[Waraba Mick]

Archer your 90hp 2 stroke weighs 122kg the 70hp 4 stroke would be a good match weight wise if you can handle the hp drop.

Mick.

[Salad Fingers]

take it for a spin with an extra 50kg's on the ass (ie, two jerry's or something) and see how it feels at rest?
remembering that you could probably move some stuff forward, battery's, etc.

[cormorant]

Get 4 10kg of bags of sand and take em out next time you are on the water. Put em on top of the cowl or right at the transom to get a idea of real water height at rest and mark/ photo it so you know how your hull reacts. You can move fuel and batteries forward possibly to help with balance of the boat. A lot of motor weights are done without props and I reckon they must have scales where there is no gravity. 20hp would be a big hit to the top end

[Jarrah Jack]

A 70 will be alright, Ive got one on my 16ft HH and its fine. The weight of the 100 looks too much for me. The Zuk 90 would be my pick of that lot but I'm biased.;D

[Nathan Tuskes]

im really interested in how you go with this, as my 146 rebuild is at the stage of the fuel tank being put in and casting decks glassed down this weekend, i looked at the etec but after the amount of first hand stories and first hand experience with them failing at ABT bream comps theirs no way im getting one. here is a link to the fly craft websitehttp://www.formulaboats.com.au/index.php/formula_boat_range/formula_15se/ with the same hull as ours with a 90 optimax (170kg) and it looks to handles it well. Expect to pay a 2k premium for the Suzuki over n etec. does anyone have any pricing on a 100hp yamaha?

[pilchardjones]

gday archer,
i went through the exact same process with my 445 (looks very similar to yours). I started with a 90 yam 2 str, and wanted to upgrade.
personally i did not want to add any extra weight. the 90 was 120kg so i really only had the 60 yam or merc 4 str to go to at the time. i chose the merc 60 bigfoot 4str and absolutely love it - especially after i added the permatrim. easy up on the plane, top speed about 35kts and 5000rpm sees me at about 29kts which is very comfortable.
personally i would not want to even think about the 174kg 1004str. i would give serious consideration to the 70 4 str in your list of cantidates.
steve

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