Haines Hunter 470 Breeze

[shakey55]

Need thoughts of all the wise ones on this forum.

I'm looking at a Haines Hunter 470 Breeze with a new Mercury 60 hp four stroke Bigfoot.

I'm looking for a general family/fishing boat that may venture out into the ocean say a kilometre or two when the weather and seas are right.

What are people's thoughts on this boat / motor configuration.

Will it have enough power for what I want




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[Mitch73]

I have a 5m bowrider in aliminium with a 2 stroke 60 yammy. It is just enough. My boat feels like it should have a 90 on it. But the Bigfoot as your getting it new you can mess with the props. Should be enough. Unless you are thinking of pulling skiers around

[Jeremy]

Underpowered. I have a 60 on a 4.4 Haines and it is underpowered. When you first buy a boat you say "only a km or two offshore", but pretty soon you will be going 10-20 km offshore. At a minimum go for a run in it to see how it performs.

[Moonlighter]

I must say that I always wonder at the concept of putting a "Bigfoot" style motor on a normal planing hull.

A Big heavy gearbox and gearing and propellers designed to push heavy loads on pontoon boats or houseboats...... Yet people put them on a normal planing hull.

And the the main rationale seems to be to try to overcome a horsepower deficiency. From what I've seen and from speaking to guys in the business who really know what they are talking about, it never works anywhere near as well as putting the recommended amount of horsepower on the boat in the first place.

I would say that a 60 on that Haines hull would be the minimum. It's not a heavy hull, but it does have a decent amount of V in the hull so it will always take some pushing. For a retired guy who only ever fishes with 2 people on board and in good conditions, lightly loaded, and not in a hurry to get anywhere it would be OK but I wouldn't go with a Bigfoot, just a normal 60hp.

It would be far better with a 70hp. A mate of mine has just repowered a Haines the same size with a 70 Yammy 4 stroke and it goes nicely around the Bay. That would be a very good match for the Breeze too. His boat originally had a Yammy 80 4 stroke on it, but t be honest, those Haines's don't have a hull design suited to heavy motors on the transom and the balance of his boat with the new light 70 is far, far better than what it was with the heavy old 80. It's a massive improvement.

So, whatever motor you choose, watch the weight and don't under power for your intended use. IMO a Bigfoot won't be any better than a correctly propped "normal" 60hp.

Think I about this: no-one has ever said "Damn, I've got too much horsepower on this boat", whereas plenty wish they had gone with higher HP when they set it up in the first place, even if it cost a bit more.

[shakey55]

Thanks very much for your valued input. I've taken comments on board and once again reconsidering my options.


'shakey'

[stang69]

If you have to have a 470 Breeze with a 60hp 4 stroke, then it better be a bigfoot, or hi thrust. It will go ok, but really needs at least a 75hp. Its a pretty heavy little hull at around 490kg.
A 70hp Yamaha 4 stroke is basically a hi-thrust 60hp that revs to 6300 RPM. Same gearbox, same block, same capacity.
The bigfoot gearbox will get you on the plane quicker, and be able to hold plane at lower speeds. If propped right will give you the same top speed as a standard leg. Pretty much the exact opposite of what moonlighter says.