Thread: Small boat advice and options

we have had a 13ft fryan dingy for .......years now...15 at a guess
for 12 of those we powered it with a 6hp 4stroke merc....lovely reliable motor .really reliable. I could get it up to 26kmph solo and towed in some rather large boats that had drifted off trying to get thier motors going.abused it with boat loaded to gunnals duck shooting gear galore.
it was always a bit slow with more than 2 people in it and we got wet if wind came up and we had to scoot home at whopping 15kmph

fast forward,kids have left home
bit the bullet and bought a 15hp 2 stroke merc

first time out,MUM Myself and both dogs,back out of ramp,turn around and start heading out across lake quietlygive it a little jandle and boat pops up onto plane straight away,Wifey looks at me and says "why did we fu&# around with small motor for so long?" I then twisted throttle right open and she nearly shat herself as it rocketed forwards .gps tells me it goes 38-39kmph with us four in it and 41 with just my fat arse....tiller extention is a must,the further forward my fat arse is the better it will handle...and when wind comes up we fang it home skipping over top of waves instead of bouncing through them getting wet.

slightly more $$$$ spent on larger HP is a good thing.I CAN launch it solo across soil or sand but it is hard work. we recently converted an old boat trailer to make it fit....all up it owes us maybe a couple of hundy and it makes life just so much easier having a little winch and rollers. definately worth the effort to launch where you can get to the water,If we lift motor right up its simple matter to winch boat back onto trailer even off the ground.