More rain& 55 enough?

[frogpond]

Hello everybody, Sitting here in my dry house is it ever going to stop raining here in Washington wettest month on record 8.7..." for March and still raining!. Thinking of repowering my 19' 58 Glasspar Mariner Sport wondering if the 55Hp. is enough power to get her on plane also anybody's guess on how fast? my boat does have trim tabs. Weight 2,000 lbs. Thanks, Paul

[Steve_Kiesel]

I have a 60hp Johnson on my Glaspar Seafair. It's probably about half the weight of your Mariner. With two people onboard it tops out around 27mph. That's with my GPS. Depends on how you like to cruise, but a 55hp might be a little weak. Always better to have a little extra HP and cruise at 3/4 throttle. I would think a 90hp would be about right. That's my two cents worth.

[frogpond]

Thanks Steve, just got off the phone with my buddy Tim Mattson yeah a little weak also prop pitch just not available to make it work thanks for your input. Paul

[Steve_Kiesel]

Your in good hands with Tim. Tim is the one that brought my 60hp back to life.

[GregJ]

Paul, I have a 1983 50 hp. Evinrude with a aquafin on my 57 Skagit Express. The boat weighs 1385 lbs.. It gets up into a plain in around 10 sec. and will do 29.5 mph with just me on board. I feel it is a little light but I keep it because of it's slow trolling speed.

[Helmar]

I have NO idea on what my little Uniflite weighs in a. I had a extra battery, bigger tool box, anchor, all kinds of crap up in the bow when I was testing it.
It did 26 mph on the GPS with my 4 stroke 55hp Bearcat engine and I would bet I use less than half the fuel of others doing it too. She just hopped up on plain too.
I don't like mixing the oil either and can't afford one of these new Honda or other new 4 strokes.

I remember Marty Loken when he had his Honda 50 4 stroker, he moved it from boat to boat for awhile and it Always seemed to do well.
I still used less fuel than he did

If you decide to do a Bearcat, contact me first. Its also good if your at least a little of a back yard mechanic as you can do everything you need to with the Bearcat. Like you can go to NAPA and get everything you need and once they are running right, should do the trick really well.

We now have several people in the group that can work them over and now Kelly has found a mechanic that Does work on them. Pretty simple motor.

But then again, a bigger motor is like Steve said, you don't have to run them full out WOT either.
Its nice to have that extra burst of power


.

[61_express]

I run one on my 19' Uni, but my boat is quite a bit heavier than Kelly or Helmars 17'. My boat with motor and accessories is right close to 2000lbs. I can get about 18-20mph with two people, a cooler, and my trolling motor. Even with all the kids we can still run about 17mph cruise at 3/4 throttle. I love my Bearcat.