Single 60hp on a 22 Cruiser?

[michael-pnw]

I'm looking at a 22' for my family with two kids to cruise puget sound and canada. I'm surprised to learn that this particular boat has a single 60hp outboard. In fact, I've never seen this before on a 22. For the Pacific Northwest, where we deal with currents and wind, is a 60hp sufficient to move us slowly along, or is the boat under-powered for our purpose to the point that I would need to repower?

[thataway]

I have corresponded with the person who listed the boat with the 60 hp Merc "Big Foot" for his father. The reason was that I have seen several 22's with 50's, one in Pensacola, where after purchased, the new owner re powered.

His point was that as long as you were satisfied with speeds in the top range of 15 knots, the boat was fine. I would agree with that. You are gong to loose some significant top end speed. There is one other owner on the forum which does have a boat with a 60 Merc big food.

My 22's have all had 90 hp; If I was repowering, I would now to 115 hp. The reason is that I like to run on a plane at some times, with speeds up to 25 knots. I run a heavy boat with cruising supplies for a month.

The boat is described as almost new--being housed under cover all of its life--and minimal if any use in salt water.

There are many owners who rarely go over displacement speed, or don't want to go over 15 knots--this would be an excellent boat for those purposes. If you truly want to go "slowly along" it would be ideal.

Having cruised in the PNW for over 7 summers for at least a month a time, there were plenty of times I really liked having the high speeds to make it thru several passes a day. We had a displacement motorsailer for 4 summers and we could normally do only one pass a day. Also It often is nice to get across the straits early in the day before wind and chop kicks up. Speed is your friend there. Certainly 15 knots is better than 6, but 22 or 25 is even better. In rough stuff, you may well be limited to 12 to 14knots--and again this boat would be ideal.

Welcome aboard!

[MikeR]

The beauty of outboard powered boats is that re-powering is not that big of a job (especially for a single outboard configuration), so looking at the overall condition of the boat itself would be my main consideration. (in fact when shopping for my 22 I looked at two boats with brand new engines - one a Yamaha 90, the other a Honda, but the condition of both boats was not to my liking, so I passed on both).

Point being, if you've found a good deal on a clean, well-kept boat that's what you want, I wouldn't let the 60hp bigfoot stop you from buying even if you do want to be able to go faster - if everything is priced right, you should be able to sell that 60 hp and put the money towards a new 90 or 115 and still have a great deal...yes it costs more but then you have a brand new outboard with 5 year warranty, and may end up with a better overall value than other boats which had larger but older outboards.

Good luck and welcome!

-Mike

[michael-pnw]

Thank you. Eliminating the top end speed can be a big loss for weekend trips out to the islands and back and for crossing the straits as you mention - perhaps reducing the breadth potential of this boat for our area, at least. Interesting to learn that you would repower with a 115 on a loaded 22, since I expect that we would often run loaded as well with 4 persons on board.

[Chester]

Under-powered boats frequently disappoint.
That motor will be working hard any time you want to exceed 6 knots.

[Hunkydory]

I agree, that underpowered boats frequently disappoint, but not the motor being over worked above 6 knots, at least if the prop is correctly pitched. We run twin Honda 40's on our CD22, so have 80 hp at sea level, but that hp at 7700 feet on Yellowstone Lake is reduced to 57 hp. With the boat moderately loaded, we can still max out at close to 19 mph at 5300 rpm & cruise about 15 mph at 4600 rpm, which is only 77% of the max rating of 6000 rpm for the Honda 40's. This is with 12 inch x 10 pitch props. (these numbers could be off slightly as I'm going from memory, but not by much) To be within specs the Honda 40 must run at a WOT of between 5000 & 6000 rpm. While on the Yukon River last summer, I was having problems with one of the motors, so needed to know just what speed I could do with only one if need be. This is my short write up shared in the Grand Adventure Forum "I experimented some today with running only one of the twin forty hp motors wide open & was surprised to find with still having 8 gal of water & 20 gallons of fuel aboard & lots of other gear at a elevation of 1250 feet, we could maintain 12.0 mph speed with current of 6.5 mph for a total 18.5 mph downstream & 6 mph upstream at 5200 rpm, with the stainless 12 inch x 10 pitch prop." As noted, I was surprised at the speed obtained, though in this case the motor was being worked hard.

With the above said, If I was ever forced to re power, my top choice would be with twin Tohatsu 60hp. At only 239 pounds a piece, they would only be 50 pounds total more weight over the lite Honda 40's with an additional 40 hp gained. There would then be no worries about being able to stay on the back of a ocean bar crossing wave & one motor would for sure if correctly pitched keep the boat on plane if the other went down.

Jay

[westward]

The boat is underpowered for most uses. Depending on the condition of the boat, the engine hours, and the deal you might be able to get, would it be worth purchasing another 60, having the existing mount holes filled, and turning it into a twin-engine boat? You would certainly not lack for power! You could use the newer motor for all your trolling to equalize the hours and forget about having a kicker. Not the lightest setup possible, but maybe not much more than a heavier 90 with a kicker? I would not recommend running with the existing setup if you plan to regularly carry 4 adults and their combined gear.

[SEA3PO]

I have twin 40's and they are what I would consider minimum power...but a single 60 would be really bad..may not even get the boat up if you have several heavy folks aboard... and as I found out...used engines are almost worthless for trade-in...and new engines are really expensive...cheaper in the long-run to sell the whole rig and buy another all set up..

[nordicstallion]

I bought my 19 2nd hand with a Suzuki 70.. I feel the boat is slightly underpowered especially in a following sea, then it's quit a slug. Id much rather an 80 pr 90 in that situation except for the transom weight concerns with the 19's,other than that the 70 is fine. I can't imagine I could ever be satisfied with a 60 on a 22

[hardee]

From another twin 40 user Yes, that boat is under powered. And Yes, it could work for you in Puget Sound

BUT

There may come a time When it is not enough, and
When that happens, you probably won't want to be there

You may not plan to be in 4-5 foot waves, and probably didn't plan to have them as following seas, and you really didn't want to have to be dodging the caps, breaking on the beam. Nope, you didn't plan that

BUT

It happens, AND you really don't want to be there.



As mentioned, The primary piece of equipment you are looking for is the boat. You can repower a boat, it is a whole nuther thing to reboat your power.

I run twin 40 Yami's, and they have always gotten the job done, but there have been a couple of times where I was using all the throttle at times, and it would have been a bit more comforting to have another inch or two of room on the T-handles.

Personally, I would say 80 hp is a minimum. If I repowered, it would be with at least 50's, and I agree with Jay, (HunkyDory) that the choice for to go with twin Tohatsu 60hp would be really enticing. My minimum would be with twin 50's. I think the idea of going to twin 60's is cool, and sure worth some good exploration. If that single 60 is in good shape, pair it up. You will not regret that. Twins are good, the power will be awesome, and the satisfaction of knowing you did the right thing will be reassuring.

Most of my cruising is at hull speed (about 5 knots) where it is quiet, fuel efficient and I have time to enjoy the surroundings. I have spent up to two and a half months on the boat and in that stretch probably had less than 10 hours of planning speed time, but when I did, it made a big difference in that I could get where I needed to be and out of building weather.

Again, if the boat is right, everything else is adjustable.

Harvey
SleepyC

[Chester]

What he said.

[jennykatz]

When we bought our cd-22 it had a Honda 50 hp it would do 15-16 mph with 3 big guys on board .
But having the big foot you will probably get the same mph but your maneuverability will be much improved because you will have the same prop lower unit as a 75-90 merc so around the marina or fishing you will notice the difference . Top speed is what you will be missing .
We now have the CC-23 venture with a Merc 115 CT which is a 150 prop lower unit set up Around the marina its awesome compared to my f-115 yami
Buy it and use it see if it performs the way you want then make a choice buy another 60 big foot or trade in and buy a merc CT 90-115 and enjoy great maneuvering. Jim

[fidalgoisland]

Why does my 2004 22 have a factory yellow sticker that says "70hp Maximum"?

[thataway]

[jennykatz]

On my cc-23 Venture(hull 3) the CG sticker says 120hp The ones after that were at 150 hp
Probably the sticker was for a 19 c-dory just a guess but the 16 c-dorys were CG stickered at 55 hp so a 19 could be 70 hp ?
When we get our Florida safe boating sticker they check the CG sticker plate That was another reason for me to go to a 115 CT merc bigger gearcase and same prop as a 150 hp engine