16 ft Angler speed??

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dkburrell

New member
I thought I'd found the boat I've looked for a longtime. It's a 16 ft. cruiser with a Honda 40 HP. The first thing I noticed is how unstable it is when moving from side to side. I weigh 160 lbs and moving to the side the outside hull goes down 12 to 16 inches. Is that normal? I presently use a 17 ft Triumph boat and exclusively for fishing. It is the same width but only goes down about 4 inches when I move the same.
When the owner took the boat out and we passed into the main lake I thought he was just waiting to open it up. He asked me to take over and the first thing I wanted to do was see what the top speed was. To my surprise I found we were at top speed. It wasn't even close to planning out. The nose was sticking straight up. I looked at the RPMs and it was pegged out at 4800. It didn't have a speedometer but from experience I guessed we were at 10 to 12 MPH. My Triumph runs 31 MPH at 5200 RPMs with a 60 HP Mercury. I've looked for this boat for two years and was so disappointed. I had a roll of cash in my pocket and planned on bringing it home. NO WAY unless someone out there can tell me whats going on. Never been in the 16 cruiser so I'd really like some feedback. Another thing I noticed is that it was trimmed all the way down and when I just touched it to bring the trim up the prop came out of the water. Is the motor even mounted right? HELP
 
There are many people on this site who have more experience than I, but I can relate our experiences with our 2009 16 cruiser powered by a Honda 50. We have had our C-Squirt for 2 years and use it for cruising and fishing. And the width does permit it to roll. However when we fish there are times when both are on one side landing and netting fish. While we have never measured the amount of roll, based on the amount of remaining freeboard, I don't think it can be anywhere near 12 inches. We have never felt like we were going to go overboard, and our combined weight is about 400 lbs.
Our boat is equipped with a Permatrim, and while it can't make a big difference on roll it may help.
If you can get only 10-12 mph at 4800 rpm, something is terribly wrong. We can do in the low 20s at 4500 rpm, depending on the chop. This is with both of us, coolers, 6 to 12 gallons of fuel, and sometimes sleeping bags, etc. If the boat you looked at is equipped with a Permatrim, you have to adjust engine tilt to achieve your desired speed, and you need an engine with power trim/tilt. We installed a trim gauge to help set the trim correctly. We also have Garman GPS and thus know what our speed is. We have learned that proper adjustment is worth 2-3 mph at the same RPM. Finally, it would seem there is a distinct possibility that the engine is equipped with the wrong prop. If 4800 RPM is wide open throttle, than the prop should be looked at. Hope this will help address the issues if you decide to pursue purchase of the C-Dory. Best of luck.
Jack
 
Can't help with Cruiser performance, but your title says "Angler" which is what I have, so I can weigh in on that. Granted, I've only had it out twice, but both times with two large adults, once loaded down with crab gear, and in all cases the boat gets on plane almost instantly as soon as you advance the throttle on the 40 hp Johnson. No permatrim or other devices that so many people here recommend. There are a couple of running shots in my album and both of those are just cruising speed, around 4000 rpm or slightly less (although I never bothered checking the speedometer, I'd say we are in the mid to upper teens). I've not yet opened it up to see what top speed is.

One of my prior boats was an underpowered 16' Arima with 50 hp Honda...sometimes it would perform just like you describe, in particular if we were loaded down with gear, going into a stiff head wind and large waves, with the tall canvas top up, it would not get on plane and the rpms would max out in the mid 4000's. Otherwise under more typical conditions with same prop, (no wind, lighter load), it would run in the mid to upper 5's and plane out nicely as it should. Eventually we re-powered it with a 90 hp which eliminated all such issues. That was a super stable boat due to the wide beam and weight, and by comparison the 16' C-dory is much lighter and more tipsy, but on the other hand I no longer need a full size truck, we stay dry in the hard-top, it uses much less gas, and most importantly it fits our current boating needs perfectly.

It's suspicious that trimming out just a little caused the prop to come out of the water...your problem might be right there. Perhaps something is preventing it from trimming all the way down.
 
Low ball your offer and if you get it, you can be pretty sure that the fixes to get the thing on plane and speedy will be pretty inexpensive unless the engine is just bad, which is unlikely. A 16 foot boat is very small, and should be tippy, though it should stiffen up really fast as it tilts. May take you a little getting use to. Sounds like the owner doesn't know much about his boat, or he wouldn't be demo ing it in that condition. Sounds like prop is too steep and trim may need attention, both cheap things to deal with.
 
I get low twenties at WOT as well with two adults, a kicker and twelve gallons of gas. Something is not right with that angler. Could be engine placement or prop.
 
Got new info on this 16 footer. It was in a slip at a marina when I went to look at it. Found it's been in the water at that slip since about 2011. Hasn't been out of the water. It has a fish finder sonar that's been under water all this time. Now I have the scary thought that the hull is water logged.
Any new thoughts? I take my boat out every time I leave a lake. Three days is the longest time it's ever been in the water. Thanks in advance.
 
Salt or fresh water? What shape is the hull in with growth. Even fresh water will have junk growing after a while.

It is possible I suppose to have a water logged hull at the back. If you have doubts, time to have a survey done.

If the hull has enough water in it to cause the effect you are talking about, then the aft part of the hull should be sitting way low in the water and that should have been obvious when you first saw the boat at rest. Most of these boats sit pretty level at the water line. Anything dramatically different should be a warning.

I personally doubt the water log issue. But who knows. Survey!
 
You can get a lot of marine growth in 3 years even in fresh water. I would not be surprised to have trouble getting the boat on plane. There would be a lot of drag on that hull. Why not have the seller pressure wash the hull and do another shakedown. You would want to inspect the hull for blisters and gel coat issues in any case.
 
This may or may not be a factor here, but it can certainly be true that growth on a hull or prop (such as barnacles) can affect things dramatically (speed, etc). Of course then I would expect the current owner to be saying something like "Huh, something isn't right here, this is not how the boat usually behaves."

My feeling would be that there could be some simple, solvable issues here, but at the moment you are not the owner, so they really shouldn't have to be yours to solve or "risk" (unless the boat is clearly less expensive, or you want to take it on, etc.).
 
Thanks a lot to everyone that gave me answers on this. The owner won't budge on the price and there's just too many things that might be wrong for me to take a chance. The one thing I learned more than anything is I should be looking at a 19 ft. angler instead of this 16 ft. cruiser. I know I labeled it wrong as an angler in my original question. It was a cruiser. I have been trying to find a C Dory for a long time now. I went on a guided fishing trip for lake trout in the Flaming Gorge in Utah several years ago. Captain Steve as I remember him had a 25 ft. C Dory and to this day that was the most memorable vessel I've ever boarded. And I caught several Lake Trout over 30 lbs that day. I'll just watch everyday for a 19 ft. angler. Thanks again.
 
dkburrell":258j41r1 said:
The one thing I learned more than anything is I should be looking at a 19 ft. angler instead of this 16 ft. cruiser... I have been trying to find a C Dory for a long time now. I went on a guided fishing trip...
Click to expand...

Given that you fish, you might also consider a 22 Angler. This has the same basic cabin as the 19 (not the longer one of the 22 Cruiser) but with a longer cockpit for fishing. In other words, the entire additional length beyond the 19 is in the cockpit.

You may have reasons for wanting a shorter/lighter boat, but if not, the 22 Angler might be another good choice. I just wasn't sure if you knew that the 22's were not all Cruisers.
 
if as you say the boat is a cruiser it is likely installing a permatrim would be a cheap fix. Due to the fact the cabin is set further back to accommodate the berth, cruisers are stern heavy and permatrims have been known to vastly improve performance.
 
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