30hp etec on 16'

S

Sturgeon

New member
Joined
Jan 10, 2006
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Any one using the 30 etec on a 16. I know most folks use a 40-50, but a friend of mine has a 30 on a similar wt walleye boat and it moves well and it trolls unbeliebly well. I was thinking the 2 stroke torque would get the boat on a plane quickly even though might lose a little top end. I am in FL an am considering a 16 for fishing to avoid short summer showers.

Thanks for the input.
 
I never heard of anyone using a 30 but I have a 40HP honda on mine. On a really good day with two people on board I can get up to 22mph at 5.5 rpm, I usually cruise between 8 and 15 mph at 4 - 4.5 rpm (of course it depends on sea and weather conditions (This is on ocean waters in California). I think a 30 can get the job done but I wouldn't recommend it. I have a 16ft angler.
 
I suspect that you would have a hard time getting the boat on a plane. Also working any boat thru seas properly requires bursts of power and variation of speed. You would not have that with a 30. Not be as good or safe a boat. Fine for slow speed trolling.
 
I have a 50 and think a 75+ would be more in order. Just my wish.
 
My personal opinion is that 30 hp would be very underpowered, very disappointing, and also very hard to sell later. JMO.

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Don't think a single 30 would be pleasing at all. Probably hard to get on plane and lucky to get top speed of ~20. Probably would troll fantastic. Anyone ever do twins on a 16? My son in law asked me that a couple years ago and I don't know if I've ever seen that except on April fools . Joe's right, if you did go with a 30, it would probably be a hard sell. Allot of people who aren't familiar with these boats are surprised they run with a 40-50. My 50 ETEC pushes mine about 30 with just me, 9 gallons and fishing tackle, add a fishing buddy, and double the fuel (for trips out to Lake Michigan and it drops to 26-27) bot rides a better in a chop. A side note on the ETEC, I had a 90 on a different boat and it trolled well. My 50 is not particularly smooth. I troll with a Yamaha T8 which is great on gas but with the power tilt and trim and electric start is heavy. I've got a friend with a Yamaha 50, 4 stroke that trolls very smooth. Might give you what you're looking for, have better re-sale and let you open it up on days that are really calm. Good Luck
 
Not directly related to the 30, but last week I had the chance to run two commercial vessels outfitted with twin 90 Etec's. Our other vessels have twin 4-stroke Merc's.

The Etec's had noticeably less low end torque compared to the 4 strokes. Once the RPM was up a bit there was a good acceleration curve. I think the top end speed may actually be a bit more (also higher RPM) on the Etec's but definitely not low end.

You never regret more horsepower but you often regret too little.

Good luck with your research.

--Matt
 
We had a Honda 35 4 stroke on our 16 and it performed fairly well but I wanted a little more push. The boat now resides with Dragonfly...

Charlie
 
But twin 25's on my 16 cruiser would look awesome. Would have to shuffle the weight to make up for the extra poundage, but it would look Killer COOL! :smiled

Too bad the 16 isn't rated for 60 HP (Twin 30's) :smilep
 
Back
Top