14' tin boat power?

[Jim Bright]

Picked up a 14' aluminum v hull and also a 14' flat bottom Jon boat. Planning to set these up for my son, who is 17. What power would work best for these hulls? I was thinking anywhere from 7.5 - 15hp max. Please share any experiences you have with this size motor. It's been years since I've run anything that size. I see Amazon even sells outboards now. Open to all options. 

[jack1747]

First... Check if the boats have a CG max hp sticker..  If they do, stay as close to that hp as you can..

[vw_buggsy]

I have a 14' aluminum utility boat, basically a mod V with a V pointed bow but transitions to flat over its length. It has a 15hp Evinrude 2 stroke from 1983 in very good condition with good compression by keep in mind it may have lost some oomph over the years. 

The max speed I got was 22MPH with just me in the boat (I'm about ~230#). Later I added a plywood floor just for easy standing which added some 50# or so low down in the  boat, and of course I run with a fair bit of gear. This dropped my speed considerably to something like 17-18MPH wide out and just on plane. I've been looking into lighter weight flooring, less gear... and a diet 

A bigger motor would be good, I've been scanning for a good used 25HP long shaft I can afford.

Here's the specs of my current set-up:
Boat:
Lowe 14 Jumbo V2
Length 14'
Beam 65"
Depth 26"
Weight ~235#
Hull Gauge: .064 
Transom: 20" 
Transom Width: 60"
Max HP: 25 (data plate)
4 persons/495# (data plate)
715# persons motor gear (data plate)



Motor:
Model: E15RLCTA
     1983 15 HP long shaft pull start
E - Evinrude
15 - HP
R - Rope Start
L - 20", Long Shaft
C - 8 model decade
T - 3 model year
A - Model Run or Suffix

78# dry weight

[vw_buggsy]

Oh, I'm long winded. What I basically meant from all that was "yeah what Jack said" 

Get the biggest motor the hull will handle and you can afford/find. You don't have to be at wide out throttle all the time but the extra power is there if you need it. More people regret settling for less HP than maxing out.

If I were powering two boats of similar size and HP ratings and wanted to switch a single motor across the two then I'd just get the smaller of the two's max HP... as long as they weren't way off. If you don't have a data plate then maybe you could look up the HIN and go by make and model.

[Jim Bright]

Unfortunately neither boat has a Coast Guard capacity plate. 

Seems like 15 hp would be right. I looked at some new 4 stroke 15s and they aren't as heavy as I thought they'd be. Local dealer near me sells Tohatsu and Suzuki. I'm gonna read up on those two. I have a larger Suzuki on my other boat that's been good, and I used to have a 9.8 Tohatsu that did well too. 

[Samaritan]

I liked the 9.8 Tohatsu for the price vs. power if the extra speed is not an issue. Eclectic start and tilt.