twin 140 Zukes
 

Hunterdave,
See if you can raise BillPotter on this site. I think he is running a pair of 115 Zukes on a 23 which actually weight a couple of pounds more than the 140's. I think he is a yacht surveyor or such. When we last talked he was heading into a serious rebuild on that boat, but he told me the motors were great and with twin wheels digging, "it felt like it had four wheel drive".

Hunterdave,
Have you considered going to a 175, 200 or 225 Zuke as a big Single.

There was a thread floating here with a 175 zuke on a 23 Tsunami that was getting around 40mph.

I bet a single 200 zuke would turn that into a Rocket ship along with an excellent fuel burn rate with the proper set up. So many guys fail to realize at the end of the day... SET UP ( engine height and prop selection ) really determines the boats over all performance.

I just raised a friends 175 Rude up 2 holes and switched prop pitch/diameter along with going to stainless from aluminum and its like driving an entirely different boat... Picked up almost 11mph... and now he loves that boat.

He was just about to sell it...

Robert

Suzuki has a great deal on the DF250 AP for $17,500 with 6 years of warranty. It is a hell of a motor and a huge step up in performance and fuel economy over their standard DF 250. The AP is actually the same exact motor as their DF 300... fly by wire, lean burn and forged everything. I'm running a 10 year old DF 250 on my heavily dressed Tsunami and topping out at 42 knots. At a 27 knot cruise I get a solid 2 nautical mpg running the cheapest pump gas with a full dive load and 4 hefty men.

Going with a big single would cut maintaince cost in half, reduce drag and save you 225 lbs. off your transom.

HunterDave, the Moose knows!

Thanks for the input guys. Fishing off of Louisiana , every time I leave the mouth of the bay, I'm going at least 40 miles offshore and I like having that other motor there. Most people that fish offshore here a lot, run twins . She originally had twin Johnson 140's and She is all set up for twins. I know that going single would benefit operational cost, weight concerns and maintenance cost, but I would never fish offshore here , as much as I do ,in a boat with a single engine.
I will try to contact Bill Potter as Terry suggested to see how his twin 115 are doing.
If anyone else has any input or knows someone running twin 140 zukes please post.
Thanks
David

Briguy has twin zuke 115's . . . do a search on his name. He posted performance numbers on here.

I PMed you his cell #

Thanks fellows. I'll search for his post and see what I can find. If I can't find anything I'll give him a call.

And have a great hand on balance and light to boot. Light always wins.
With understanding.

Cheers,
GFS

Dave I get the concerns with running offshore as my last 4 trips tallied over 120 nautical round trip per outting as I fish the Gulf as well. For several years a small 4 stroke kicker that would push my boat at displacement speed for eternity was kept in a foward compartment. It was much lighter than going with twins and offered the same security at only a fraction of the added weight. That kicker has long been taken off the boat with no regrets. I do carry tow insurance but am pretty confident I will never use it.

I'm not a gambling man but I do the math. If you ever get a chance to talk with a few SeaTow or TowBoat US skippers, ask them about who and what keeps them busy. It certainly isn't running offshore to rescue well maintained fishing vessels with modern 2 and 4 stoke outboards. I/O crusers and weekend warriors with fuel issues and dead batteries are their bread and butter.

I found a picture of my "twins" set up. She stored nicely and weighed about 80 lbs. The cool thing was that I could lock it down and steer with the Suzuki from the helm. I guess the best part was that I never got to try it out and someone got a great deal on a like new motor for their jon boat.

A pic of her now, after gel coat. Still stripped . Still need to repaint the Armstrong bracket, but have to do it on the boat, scared to take it off.
With all bolts out forklifts still lift boat off of the ground because of all
the 5200 holding it together:D

Twins on a 23
 

Hi HD,
I'm building my 23 with twin 150 mercs old school carbs. But they were basically free. I have fished out of La for tuna.. I agree I would not leave dock with out twins . From Venice that is a long ride just to gulf.. I'm from PC fl and we run50 - 60 easy for swords and billfish.. Not to mention tile fish and snowy's..
Any way I have two 75 gal tanks on mine both are independent of each other.. I can run off the center tank and then the forward tank to keep CG stable.. Of coarse this is all in theory but it should wrk..I did make a small cooler up forward of tanks to store ice for the long trips2" foam should keep ice all day .. Good luck with the build hope yo see you out there

Hey Moose who makes your dive ladder. Is it the floater type? mJ