Quote:
Originally Posted by Fr. Frank
I think the late 80's Mercury inline 6 cyl 2-stroke 115/140 hp or the late 80's through late 90's 115/130hp V4 Yamaha's are great for the 20' SeaCraft. These are older lightweight motors with plenty of power, and you can find really good freshwater used motors across the upper mid-west.
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I would add the OMC 60 degree V-4 loopers (Maybe 100-140 hp?) to the list, but nothing later than about '95-96. I'd be concerned about quality problems related to the death spiral they hit in '97-98, especially on a low time motor;a higher time motor might have had any quality issues fixed under warranty. The carb'd Johnsons made BRP starting in 2000 would be the best quality version of that design. I had an older 1975 crossflow V-4 that was a simple bulletproof motor that I ran for over 30 years, but they were loud smokey gas guzzlers. I averaged 2.8 mpg over 6 Bahama trips carrying very heavy loads. One advantage of a 20" transom is that there are probably a lot of fresh water motors available in the 20" size!
Capt Terry repowered his '76 Seafari with a 20" 150 E-TEC. It's heavier than his old Merc, so he made some sort of dam to close up the cutout and I think he was experimenting with a "Vortex" duckbill-type check valve to keep water out of the splashwell. Maybe he can post some pictures of what he came up with.
BTW the capacity plate on my 72 Seafari lists max hp as 170, which I think would represent twin 4 cyl 85 hp Mercs that were available back then, but Fr. Frank is right, the 20' hull performs best with a light motor of about 300 lbs or less. Since the Seafari has more weight forward than the CC models, it will tolerate a heavier motor better than other models.