repower for 1977 20' CC

[mrobertson]

I have one of the late 80's Tracker Seacrafts and in those years the boat was rated for a 225 and had a 25" transom. Given those ratings, one would never think a 115 would be adequate or even acceptable.

Where i fish on the chesapeake bay, it's always choppy. A tight 2-3 bay chop can make it miserable in some boats.

I am running a yamaha 115 2 stroke with a stern lifting prop. With the light weight on the stern, i can hold plane at probably 14 - 15 mph (no tabs, no hydrofoil) with any load i have ever had on board. Makes it very nice when it's rough.

I cruise @ 27 mph 4200 RPM's. WOT gets me about 34 mph @ 5500 RPM's.

Everyone has their own opinion of rough. If it were me, and you live/fish where its rough most of the time i would be looking at 2 stroke engines in the 115 - 135 HP range and build it around low planing speeds. The hull needs to get up out of the water to be efficient. Hard to believe but i have passed by similar sized, and even bigger boats where the captain was working the throttle. I trim the engine all the way down and let her run along at 15 mph, the landing is soft and im not touching the throttle.