BAZ wrote:

|| I'm new to the group and need advice.
|| I have a 7 foot light boat and I need an outboard. What I need to
|| know is what HP outboard do I need. I would be using the boat for
|| see fishing, only going out half mile or so and two adults in the
|| boat. so any help or info on what to get would be helpful
|| thanks
|| baz

Calm waters, and only half a mile if you can both swim that far!

Seriously, 7' is a very small boat to be out at sea in, unless you are very
cautious, IMO. I've done a lot of fishing with two people in a 10' dinghy
in St Brides Bay (fairly sheltered), up to about a mile from shore, but
looking back I think I was pushing it a bit. Depends a lot on where you
are, sea state, size of breakers etc. Make sure you can get back in if
things turn nasty.

As to the engine, don't go too high. On the 10' boat above, I had a Mercury
5hp which was the limit recommended by the maker. It went quite well at
half throttle, but at full whack it would go no faster, but just push the
bow up so I couldn't see ahead. It was only when I heard about hull speeds
for displacement boats that I realised that the hull simply would not go
faster than this. A more powerful engine would have simply broken the boat.
I would have thought 3-4 hp would be about right, unless your boat will
plane, in which case a lot of other factors come into play - contact the
manufacturer.

Take flares and an anchor and chain at the very least, and I wouldn't be out
there without a handheld VHF and lifejackets - whether you wear them or just
have them ready.

Good luck with it.


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Rich
V8 90 under reconstruction
RR 4.6HSE