(clipped)

I don't know if licensing is related to horsepower here, but there's one
lake where there's a 10 hp limit. My dealer has repeatedly offered to get
me a different decal for my motor, since (according to him), the only
diff between the 10 and the 15 hp motors is the carb.


My 14' boat with 15 hp was automatically covered under my State Farm home
owners policy. My check on the HP limits for coverage.

You might want to double check that insurance. I also assumed that my
homeowners insurance with State Farm covered boats up to 14ft and under 25
hp. as it stated. However, my agent told me that was just for loss or
liability if it was operated on waters totally within my property. Or was
stolen or damaged by wind/fire/etc. He said that as soon as I pull away
from my dock on the river, the coverage ceases and that I would need
liability coverage to protect from any injury or damage that I might cause
to anyone else. Liability on a boat is pretty cheap. I pay about $70 a
year to cover my 24 ft pontoon boat..well, maybe not so cheap since I only
managed about two weeks in the water this year due to flood waters. I've
been back in this area 5 years, now and this is the second Summer that the
Sheriff has closed the river to boating due to high waters. 50 years ago,
when I was a kid in this same house, nobody ever thought of closing the
river...we just all had the common sense to stay off when water levels were
dangerous. But then, there weren't any million dollar houses with expensive
boats and docks to be damaged by boat waves, either.

Tom G

On Nov 6, 12:45?pm, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
"Don White" wrote in message

...







"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"Paul G." wrote in message
groups.com...
I have a 12' fiberglass boat that is rated for "up to 14 hp". What's
a practical size outboard for this boat? Should I go for the max or
what? Thanks,
-Paul

I've got a 14' aluminum yacht rated for 25 hp, but my motor's 15 hp. I
can hit 22 mph on flat water with two adults on board. The boat itself
weighs about 400 lbs. Check your boat's weight and that should give you a
useful guideline.

Also consider who will be in the boat much of the time. I often fish
alone, and my motor's a tiller model. So, I'm in the stern along with the
battery. That raises the bow (affecting visibility) under certain
conditions and no amount of motor angle adjustment helps. I usually put a
couple of 50 lb sandbags in the bow. Even so, this nixed the idea of
upgrading to 25 hp a few years back. That, and the fact that flat water
almost never happens around here.

A while back here, people would buy a 9.9 hp outboards to avoid the need
to license their boat.
I have a 25 hp on a 14' 6" aluminum boat now and found the licensing
procedure to be free and relatively painless.

I don't know if licensing is related to horsepower here, but there's one
lake where there's a 10 hp limit. My dealer has repeatedly offered to get me
a different decal for my motor, since (according to him), the only diff
between the 10 and the 15 hp motors is the carb.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I'd be very very careful about doing business with anybody so
nonchalant about violating the law. How will you know he hasn't
swtiched the decal on something he sells you?

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"Don White" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"Paul G." wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a 12' fiberglass boat that is rated for "up to 14 hp". What's
a practical size outboard for this boat? Should I go for the max or
what? Thanks,
-Paul


I've got a 14' aluminum yacht rated for 25 hp, but my motor's 15 hp. I
can hit 22 mph on flat water with two adults on board. The boat itself
weighs about 400 lbs. Check your boat's weight and that should give you
a useful guideline.

Also consider who will be in the boat much of the time. I often fish
alone, and my motor's a tiller model. So, I'm in the stern along with
the battery. That raises the bow (affecting visibility) under certain
conditions and no amount of motor angle adjustment helps. I usually put
a couple of 50 lb sandbags in the bow. Even so, this nixed the idea of
upgrading to 25 hp a few years back. That, and the fact that flat water
almost never happens around here.

A while back here, people would buy a 9.9 hp outboards to avoid the need
to license their boat.
I have a 25 hp on a 14' 6" aluminum boat now and found the licensing
procedure to be free and relatively painless.


I don't know if licensing is related to horsepower here, but there's one
lake where there's a 10 hp limit. My dealer has repeatedly offered to get
me a different decal for my motor, since (according to him), the only diff
between the 10 and the 15 hp motors is the carb.

Also, here in N. Il. the reason for the 9.9 was to be legal on the smaller
lakes that restricted horsepower to under 10hp. Even canoes and rowboats
have to be licensed. Our local state park/lake has no restrictions on hp,
now, but restricts all boats to "no wake".

Tom G.

"Tom G" wrote in message
news:vMcYi.6256$kH.617@trndny04...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"Don White" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"Paul G." wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a 12' fiberglass boat that is rated for "up to 14 hp". What's
a practical size outboard for this boat? Should I go for the max or
what? Thanks,
-Paul


I've got a 14' aluminum yacht rated for 25 hp, but my motor's 15 hp. I
can hit 22 mph on flat water with two adults on board. The boat itself
weighs about 400 lbs. Check your boat's weight and that should give you
a useful guideline.

Also consider who will be in the boat much of the time. I often fish
alone, and my motor's a tiller model. So, I'm in the stern along with
the battery. That raises the bow (affecting visibility) under certain
conditions and no amount of motor angle adjustment helps. I usually put
a couple of 50 lb sandbags in the bow. Even so, this nixed the idea of
upgrading to 25 hp a few years back. That, and the fact that flat water
almost never happens around here.

A while back here, people would buy a 9.9 hp outboards to avoid the need
to license their boat.
I have a 25 hp on a 14' 6" aluminum boat now and found the licensing
procedure to be free and relatively painless.


I don't know if licensing is related to horsepower here, but there's one
lake where there's a 10 hp limit. My dealer has repeatedly offered to get
me a different decal for my motor, since (according to him), the only
diff between the 10 and the 15 hp motors is the carb.

Also, here in N. Il. the reason for the 9.9 was to be legal on the smaller
lakes that restricted horsepower to under 10hp. Even canoes and rowboats
have to be licensed. Our local state park/lake has no restrictions on hp,
now, but restricts all boats to "no wake".

Tom G.

Here, the limit on this particular lake is for reasons of cleanliness, at
least in theory. It's the water supply for the city of Rochester. In
reality, you can have a legal size motor that creates an oil slick as soon
as it hits the water, but a larger motor that's spotless is illegal.

Nobody knows how to deal with this irony, so the law stands.

On Tue, 06 Nov 2007 16:38:02 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

Also consider who will be in the boat much of the time. I often fish alone,
and my motor's a tiller model. So, I'm in the stern along with the battery.
That raises the bow (affecting visibility) under certain conditions and no
amount of motor angle adjustment helps. I usually put a couple of 50 lb
sandbags in the bow. Even so, this nixed the idea of upgrading to 25 hp a
few years back. That, and the fact that flat water almost never happens
around here.

You can probably fix that issue by installing a Doel-fin (whale tail)
on the cavitation plate. I just put one on my 20 hp Honda and it made
a huge difference.

As for the original question, I guess you have to settle for a 10
horse since 15 would exceed the rating. Otherwise I'd max it out and
go for the 15.

On Tue, 06 Nov 07 10:38am CST, "JoeSpareBedroom"
my motor's a tiller model. So, I'm in the stern along with the battery.
That raises the bow (affecting visibility) under certain conditions

Which certain conditions? Conditions other than planning?

On Tue, 06 Nov 07, 4:41pm CST, Wayne.B wrote:
You can probably fix that issue by installing a Doel-fin (whale tail)
on the cavitation plate. I just put one on my 20 hp Honda and it made
a huge difference.

What type boat do you have it on? I have a 20hp Honda that I've been
using on a 16' planning dory. Not sure about the boat weight but I'm
thinking 400-450 lbs. Even at top end, the bow is too high so I've
considered Doel Fins. Problem is, I'll also want to use it on a 14',
225lb skiff. I haven't tried the Honda on the skiff yet but I'm
thinking I shouldn't have a bow trim problem with that one. Soooo....I
wouldn't want Doel Fins for that. Not sure what I'll do (or not do) at
this point.

As for the original question, I agree with Wayne. I can't think of an
outboard at 14hp or 13, 12, or 11 for that matter. I think 9.9 hp is
the most you'll find without exceeding the hp recomendation. You'll
have lots of choices at 9.9 and, with the right prop, that should push
a 12 footer along smartly. On the other hand, it depends on what you
want to do with it. A 5 or 6hp will shove it along well too, but just
not as fast. Maybe you can borrow a motor from someone just to get an
idea what you want.

Rick

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 06 Nov 07 10:38am CST, "JoeSpareBedroom"
my motor's a tiller model. So, I'm in the stern along with the battery.
That raises the bow (affecting visibility) under certain conditions

Which certain conditions? Conditions other than planning?


Planning? Rephrase your question, please. As written, it makes no sense.

"JoeSpareBedroom"
my motor's a tiller model. So, I'm in the stern along with the battery.
That raises the bow (affecting visibility) under certain conditions

Phantman:
Which certain conditions? Conditions other than planning?

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
Planning?

oh.... hmmm....was it the extra "n" that threw you??

Rephrase your question, please. As written, it makes no sense

Never mind. It wasn't important.

Rick

On Tue, 06 Nov 2007 17:45:32 -0600, lid wrote:

On Tue, 06 Nov 07, 4:41pm CST, Wayne.B wrote:
You can probably fix that issue by installing a Doel-fin (whale tail)
on the cavitation plate. I just put one on my 20 hp Honda and it made
a huge difference.

What type boat do you have it on? I have a 20hp Honda that I've been
using on a 16' planning dory. Not sure about the boat weight but I'm
thinking 400-450 lbs. Even at top end, the bow is too high so I've
considered Doel Fins. Problem is, I'll also want to use it on a 14',
225lb skiff. I haven't tried the Honda on the skiff yet but I'm
thinking I shouldn't have a bow trim problem with that one. Soooo....I
wouldn't want Doel Fins for that. Not sure what I'll do (or not do) at
this point.

I'm using it on an 11 ft rigid bottom inflatable (RIB). The boat
weighs about 160, motor 130 (elec start/power tilt), battery 10, and
fuel 50 - total about 350 lbs. It does about 20 kts at wide open
throttle using a 9 inch pitch prop.

You should be able to compensate for the differences between boats by
adjusting the tilt. I think you'll like the Doel-fin. It made a huge
difference on my boat, inexpensive and easy to install.

Wayne.B wrote:
I think you'll like the Doel-fin. It made a huge
difference on my boat,

Besides trimming the bow down, did it make a difference in the top
speed? And fuel economy? And the minimum planing speed?

Rick ----- just wondering