
Posts: 3508
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
With that size boat, if you can find a good 8hp, I think that would do well. Weight-wise, it will not be much (if any) different as many are the same displacement. A good yamaha T8 Kicker would do really well. Big ears and low pitch means great thrust, and I believe you can dial down the idle on it as well, which means you can really adjust it to your needs for that little extra when in the windy stuff.
I've done the same thing with my 4 stroke Johnson 8hp for working in wind... Amazing how you can move along nicely without wearing out a battery when working into the wind. I ended up buying a solas 4 blade high thrust prop to get a little better performance, but it does the job. And...if the big motor goes down, I know my 8 has enough to get me off the lake in a pinch.
Even better yet running 4 stroke, you can get yourself a fuel/water separator that has multiple outlets on it, letting you run both motors off of your on-board tank.
Steve |