Posts: 3480
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
The boats of the 80's were not designed at that point for the extra weight of a 4 stroke. The 1989 Johnson 150 hp weighs in at roughly 385 pounds as compared to the 480 of the motors of today. That is roughly an increase of 25% in weight alone. Quite an increase in weight for newer technology on a boat that is close to 30 years old....
I'm usually a proponent of a heavier motor due to how center of gravity moving back can enhance overall performance. In this case, though, the concern is can the transom handle the extra 95 pounds bouncing around back there.
In my humble opinion, I'd say it wouldn't hurt to call Skeeter or Tuffy and see what a design engineer would say. Better to play safe than to have a transom crack and in a worst case scenario, lose a motor because the transom fails.
Steve
Edited by VMS 3/4/2014 7:12 PM
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