Hello

[AllanWJ]

Hi all, just joined the forum. I ran across the boat forum searching Google for the age old question about gas powered hp vs electric thrust...very confusing. There seems to be a high concentration of pram owners here so it looks like trhe place I need to be.

Anyway, I just bought a 10ft Willie pram and want to try a gas motor. I've been looking at 5hp Hondas and 4hp Yamahas but after getting some indication of needed horsepower vs electric thrust, I'm actually thinking of going down to 2-3hp and saving some money and weight. It's a rockered hull so the actual effect is kind of weird, but basically I just want to eliminate the rowing to and from my favorite spots. I'm getting too old to keep rowing my pontoon boat a couple of miles against the wind.

Does anyone have experience with these mini-drifters and gas motors? I'm thinking primariliy stillwater trout and bass, and September tidewaters for salmon. Thanks for any tips and I already have a welder ready to beef up the transom.

Allan

[Tony Buzolich]

Hi Alan,

I've got an actual Mini-Drifter set up with an electric Minnkota and an Optimax battery and it works fine,,,,,,,,,,for a while. It seems to use up the battery faster than I like and I've tried to fit it out with a gas motor but 5hp was too much.

If I were to do this again I'd go to a smaller gas motor with an attached tank. Both the battery and or the remote tank take up valuable floor space.

Let us know what you end up with and how it works for you,
TONY

[OceanSunfish]

http://www.kiene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23455

Good replies at above link......

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

If you have too much rocker more horse power will just raise up the bow more and not really get you any more speed.

Honda has a 2hp - 4 stroke outoard that is 27# with a top tank.

Would be nice to try a 4-5-6 hp though.

[AllanWJ]

Hi Alan,

I've got an actual Mini-Drifter set up with an electric Minnkota and an Optimax battery and it works fine,,,,,,,,,,for a while. It seems to use up the battery faster than I like and I've tried to fit it out with a gas motor but 5hp was too much.

If I were to do this again I'd go to a smaller gas motor with an attached tank. Both the battery and or the remote tank take up valuable floor space.

Let us know what you end up with and how it works for you,
TONY

Thanks Tony. I've got a friend with a Koffler 10ft pram and we've been testing out the electrics on his. Same conclusion about the battery life - it's not good enough for a 3 day trip with no way to recharge. Not to mention the general hassle of batteries. You either need to carry 3 of them, fish smaller lakes, or get a gas burner. We'll test that theory on the Willie I guess.

Allan

[AllanWJ]

http://www.kiene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23455

Good replies at above link......

Thanks OS - I should have done more reading.

Allan

[AllanWJ]

If you have too much rocker more horse power will just raise up the bow more and not really get you any more speed.

Honda has a 2hp - 4 stroke outoard that is 27# with a top tank.

Would be nice to try a 4-5-6 hp though.

Thanks Bill. I was looking real hard at the Honda 2hp today and your comment about the rocker is the same thing I've been wondering about. I'll have a chance to borrow a Honda 5hp in a month or two so I can compare, but I think I'm sold on the Honda 2...or the Suzuki 2.5...or the Nisaan 3.5...or the Yamaha 4...

Allan

[Rollingcs]

Allan, the honda 2 hp is light but thats because its not water cooled, there a great motor but not as quiet as the rest of the motors your talking about because there water cooled. I had a 3.5 mercury on my 10 ft. valco pram and it worked great and sipped fuel. Have a friend that had the honda and sold it because of the noise it made.

I think the 3.5 mercury and the nissan are the same motor just different decals!

Ken

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I think Mercury, Nissan and Tahatsu are all the same, but good motors.

[AllanWJ]

Thanks Ken. I heard about the difference in noise but I think I'll be okay with it. I'd actually prefer one more hp, but I'll give the Honda a shot. My second choice has been the Tohatsu/Nissan/Mercury version.

On to the progress of the new boat...this is all getting more complicated by the day. I should be able to finish the trailer this weekend so I can actually get this boat on the water and do some measrements. There's a bit of confusion about the shaft length for the Honda 2hp. The only way to know for sure is to load up the boat with the typical bunch of stuff I want to bring, adjust the seating and drybox, hang 27lbs off the transom, find the best point of balance and measure the distance to the water.

As it sits on the ground, transom height is 19 inches measured perpendicular to the ground, but that's not necessarily how it'll ride in the water. I'd need 4 inches of draft to barely make the 15 inch short shaft assumming everything drops straight down from it's orientation sitting on the ground and 5 inches would be better. There's a 25 pound anchor balancing the 27 pound motor so rowing position will kind of determine the final trim of the boat. The problem is my best guess leaves everything right on the edge of short/long shaft lengths and I can't buy two motors. I would prefer to see the front (or is that actually the stern on these boats? ) loaded a little heavy but that will raise the transom again, possibly putting it's height back into the 16 inch range...it the horns of a dilemna.

After talking to the Honda dealer, who sets up quite a few full size drift boats with kickers, he still thinks long shaft would be the way to go with this one. I'm not convinced so I think I need to load it up as closely as possible to the state it'll be in with the motor attached and measure. The line between short and long shaft is too close to guess at. The only thing I'm sure about is the motor - I definitely want the 2hp. The 5hp looks just plain silly on this little boat.

As a point of comparison, my buddy's 10ft Koffler is 22 inches high at the transom sitting on the ground, but his transon is 9 inches narrower than mine and the rocker is more pronounced on his. It appears to be more suited to white water and will almost certainly need a long shaft.

I talked to Willie Boats this morning to get some more info on it and they don't make it anymore. They make "real drift boats for whitewater" he said, and this particular boat has been used exclusively on Klamath Lake. I got the feeling that its intent was still, frog, and riffle water and that's how it feels when I'm looking at it. I'll keep you updated if anyone is interested in the final results.

Allan