Need help picking an outboard

[Yannick Loranger]

Hi guys,
The wife and I are shopping for a new boat are having a hard time sorting through our outboard options. We need something that has a enough pep to carry 3 or 4 passengers and still take off fast enough and keep enough speed for waterskiing. Ideally we'd like a 17' fish & ski boat, but our budget might limit us to 16'. From personal experience, would anyone know if a 75hp E-tec would be strong enough to comply with the aforementioned conditions or would I have to go to a 90? a 115 is pretty much out of the question unless we get a GREAT deal. I don't want to be running this thing wide open all the time either. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Yannick

[Erie-Eyes]

I think your motor size should depend on the maximum HP rating of the boat you buy - get as close to this motor size as you can and not less than 75% of this rating. A lot of boats are sold with much lower HP motors in order to keep posted prices low & enticing to prospective buyers, but on water performance always suffers. The larger motor can actually have lower operating full costs as it will usually be running at much less than wide open throttle to give expected performance.

[Dan Smyth]

You had a ride in my 16 Lund. It is maxed out with the 90 hp Ficht. It has all the power you would ever want for a 16 footer and cruises well at 3500rpm at about 25mph.

[SixStringHack]

I have a 17' Lowe with a 115 Etec. 115 is the max rating for my boat. I've dropped from a 19 pitch prop to a 15 pitch prop to get more launching power when skiing and boarding. The 17 was a good compromise for everything except skiing and it took quite a while to pull me up even on two skis with only two people in the boat. Lightweights, like my kids popped right up with the 17 pitch prop. I weigh less than 200 lbs (but not much less...). I wouldn't consider anything less than max rated power for a deep V style of fish or fish and ski boat that will be used to tow full sized adults. If everyone that you would consider towing is under 150 lbs you might get away with one step down in motor size, but that's not a risk I'd be willing to take.

[Mick]

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[Raminator]

as mentioned above,never go with less than the max rating,motors are the most expensive part of the boat,and an upgrade later will be very expensive,if it doesn/t do what you want it to, get the motor now,and prop it the way you want the boat to run/function. It's like buying a full sized 4x4 truck with a v6 engine,when you coulda' had a powerful v8,fuel economy and insurance come 2nd.,priority is getting what makes you happy and fits your needs. you only live once. do it to the max,(black max,that is )

[Roughneck1860]

Go for the Max......I've been looking around and the difference in price between a 90 and 115 should be around $800 unles you getting a realling good deal on one and screwed on the other. If your spending $9k spend the little extra and get the 115hp. You'll never have any regreats if you do. I've seen soooooo many guys cheap out on the motor only to be kicking them selves the next year for not spending the extra $1000. A firend of mine bought a 17ft Legend and got a "great deal" on it with a 75hp on the back. After several trips back to the dealer to try different props he finally traded it in with a large loss and spent another $3000 and got the 115hp. The boat was fine when on flat water but when he got into any kind of rough water it was hard to get up on plane a low speed and he had no throttle response to keep it there. It was basiclly an all or nothing deal for speed in rough water.

Good Luck in your choice
Tim