Need a little help boat choices.

[labguy]

Remember that you will lose about 30%-35% HP when using a jet drive. In other words your 50 HP jet drive becomes a 33 or less HP.

If you go with a power tilt and trim on your motor, in most cases you can lift the engine high enough to avoid rocks in shallow water if your careful. A stainless prop on the package will take a fair amount of dings without causing you too much grief.

Operating a tiller handle on a 40 or 50 HP prop drive is no problem whatsoever......I have never used a jet tiller that large.

My ulterior motive here is that I have an almost brand new (less than 8 hours) 2012 Mercury 40 HP tiller handle with power tilt and trim that I would sell very reasonably.

I bought this engine brand new in Sept of 2012 it and comes with full transferable warranty. The reason I'm selling is that a mud motor would better suit my uses.

Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide to go with.

[Fred1]

I believe the Mercs HP rating is what you get from the jet. So one that has a 65 on it is giving you the 65hp. Am i wrong?

[labguy]

I believe the Mercs HP rating is what you get from the jet. So one that has a 65 on it is giving you the 65hp. Am i wrong?

That's not what I've been told by a number of Mercury dealers and technicians regarding outboards. They all warned me about losing 30-35% HP when you have a jet drive. The leg is the only change between a prop drive and a jet drive.........the motor head is the same for both.

[Hellfish Hunter]

I was just on the stamp last week and the guide from west coast adventures has 140 hp tiller jet so a 40-50 will be no problem!

[Sako7]

The mercury 40 factory jet uses a 60hp power head so it is 60hp at the crank and 40hp out of the jet.If you install a jet drive on an existing outboard you will loose about 30%.

[Ian F.]

I think Dano has the second boat you are looking at

Look to the US for purchase, friends have saved lots of money doing similar

[Kudu]

I have decided (and got permission) to buy a new boat for the coming fishing season and later, duck season. My choices have been narrowed down to the following boats but I need a little help weighing the pros and cons... hopefully someone has either of these two styles and can weigh in.

Uses:
50% waterfowling: Pitt river, goose island, westham island foreshore, fraser river back eddies and sloughs
25% Pulling crab/prawn traps in Indian arm, putting around with the wife to the small islands, heading up to the mouth of the arm for fishing and hunting
15% Salmon fishing on the fraser, probably below the Rosedale bridge, however I may venture higher if the boat can handle it
10% Hunting up north: floating rivers, accessing points off Williston lake

Boat choices:
Lowe Frontier 1546 http://www.loweboats.com/2013/huntin...frontier-1546/

• Pros: Lightweight (290 lbs, can put it on top of the enclosed trailer when I go hunting up north), narrower trailer width for ease of storage, easy on fuel, cheaper, can trade my existing 8hp for a 25hp straight across the board, shallower draft for marshes
• Cons: Can only take a 25hp max (is that enough power for the fraser/williston?) narrower beam, less cargo capacity,

Lowe Frontier 1650 http://www.loweboats.com/2013/huntin...frontier-1650/

• Pros: Higher capacity, more room for buddies if they come hunting, higher HP rating @ 40hp, wider beam for greater stability
• Cons: 460lbs, I am not moving this around by myself but I could still take this boat up north if I invest in a boat loader for the truck and put the quad underneath, trailer is 7' wide now, fuel usage is double, total costs are around $2000 more for this boat

You don't need a jet boat on the local marshes - all you will do is make a huge racket and waste a ton of cash.

A 12/14 foot, flat bottomed boat fitted with a 15-20hp short shaft motor, will be more than enough.

If you want to fish the Frazer or Harrison this boat will be fine - if you want tackle big water buy a "deep v" and add a wet deck along with horsepower.

Take a drive down to Cabelas in Tulalip, they have the perfect boat for you - and their price is right.

[sed8ed]

Yeah, I am shying away from the jet now... looked up how well they work in anything other than skinny water and the reviews were quite poor.

Kudu - The wife actually talked me out of buying a 1436 and just using my existing motor on it... she didn't want a repeat of her having to drive to mission to pick me and the boat up and then up to Gill to get my truck where I left it... too much current to make it back up

I am leaning back towards the 1542 now... motor trade, selling my little cargo trailer to buy a used boat trailer and selling my zodiac... I am only looking at around $2,200 additional for the 1542. That leaves a good chunk more cash to spend on other life expenses (like a new rifle and scope)

In two or three years, we are planning on buying a deep water/family boat anyways... probably a Maverick DV... just have to finish the reno's on the house first. Keeping in mind though, that is a lot of boat to take out hunting and fishing on a regular basis

[zaconb]

I run the Lowe 1852mt for hunting and its great, my thoughts are the more room the better. Now it's a great Lake and marsh boat but running up the "arm" is a different story. I live on the north shore and have run under the Iron Workers Bridge to Cates Park and under the First Narrows to fish the Cap a few times and I'm here to tell you she does not like any type of wave action and she is rough!

[Mr. Dean]

FWIW, I think Steeleco has a boat/motor combo for sale - It sounds to me it's right up your alley.
Maybe toss him a PM....