IHDiesel73L
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- Joined
- Aug 2, 2010
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Hi everyone. I'm glad I found this forum because I'm one of those guys that can't leave anything alone, so now that I'm looking for a boat, why would it be any different? I live in Hunterdon County, NJ which is in the northwest portion of the state, where most of the larger lakes are. I'm also within 20 minutes of the Delaware River. The river tends to be shallow (2-3' in spots) and rocky up here, but a bit further north and a bit further south it gets deeper and wider, so it's not the kind of place where you want to go very fast anyway. The two large reservoirs near our home only allow 9.9 HP motors, so that's an issue too, but from what I've read so far a semi-vee aluminum boat is my best bet given the fact that I won't have much power to play with and I need a boat that can do well in shallow water. As I mentioned in the title this boat is really meant as an all purpose recreational boat. I'm not a hardcore bass fisherman or duck hunter, so no worries about specialization there-but we will be doing some fishing from the boat. Mostly we'll just be taking it out for fun. One of the lakes we canoe on now has campsites on the opposite shore that can only be reached by water or a 4 mile hike, so they're pretty secluded-we like to go out there with the dog, beach the canoe, have lunch, and just hang out. It would be nice to be able to get there and back without a full upper body workout :wink: It would also be nice to have something more substantial to fish out of. I never liked fishing out of a canoe.
So, based on the fact that we're not looking for a specialized fishing boat, we need room for 2-3 people and an 80lb dog, we would need something that can operate in fairly shallow water, and we're limited to 9.9 HP (I do have an additional question about that though)-what is our best bet to start with? My immediate thought was a jon boat, but I was wondering about stability issues. Would a modified vee or tri-hull be better? How would that limit us in terms of shallow areas? What about a pontoon? I should also add that I'll definitely be looking for something used.
Now for my last question. Let me preface this by saying that despite being a very mechanically inclined person (I do all my own work on my truck, etc...) I don't have any experience with outboards and don't really know much about engine sizing, propellers, and the like. That being said, I've heard that in terms of the outward appearance of the motor itself, that a 9.9 is the same as a 25 HP with regard to some brands-its the internals that are different. In other words, much in the way a Chevy 305 and a 350 are identical on the outside, they are different on the inside and as a result have very different power capabilities. Is this true? If so, would I be able to get a larger engine and just put 9.9 markings on it? I'm not looking for some end run around the rules so that I can run around like a maniac on the lakes-I just don't want to end up with a boat that is a total dog with a full load of people. What are my options here?
So, based on the fact that we're not looking for a specialized fishing boat, we need room for 2-3 people and an 80lb dog, we would need something that can operate in fairly shallow water, and we're limited to 9.9 HP (I do have an additional question about that though)-what is our best bet to start with? My immediate thought was a jon boat, but I was wondering about stability issues. Would a modified vee or tri-hull be better? How would that limit us in terms of shallow areas? What about a pontoon? I should also add that I'll definitely be looking for something used.
Now for my last question. Let me preface this by saying that despite being a very mechanically inclined person (I do all my own work on my truck, etc...) I don't have any experience with outboards and don't really know much about engine sizing, propellers, and the like. That being said, I've heard that in terms of the outward appearance of the motor itself, that a 9.9 is the same as a 25 HP with regard to some brands-its the internals that are different. In other words, much in the way a Chevy 305 and a 350 are identical on the outside, they are different on the inside and as a result have very different power capabilities. Is this true? If so, would I be able to get a larger engine and just put 9.9 markings on it? I'm not looking for some end run around the rules so that I can run around like a maniac on the lakes-I just don't want to end up with a boat that is a total dog with a full load of people. What are my options here?