Underpowered?

[MrSimon]

I had a 1448 Northwoods Mod V boat with a nice running 15HP mariner. It had a plywood deck up front, two batteries, and three guys in it .... ran fine and got up on plane easily.

You'll be fine.

 

[cmatthews_jm]

I had a 1448 Northwoods Mod V boat with a nice running 15HP mariner. It had a plywood deck up front, two batteries, and three guys in it .... ran fine and got up on plane easily.

You'll be fine.

Did you have all your weight distributed throughout the boat? Were both batteries at the back? I guess I'm asking if you have a picture of the interior of the boat?

 

[MrSimon]

Sorry, no pics of the interior (I wish I did - it was my first boat).

I had one battery under the front deck and one in the back with the gas tank. Don't get me wrong, the boat was no speedster, but it did just fine. The three of us were pretty light back then - maybe 150 each. We had no complaints about the speed. My estimate is that we were running between 12 and 16 mph depending on wind and waves.

However, with all that said, I bumped up to a 1648 Mod V with a 30HP Johnson with side steer. Wow, we didn't know what we were missing. That rig was running in the mid 20s. And then I moved up to a 40HP on a Grumman 16 V-hull that would run just over 30mph ..... now that was a nice way to cover water!

 

[cmatthews_jm]

Last time I remember riding in the boat I know it didn't plane but my dad (200-220lbs) was sitting in the back and I was in the front (150 at the time). So his weight plus the weight of the large trolling motor battery, starting battery, engine itself, and the plywood floors adds up to a lot of weight in the rear and it would probably make it hard for any boat that size to plane without the aid of a hydrofoil or something. But the motor hasn't been run in a while so I'm redoing the carb and fuel system and then I will get the weight distributed and see how fast she goes with just me Thanks for the advice!

 

[MrSimon]

When I first got my 1448 I took it out by myself. No decking, only one battery, just one person, minimal gear - about as light as possible. I felt like I was flying across the lake. That motor really ran well though - better than most other 15s I've seen or had.

 

[cmatthews_jm]

Just to update, I got to go fishin this past weekend, no luck but did notice that the boat is a 1456 with a 20hp max rating. I dont know how accurate this is but the plate said it so I'm guessing that it is a light boat or the transom couldnt take it. Im not sure. Just thought I would throw that out there.

 

[roach]

I have a Lowe 1448 with a 15hp Mariner. I struggled with trying to get the motor to reach rated rpm's at WOT when 2 adults were on board. I cleaned the carb, replaced tank and fuel line and still wouldn't plane all the time. It seemed like a carb problem. Finally realized the prop may be the issue. It had a 12 pitch and a little research determined it should be between 7 and 9 pitch. I went to an 8 and even after adding a full 3/4" deck and floor it gets easily up on plane. Something to consider.

 

[cmatthews_jm]

Thats super helpful, this summer is gonna be my fix, test and analyze phase in getting that motor running. I've only got a few more days here at school and then I'll be able to work on it and spend some money :/ But it is my objective this summer to get that thing running like a top and cruising across some of the local lakes to catch some fish!

 

[rusty.hook]

Try moving the motor closer to the transom, that will help also. Looks like you have a short shaft boat with a long shaft motor. Long shaft motors are 20" long and the short shafts are 15" long.
You will probably have to use a mini-jacker. Good fishin, jus' sayin'