1860 with 40hp question

I finally talked my wife into letting me get a new boat. i am looking at buying the motor first. I am looking at 40hp. maybe making the leap to a 50hp. i am wanting to buy the motor brand new then save for either a used hull or save up for a new one. but i figure th motor is the most important part so i want it to be new. everything i can find on an 1860 is from duck hunters who say to get ateast a 75-90hp. But that is coming form people who load their boat with 3-4 guys and a bunch of decoys. i will use mine for strictly fishing and i dont bring alot of stuff with me. if i can run around 30mph with a light load i will be happy. i dont want it to be a speed demon just want stability and some move around room. can anyone give some real world experience on this setup? it will also be a tiller setup

First of all, that 1860 is an awesome hull !!
But, in my very honest opinion, a tiller steer over 20mph is not safe.


Just like Ralph Nader said - - - a Corvair, at any speed, is not safe.

but that is just me (and I have had 6 Corvairs over the years LOL)

i push a 1648 weldbilt with a 30 hp 4 stroke efi tohatsu.2 guys and gear high 20s. i always say motor new ,hull used. an 1860 probably needs a 40 minimum. pt/t. a tiller will free up deck space. . buy the engine that equals 75% of max allowed. that seems to be the rule everyone uses, i cant disagree with it. look at the tohatsus.

Depends on what makes you happy. I would err toward the 90 on a boat that size, as I was never happy with the performance of a Yamaha 40 on my 16' express.

I've mentioned before that we currently have a Merc 60 on a 2060 work boat that goes better than I thought it would, and ran a Johnson 70 on a 2060 that did extremely well until it dropped a cylinder. With light loads they're pretty zippy, as loads increase performance falls off quickly.

I would be concerned with your time to plane running a 40.

In response to Johnny, lots of walleye trollers on the big lakes up north running "Big Tiller" setups 225 and 250 hp. I agree it would be a handful (the torque especially) without some type of power steering setup but a lot of folks do it. Merc goes to at least 250 on tillers and Evinrude is developing, or has released a 150+ tiller handle as well as those supplied by the aftermarket.

I have a 40 tiller (2006 merc 4 stroke, 3 cylinder)on a 16'6" Alumacraft Yukon. It'll run 31 mph with only me in it with a 12 pitch 3 blade prop turning 5600 rpm- if I trim it up any more it loses speed. I get 27 mph out of a 10 pitch 4 blade prop turning 5850 rpm.

For an 1860, I'd go with a 75 tiller or a 90 console steer. I don't think you'll see 30 mph with a 40 hp on an 1860. I would think a 60 hp would be the minimum motor to realistically put on an 1860.

Good luck with your search. I hope you enjoy whatever you end up buying.

I have an 18/52 with mercury 60/40 jet 4 stroke tiller. .80 gage blazer ss. All new couple weeks ago. Took my gps with me on first trip. Had all my fishing gear with me but had not purchased a battery yet for my trolling motor. Hit 28.5 upstream and 32 downstream. Boat handles great and am more than pleased. Tons of folks in southern Missouri run tillers on flat bottom jets, I do not agree with the you shouldn't run a tiller on anything over a 20.hp. My new mercury tiller is easy to manipulate, turn, whatever u want to say. This is my third jet boat and will only run a tiller, makes for lots of room in the boat.

Lowe 1650 Roughneck. Sticker says 40hp max!

So figured I need at least 50.

Picked up a 07 Merc 50 tiller on Craig for $2750.00 Thought I was the luckiest guy around at that price. Lightning struck our house next day took out a bunch of electronics in the house and killed two cows....geeez!

Anyways the wife and ,I two gelcells, and 12 gal. of fuel on smooth river water....28mph.

Take what the sticker says and add 10. Doesn't mean you have to go out and blister the water but good to know the ponies are there when you call on them!

Lot of things to know about powering a jon.

First off, if it's rated for 50hp, put a 50 on it. Done. Don't go over your rated HP if you can help it. Now I don't know where you're at and how your "officials" are, but out here, if the boats' rated for 25 and you put a 40 on it, they will mention it if you get checked. Never heard anyone get ticketed or anything but all it would take is one officer in a bad mood on the wrong day.....to make your day a little less than enjoyable.

Next, resale. If the 1860 is rated for 90 and you put a 40 on it, you tend to limit yourself to who may want to buy it later on, should you decide to sell. Additionally, if you get tired of 40hp (if it's rated 90 and you're running 40, you WILL get sick of the lack of power...trust me), it'll cost more in the long run to buy a small motor, then repower it later. Do it right once, if you can. Mine's rated for 40hp, I run a 25 and there have been many, MANY times I wished I had 40hp. But most of the time I'm idling and the 25 does great in that department. Plus, some areas are 25hp max. I don't go to those areas often but if I decided to sell it later on, it opens up another range of potential buyers....which might help it sell faster or for a little more cash. It's not for sale, but if I had to sell it.....

Finally power. Again if it's rated for 90 and you're powering it with a 40, even a 50, you'll be happy with it at first but it'll always be in the back of your mind. Especially that ONE day, you're out on your favorite lake with your fishin' partner, enjoying yourselves. All at once, the sky turns dark the wind picks up and you're just about to get a storm. You will want the extra horsepower in a time like that. OR, my personal experience, had a 15' glass "high performance"-style bass boat, powered by 90HP Mariner. I had bought it originally, had a 40hp Yamaha on it, which was blown up (powerhead fubar). One afternoon my girlfriend and I went out to the river, and found my "hole" back off of the river, we got into the catfish pretty good. Lost track of time. Getting dark, I had no lights...and it was a new moon event so no moon light to navigate with. I'm noticing darkness falling quicker than I anticipated. Told her to start pulling stuff together and ready to make the 2 mile trip back down river to the ramp. I wasn't just real familiar with that stretch of river so I needed some light to navigate safely. Right about the time she's thinking about pulling up the anchor, we see a barge. Big one. 9 barges in front of a tug. I hate getting into the prop wash of those things. Told her to hurry up and we headed off...we had a full livewell of ice and catfish so the boat was running a little heavier than normal. Took off, in front of the barge, and ran wide open down to the ramp, about 50mph. The ramp is directly in the river. Wanted to make sure to get loaded and out of the water before the barge got there. Luckily nobody else was at the ramp to wait on, so I was out pretty quickly. Barges typically run in the 10-12 mph range in that stretch of river. The confidence of having the power to get there in front of them was worth every penny I spent on the 90 as opposed to just buying a powerhead for the 40, which would have been MUCH slower, harder to plane (if it would at all with a load in the boat), much less confident.

In a lot of cases, there isn't any appreciable fuel savings, either. A underpowered rig will sometimes use as much-if not more-fuel than one that is powered correctly. In this situation with outboards, it isn't a big deal but it could add up if you fish a lot.

Have run some 1860's and 1872's, loved them. Ran an 1872 SeArk as a bow fishing rig and it was a tank. Heavy, but you wouldn't hurt it. Last time I used it was when there were small craft warnings on the river. Pretty stupid thing to do and I wouldn't do it again. Then had to "test" a customer's 2072 War Eagle, which was REALLY stable, and pretty fast for a big jon. Powered by F115 Yamaha. Quiet, smooth, relaxing, but plenty of power.