Have a 18ft Bentley with 50 HP 4 stroke and I was wondering what can we do to get more speed out of it. WOT is 20 mph at 5800 rpm. Has no jp and wondering if a bigger motor would help any?
Have a 18ft Bentley with 50 HP 4 stroke and I was wondering what can we do to get more speed out of it. WOT is 20 mph at 5800 rpm. Has no jp and wondering if a bigger motor would help any?
No doubt a larger motor will make you go faster, don't exceed your maximum horsepower that your hull is rated for though. Honestly if you want to go faster, I would consider selling your current boat and upgrading to a 22 or larger boat that will support a 115 or 150. Chances are you could upgrade to a 70 or so, but still wont gain a lot of speed.
that's about all you can get with a 50. I have a 20 foot with a 90 4 stroke and can only get about 28mph on a good day.
I bought a new 20ft bass tracker with a mercury four stroke 60hp big foot 21-22 at best 5800rpm with two people. I don't mind because I let my wife drive!!!!
USAF SAC Security 1967-1972
Retired FedEx mait. Tech.
Love to Bass and Crappie fish W/ my wife
2001 Ranger 518VX W/200 hp efi
2014 Bass Tracker fishing pontoon W/60 hp Bigfoot
Love to fish Truman Lake mo.
A standard pontoon is a displacement hull. That is it plows through the water versus riding on top. Adding more power will have very little impact because it takes exponentially more HP to add more speed.
To get more performance you need lifting strakes. This lifts the pontoons so they ride on top of the water making it a displacement hull. You will be need a motor over 100hp to benefit from strakes. Look at some of the videos of performance pontoons to see what is possible.
so sell the toon or make it into a duck blind and buy a bass boatfrom that info my best bet would be to keep it as is or spend more than the boat is worth.
oh well thank yall for all the help.
MAX that girl out just as you should do with any boat.. your car/truck will run 92-98 mph but you don't have to drive it that fast. In other words just because you max out the boat you don't have to run it wide open, you can run it at a slower speed and save fuel as with the car/truck. With the smaller motor you'll have to run it wide open to run the same speed that a higher hp would run at much less rpms.
12 lbs 9 oz caught on 4/28/1975 Lake Eufaula
An 18' pontoon is a very rare animal around here. I cannot remember seeing any on my lake--out of maybe 1000 pontoons.
I'm running a 24' Bennington tritoon with a Yamaha 150 hp 4 stroke (F150). The lifting strakes easily get the nosecones out of the water, and I'm good for 40 mph @ 6000 rpms. They handle up to medium size waves well, and are a great ride.
I'd suggest you take your time and sell your pontoon--and get something that'll better serve your needs. Many pontoons now are rigged for fishing on one or two ends--dual fishing seats and live wells.
The toon serves us well when we have the family at the lake but hate the fact that when it is only my and my dad we can only do 20 with a full fishing load. we have taken it out In 5 foot swells and it took it like it was nothing. ours is rigged to fish off the front with the livewell under the front part of the bench seat. kk4iz I wanted to do that and it is rated for a 75 or a 90 and have seen some with a 115 on the back and unless I get a third toon to put under it, adding the extra hp would do no good according to what everyone is saying from experience
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