Motor for a 1958ish 14 footer

[hlhoots]

Greetings folks,

I have an old 14ft Alumacraft (circa '58 ) with a 7.5 Evinrude Fleetwin (also circa '58 ) motor. My motor has unfortunately started leaking a little gas and I am looking at purchasing a new Mercury 9.9hp 4 stroke.

Anyone out there have any experience with an Alumacraft of that age / length with a 9.9 motor on it? The plate in the boat says it can handle up to 16hp, but I am worried the motor will be too heavy, or the boat wont plane right with 1 person due to the weight (who knows if that tag is the original).

Local boat shop wasnt much help - they just gave me the 'if you put the motor in the water on your boat its then considered used'.... Just dont want to mess up when spending 2k on a new motor.

Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Harry

 

[Pony]

Re: Motor for a 1958ish 14 footer

Older alumacrafts are rated fairly conservative. I would think it would easily handle the 9.9 even if it is a 4 stroke.

I personally would be inclined to go with a 15hp...the motor weight should be the same.

 

[hlhoots]

Re: Motor for a 1958ish 14 footer

Thanks for the info Pony! I am hoping to stay with a 9.9hp or smaller so I dont have to get running lights. So it sounds like the 9.9 will be a great fit for me.

I think this thread sounds similar to my boat as well: http://forums.iboats.com/bbBoard.cgi?a=viewthread;fid=74;gtid=1086470


Thanks again,
Harry

 

[River - Runner]

Re: Motor for a 1958ish 14 footer

Welcome, hlhoots

I also agree. The 9.9 will work very well for all-around use and the boat will scoot with it. I'm familiar with using several of the old boats through the years. My brother-in-law has an old one, a little less than 14 foot. I would think your tag is correct at 16 hp., as his is rated for 16 hp. Sometime I'm going to do a company history on his, as we don't even know the year.

Don't ditch your old motor though! Check out Vintagealumacraft's rig, in Show Yer Alumacraft here. Your rig sounds like his and that's a treasure to have. It's rare to have a boat and motor setup like yours and would be a pleasure to own. It's always easy to put newer motors on these boats.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Motor for a 1958ish 14 footer

Please tell me, what does the motor hp have to do with needing running lights?

 

[bassboy1]

Re: Motor for a 1958ish 14 footer

Welcome, hlhoots

Don't ditch your old motor though! Check out Vintagealumacraft's rig, in Show Yer Alumacraft here. Your rig sounds like his and that's a treasure to have. It's rare to have a boat and motor setup like yours and would be a pleasure to own. It's always easy to put newer motors on these boats.

Yeah ya should! Just PM me to get the address to send it too...
Free of charge of course...

No really, if you don't want it, just make sure it gets to a person who loves old motors and would want to restore it.
Also, Even if you have less than ten horsepower you should use running lights. Locally, people have gotten killed on more than one occasion because of lack of lights, in near shore areas, on a clear night. Not having them is just plain DUMB. From Walmart, you can get a clamp on white transom light I think for less than 20 bucks. At least get one of those. It runs off of AA batteries so there is no excuse not to have one.