50 hp honda 4 stroke on 20' jon boat?

[hooterville]

boat is described as a 2001 20 ft Polar Kraft John and trailer. Garage kept with 50hp 4 Stroke Honda with new water pump and oil/filter change. Does not have tilt/trim or live well. Bimini top and boat cover included. 2 New batteries. 12 volt Minkota foot control trolling motor.

boat is rated for a 90 hp motor and has a console in it. does anyone here know or have a similar setup like this to tell me how this motor would do? im not looking for a speed demon and would probally upgrade later to a bigger motor anyway. also boat is priced at $7000 does this sound too high?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: 50 hp honda 4 stroke on 20' jon boat?

sounds a little steep, but it is a honda 4 stroke. depends totally on condition.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 50 hp honda 4 stroke on 20' jon boat?

Price sounds high to me. Even in mint condition. Now I'm not a fisherman so correct me if I'm wrong but I thought one of the purposes of a jon boat was shallow running. So wouldn't tilt and trim be sorta a requirement?

 

[Skinnywater]

Re: 50 hp honda 4 stroke on 20' jon boat?

Sounds underpowered to me.
Consider a roadtest with a couple of your buddys.
Then you can judge if it'll meet your needs with full fuel, gear and ice chests.

 

[studlymandingo]

Re: 50 hp honda 4 stroke on 20' jon boat?

Sounds like the asking price is a little above what it should be. Tilt and trim are a must for any purchase I would consider.​

 

[steelespike]

Re: 50 hp honda 4 stroke on 20' jon boat?

If it is a bare bones jon,no floor or storage compartments then it is probably pretty light.My 18 ft Crestliner bare bones utility fairly flies with a 88 50 Evinrude.I'm guessing 40+ And still goes really well with 2 220 lb guys and one 360 lb guy.plus gear for a days fishing.And it planes easily with 900 lbs of lumber aboard and 2 adults.
I would think the 50 Honda would do fine and may not require an upgrade
unless you want to fly from spot to spot.

 

[hooterville]

Re: 50 hp honda 4 stroke on 20' jon boat?

well we took the boat out for a test drive and i decided not to buy it. the motor pushed it 3/4 throttle fairly well( guy told me it did 28-29mph with GPS) ,better than I expected. but it seemed the motor wasn't getting enough water flow around lower unit on takeoff. it looked to me like motor needed to set lower but it couldn't. i looked to be long shaft(didn't measeure). At at speed it seemed to have water flow problems when turning, but in straight line it was fine. When i say water flow problems i mean it acted like prop was coming out of water. i think because boat was so big and it stays pretty level in water on takeoff and maybe causing the problems. It also had one of those happy troller plates on it and i'm not sure it wasn't hurting the way the water was coming around the prop. we also didn't like the way it cut some waves, the boat seemed to flex and shake to much. It wasn't what i was expecting i guess.

 

[hooterville]

Re: 50 hp honda 4 stroke on 20' jon boat?

i may also add that Bill Dance( some yahoo sitting on the dock at the ramp) told me i needed to raise the motor or it was gonna drag the bottom on launch. Well there was at least 12 inches of clearance and i think the boat was gonna FLOAT when it hit the water. I told him i thought it was alright and he kept commenting i needed to raise it. Me and my dad have launched boats at least a 1000 times over the years and haven't tore up a lower unit yet. And have launched at this preticular ramp 2 dozen times at least.