Will appreciate any reply. I have a small 18' pontoon boat, and am looking at a new 25 hp Yamaha motor. Am wondering if this motor is powerful enough, to push this boat, at normal cruising, and would the motor the motor be strained to do so. Thanks.
What is the toon rated for? Generally, take the max HP on the plate, and try to get within 70% of that to have satisfactory oomph to push your rig. (Rated for 100hp max, use 70hp motor) Nothing is less fun than a seriously underpowered boat!
Depends on what you consider to be a good cruising speed. You won't be doing much more than maybe 10mph with a 25 horse on a pontoon unless its superlight has some amazingly hydro-dynamic pontoons. I'm with foul plug, except that I might be thinking closer to %100 of the max. You don't always have to use it wide open, but you'll probably get better fuel-efficiency and have the motor last longer if you don't have to floor it every time you want to get somewhere.
Yamaha's high thrust T25 is made specifically for applications like pontoon boats. It has a specialized high ratio gear case and dual thrust prop. IMO, it would be perfect...unless your interested in setting a speed record.
