Holiday 18 OB with a 70hp

[Snox49x]

Anyone have any experience with a 18' Holiday (or similar) with a 70hp outboard? Is this enough motor? I am restoring a 77 Holiday that will be used almost exclusively as fishing boat...mostly trolling. It currently has a 115 Merc TOP on it an runs fine but is not suited to trolling all day. Was toying with the idea of just installing a new Yamaha F70 four stroke (appealing due to it's light weight) vs rigging up a 4 stroke kicker motor. Thoughts?

 

[1973Chieftain]

Re: Holiday 18 OB with a 70hp

Welcome aboard Snox! I've not used that set up, but others have similar boats and will give you a better idea then I could.

 

[bunker108]

Re: Holiday 18 OB with a 70hp

I had a 115 tower on my 18' SS...that motor didn't like to do many things but troll all day was not one of them. Are you trolling too fast? I had a 15p prop and it trolled just fine. I think a 70 might be a little small, but maybe a modern 4 stroke can make up for the drop in HP.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Holiday 18 OB with a 70hp

A modern prop-rated 70HP will be a fine motor for an 18' aluminum Starcraft.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Holiday 18 OB with a 70hp

Had a 18 SS, came with a 1973 Merc 65 hp.

It actually did surprisingly well on that big boat.
I never had more than 3 in the boat, and although a little slow to plane, it did, and she ran out at 32 mph.

 

[ctswf]

Re: Holiday 18 OB with a 70hp

Sounds promising, I have a 1982 70HP evinrude, I am trying to find an 18' starcraft to match.

Anyone else who has tried a 70hp or less, please post your results

 

[tgp***]

Re: Holiday 18 OB with a 70hp

Check out this prop chart for a 1967 Merc 650 (65hp), every thing is based on weight, prop diameter, and pitch. The same motor I'm considering using on my 18' Holiday (only because I have a spare, and I don't have the cash to buy a bigger one). It depends on how you plan to use the boat I guess...... If your looking to water ski, most defiantly go bigger. If your looking to fish, and your not in a hurry, should work just fine w/ the right prop..........although I'm a firm believer bigger is better.

For trolling I'd like to find someone who used these. http://www.protroller.com/

 

[ctswf]

Re: Holiday 18 OB with a 70hp

tgp***, where did you get that? Do you know how I can find a chart like this for a 1982 70HP evinrude o/b?

 

[tgp***]

Re: Holiday 18 OB with a 70hp

Sorry, I looked for an evinrude one, but didn't find one. So I posted one for my motor, hoping it would help you out. I found mine on Mastertech Marine: Evinrude and Johnson Outboard Motor Parts.

 

[ctswf]

Re: Holiday 18 OB with a 70hp

Yes it did help thanks, I have the CLYMER repair manual for my evinrude but didn't see anything like that in it.
I'm sure it would be similar anyway.

 

[airshot]

Re: Holiday 18 OB with a 70hp

Yep, used to have an 18 open bow with a 3cyl Jonny and it worked great. Towed the kids and adults on ski's and knee boards. With 4 adults we could just squeek out 34 mph on a glass smooth lake, fuel economy wasn't bad either. The 3 cyl jonnyrudes had a weight advantage over the heavier 4 cyl motors, but ran well for a long time.

Airshot

 

[inthedirtagain]

Re: Holiday 18 OB with a 70hp

I had a 1966 Holiday closed bow with the original 100-s OB (crank-rated). It was a little low on compression @ 100psi, and no matter what prop was on it, I couldn't do more than 32mph. Still, it was my favorite boat that I've ever owned.