Keep my 55 or not?

[JSGOLD]

I have a 1976 Starcraft 16'SS that we use for a fishing boat. It has a 55hp Evinrude that is rarely used and a 8HP Evinrude kicker that sees a lot of use. We live within 35 miles of 3 great smaller lakes with 10HP limits and a fair amount of standing timber. The 55 has never run quite right, but we have used it a a few times since we bought it in 2009 at one larger lake about 100 miles away.....I have worked with the motor a little, but since we rarely use it (been 18 months now) I was wondering about removing it and simply running the 8hp. and use remote hookup(which I have). Probably with some effort I can get the 55 running better, and I know an 8HP is weak for this boat but with most usage being at the smaller lakes I am not looking for speed. And, we wonder if the old 55 is simply slowing us anyway as it has no tilt and is drug around. If it were yours would you keep both motors (fixing the issues on the 55 of course) and drag it around or just use the 8? Would the 8 move that boat much better without the 55? Have even thought about getting a Mercury 9.9 Bigfoot at some point.....I can always still use it at larger lakes but obviously not going to be fast. Opinions appreciated!

 

[crb478]

Re: Keep my 55 or not?

Tough call! If you are confident that you will keep it on hp restricted lakes I would ditch the 55, otherwise keep it and give it a good tune up. If you ditch it I would spring for a good 9.9. I doubt that you pick up much speed without the 55, but when you are going slow any speed helps.

 

[Sea Rider]

Re: Keep my 55 or not?

Getting rid of a 55 at back transom is like carrrying one less boater, small engine will push boat at a better fast displacement speed.

Happy Boating

 

[redneck joe]

Re: Keep my 55 or not?

can you not keep the 55 on, just tilt up and not use?

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Keep my 55 or not?

can you not keep the 55 on, just tilt up and not use?

I read the question to mean that he already does that, but ahving not used the motor in 1.5 years wants to save weight.

PLus the motor doesn't run well.

I'd say in yor unusual combination of circumstances, ditch it. If it ran well, I'd say keep it. And the old 55 is one of the "great ones" along with the mid-60's 18 and the mid-80's 70.

No motor will kill your sale value but that shouldn't be an objective for you anyway.

 

[redneck joe]

Re: Keep my 55 or not?

I read the question to mean that he already does that, but ahving not used the motor in 1.5 years wants to save weight.

PLus the motor doesn't run well.

I'd say in yor unusual combination of circumstances, ditch it. If it ran well, I'd say keep it. And the old 55 is one of the "great ones" along with the mid-60's 18 and the mid-80's 70.

No motor will kill your sale value but that shouldn't be an objective for you anyway.

my bad. Always keep the main, you never know.

 

[JSGOLD]

Re: Keep my 55 or not?

Thanks guys! I admit I am confused as to what to do....The 55 when I did use it would miss some and get worse as the day went on....twice had to use the 8 to get back to the ramps. I have rebuilt the carbs, replaced all electronics. I found a screw that somehow got sucked into the reed valves and removing it helped some but it still has issues. Maybe fixable with more effort, just don't use it much. i admit liking the speed (30 mph) when it ran at WOT but right now we just are not going to the larger lakes. And, no I can't tilt it. It is dead weight right now with the fishing we do. I am thinking that maybe just remove it and tinker with it later...if I can get it right maybe sometime down the road put it back on or swap it....The 8hp does OK for what we do for now. My boat is kind of wide so I know I will never move fast with it, but I will see how it does without the 55 for a while.

 

[airshot]

Re: Keep my 55 or not?

If you are sold on being on the smaller lakes only then why carry around an extra anchor. Do yourself a favor and sell the 55 and the 8 and get yourself an Evinrude 9.9, early 90's if possible. These were great motors and a simple carb exchange makes them a 15 hp. No one is going to pop the cover and remove the air dam to check it. I had one of these for many years to use on limited hp lakes, all necessary controls can be attached as well as electric start. If you do a search thru OMC you will find the 9.9 was built as a 15 hp then a restricted carb was used to lower the hp to 9.9. There are many out in the market with the conversion already done.

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Keep my 55 or not?

I would dump the 55 also. The OMC 50,55hp engines are plentiful and can always be replaced with a newer better running one if need be.

 

[JSGOLD]

I know this thread is getting old but finally decided to get a nice 97' mercury mariner 9.9 with controls and take off the two motors I have on there. We frequent three smaller lakes that are long(2-6 miles) and even if we do go to a larger lake I can deal with slower speeds compared to the 55. the 55 usually showed itself at the end of the day anyway and this will make for a nicer, easier boating experience. The 8hp did a good job but running a tiller in my boat is a bit of a pain after a while. Just not comfortable. Am curious what kind of speed i will get without the 55 dragging along. Will report back in the spring....IF it ever gets here....

 

[pckeen]

Makes sense. Assuming you took it off, keep the 55 and don't dump it, so you have something to put back on once you sell. In the meantime, while you run the 9.9, my 2c would be keep an eye out for another outboard to repower with.