i'd like to get a 8'-9' inflatable with a 3hp engine.
any suggestions would help.
do i go 2 stroke or 4.
it will be used for light duty.
thanks
jake

jake waldman wrote:

i'd like to get a 8'-9' inflatable with a 3hp engine.
any suggestions would help.
do i go 2 stroke or 4.
it will be used for light duty.
thanks
jake

It's your choice. The small two cycle and four cycle outboards are each
reliable, and don't burn a whole lot of fuel. With the four cycle, you
don't have to mix oil in the gas can, and their exhausts smell better. I
use a no-cycle outboard on my inflatable: an electric trolling motor.

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Email sent to is never read.

Get what ever size inflatable you want but put the BIGGEST outboard it will
take.You won't regret it later. I would recommend a 4 stroke.
IMHO Larry Hill

The size inflatable depends on how many crew you will be hualing around and
the area you have to store it.. Don't just count on towing it all the time..
Won't work in open water or in anything more than a 3 ft chop.

The out board can be sized to the size dingy and the load you will be
hauling around..

I have a 9 ft West Marine inflatable with a rigid bottom.. I don't have deck
room for a RIB and the roll-ups don't perform well and you can't really walk
around in them. They now have a high pressure inflatable bottom that I would
like to try but I'll wait until I get a few more years of service out of
this one..

Oh! I also have an inflatable keel in mine, Actually it's just a long tube
between the rigid floor boards and the boat bottom.. When it is pumped up
firm, it really improves the performance of the boat..

I'm not even sure that they have a 4 stroke in 3hp and it think it would be
heavier than the 2 stroke..

I use a 2.5hp 2 stroke Nissan on mine and since I'm usually in it by myself,
I can get it up on plane if the air chambers and keel are fully inflated.

I can't complain, both the boat and the motor have served me for about 4
seasons plus a year while I lived aboard at an anchorage.

Shop around and ask others at the dock for a test drive in theirs.

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

I agree on the biggest, but the two strokes have a lot less moving parts and
are lighter, more reliable and cheaper.

"Larry Hill" wrote in message
...
Get what ever size inflatable you want but put the BIGGEST outboard it
will
take.You won't regret it later. I would recommend a 4 stroke.
IMHO Larry Hill

I bought a 9' Severn with the air floor from Boat/US. They aren't
handling this model any more due to their merger with West, so there are
some real bargains available on these boats. My only bitch is the lousy
oarlocks, but if you're only going to use oars in an emergency...

I would (and did) buy an older 2 stroke 4hp, 2 cylinder, 2 stroke used
Johnson/Evinrude. They only weigh 33#, are quiet and don't mind lying on
either side. They also smell bad and smoke a little. (Use that new
Pennzoil 100% Synthetic 2 stroke oil for a significant improvement in
the smoking/smell department.

The 4 strokes are much heavier and really mind it if you lie them on the
wrong side. The 27# air cooled Hondas are really noisy, but otherwise
really nice.

20# is a lot of extra weight when you're trying to put it on a dinghy
that's moving around on the water.

Capt. Jeff

I have a 9'2" Sevylor XR-86 inflatable. It is powered by a 36 lbs Minn
Kota Endura motor, about the same thrust as a 2.0 or 2.5 hp gas
engine... OK, it doesn't plane. I'm not so sure it would plane with the
maximum 3.5 hp motor. I'm not so sure I'd want to do that anyhow.

Harry Krause wrote:
jake waldman wrote:


i'd like to get a 8'-9' inflatable with a 3hp engine.
any suggestions would help.
do i go 2 stroke or 4.
it will be used for light duty.
thanks
jake


It's your choice. The small two cycle and four cycle outboards are each
reliable, and don't burn a whole lot of fuel. With the four cycle, you
don't have to mix oil in the gas can, and their exhausts smell better. I
use a no-cycle outboard on my inflatable: an electric trolling motor.

Question ... when I did my 36 lb Min Kota calculation afew years back, the
answer I got was about 1/4 hp. Would you mind sharing your calculation (I've
since upgraded to a 55 lb thrust)? Thanks


"user" wrote in message
...
I have a 9'2" Sevylor XR-86 inflatable. It is powered by a 36 lbs Minn
Kota Endura motor, about the same thrust as a 2.0 or 2.5 hp gas
engine... OK, it doesn't plane. I'm not so sure it would plane with the
maximum 3.5 hp motor. I'm not so sure I'd want to do that anyhow.

Harry Krause wrote:
jake waldman wrote:


i'd like to get a 8'-9' inflatable with a 3hp engine.
any suggestions would help.
do i go 2 stroke or 4.
it will be used for light duty.
thanks
jake


It's your choice. The small two cycle and four cycle outboards are each
reliable, and don't burn a whole lot of fuel. With the four cycle, you
don't have to mix oil in the gas can, and their exhausts smell better. I
use a no-cycle outboard on my inflatable: an electric trolling motor.

bowgus wrote:

Question ... when I did my 36 lb Min Kota calculation afew years back, the
answer I got was about 1/4 hp. Would you mind sharing your calculation (I've
since upgraded to a 55 lb thrust)? Thanks


"user" wrote in message
...
I have a 9'2" Sevylor XR-86 inflatable. It is powered by a 36 lbs Minn
Kota Endura motor, about the same thrust as a 2.0 or 2.5 hp gas
engine... OK, it doesn't plane. I'm not so sure it would plane with the
maximum 3.5 hp motor. I'm not so sure I'd want to do that anyhow.

Harry Krause wrote:
jake waldman wrote:


i'd like to get a 8'-9' inflatable with a 3hp engine.
any suggestions would help.
do i go 2 stroke or 4.
it will be used for light duty.
thanks
jake


It's your choice. The small two cycle and four cycle outboards are each
reliable, and don't burn a whole lot of fuel. With the four cycle, you
don't have to mix oil in the gas can, and their exhausts smell better. I
use a no-cycle outboard on my inflatable: an electric trolling motor.




Wouldn't there be a way to compare pounds of thrust? My motorguide
trolling motor produces-oh, I really don't remember-something like 65
pounds of thrust, maybe. How many pounds of thrust might a 3 hp gas
outboard produce at the prop? A similar number? Larger?

The electric trolling motor is enough to push our rubber ducky around
the harbor for a couple of hours, but if it craps out, no worry. We have
oars.

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Email sent to is never read.

Well that's the thing ... I did the calculation then, using formulae
scrounged from sources I no longer remember, so ... the answer I got then
was that my electric's 35 lbs thrust was about equivalent to a 1/4 hp
outboard. But I see from "user" that a 36 lbs thrust electric is equal to
about a 2.5 hp (gasoline) outboard ... which is A LOT MORE than I
calculated. And the reason I originally did the calculations was to decide
the purchase of an electric say 60 lbs or a 4 cycle outboard say 3 hp.

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
bowgus wrote:

Question ... when I did my 36 lb Min Kota calculation afew years back,
the
answer I got was about 1/4 hp. Would you mind sharing your calculation
(I've
since upgraded to a 55 lb thrust)? Thanks


"user" wrote in message
...
I have a 9'2" Sevylor XR-86 inflatable. It is powered by a 36 lbs Minn
Kota Endura motor, about the same thrust as a 2.0 or 2.5 hp gas
engine... OK, it doesn't plane. I'm not so sure it would plane with the
maximum 3.5 hp motor. I'm not so sure I'd want to do that anyhow.

Harry Krause wrote:
jake waldman wrote:


i'd like to get a 8'-9' inflatable with a 3hp engine.
any suggestions would help.
do i go 2 stroke or 4.
it will be used for light duty.
thanks
jake


It's your choice. The small two cycle and four cycle outboards are
each
reliable, and don't burn a whole lot of fuel. With the four cycle,
you
don't have to mix oil in the gas can, and their exhausts smell
better. I
use a no-cycle outboard on my inflatable: an electric trolling motor.




Wouldn't there be a way to compare pounds of thrust? My motorguide
trolling motor produces-oh, I really don't remember-something like 65
pounds of thrust, maybe. How many pounds of thrust might a 3 hp gas
outboard produce at the prop? A similar number? Larger?

The electric trolling motor is enough to push our rubber ducky around
the harbor for a couple of hours, but if it craps out, no worry. We have
oars.

--
Email sent to is never read.