WPCfishing Posted July 27, 2015 Posted July 27, 2015 i want more top end speed than I'm getting now. Just under 4 mph. 10 would be good. Any recommendations? Quote
Super User J Francho Posted July 27, 2015 Super User Posted July 27, 2015 What's she rated for? Is there plaque with Max HP? Quote
Super User Goose52 Posted July 27, 2015 Super User Posted July 27, 2015 Sure - what's the rating? Is this a square-back canoe? A small gas motor up to 3hp or so might work well. If you have a longer, heavier canoe, you might be able to run a higher HP motor. BUT, whether you can get to 10 mph might still be a challenge. If you are using an electric trolling motor now for propulsion, you might benefit from a higher thrust motor (depending on what thrust you are running now) - but the benefit would only be on the order of another 1 mph or so. With many canoes, especially those with wide beam, you are running into a "hull speed" wall (Google "hull speed"). You could add a significantly higher thrust motor and may not see much speed increase. I've seen canoes with gas engines move out at a pretty good clip, because they have enough power to get the canoe sorta on-plane, thus getting past the hull speed limitation. However, when I've watched vids of these canoes, they don't seem like the most stable & controllable machines. For reference, I have a 45lb thrust TM on my 12' canoe that only weights 34 pounds empty. BUT, it has a 38" beam - thus giving a dismal (for speed) length-to-beam ratio. With me and all my gear, I used to top out at about 4.5 mph on the GPS. I would hit that top speed at only about 3/4 throttle - adding more power didn't add any more speed - that was the "hull speed" factor coming in to play. My TM seems to be getting a bit tired and I'm topping out now at about 4- to 4.2 mph or so at full throttle. Quote
BKeith Posted July 27, 2015 Posted July 27, 2015 What size canoe, is it a square back for a motor or are you using a side mount, and how scary do you want to get. I have a very old, 17' Grumman cargo canoe (fairly wide and flat in the middle) with the square back and a 4 hp merc I use on it sometimes can raise the pucker factor if you are not careful. Quote
Super User A-Jay Posted July 27, 2015 Super User Posted July 27, 2015 Forget Gas - The troller is so much more stealthy. I run 2 batteries (one forward & one aft) - it's sweet. A-Jay Quote
Super User Master Bait'r Posted July 27, 2015 Super User Posted July 27, 2015 That sounds really sketchy. Quote
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