20 HP on a 1436 Alumacraft

[GoReds]

Currently I have a 1436 Alumacraft and a '88 Evinrude 9.9 HP motor pushing it. I'm looking to upgrade to a Mercury FourStroke. Most advice is always get the max HP the boat is rated for. Wellmy Alumacraft is rated for a 20 HP motor, but when I saw the 20 HP Mercury it looked huge (compared to my 9.9).

Do you guys think I will be ok with the 20 HP or should I go with the 15 HP? Hopefully the attached picture will help out. What are your thoughts?

[Crestliner2008]

Since it's a flat bottom boat, remember one thing. If you fish in 2'+ waves, you're going to get wet and take a real pounding, if you open up a 20 on that small boat.

I also have a 14' boat - a Crestliner. I have it mounted with a 15 HP Yamaha. The hull is rated for 35 HP. She clips along at 20 mph running solo with the 15, which is about all I'd care to handle with this small rig. This deep-V hull cuts the waves quite safely however, being designed for Canadian shield lakes that are known to get pretty rough at times. I'm not sure if I'd want to go to a 20 on your particular boat, but that's a decision you have to make. Good luck.

[Shane J]

I'd go with a 15hp, and spend the money you saved on replacing that metal fuel tank with a plastic one.

[GoReds]

The metal fuel tank is from the previous owner.  I have a plastic tank.  It was not easy to find a quality tank that would fit between the pods.

Thanks for the replies!

[Al Wolbach]

If you want the 20hp go for it. My son has a 25hp on a 1448 and it runs good. He uses it primarily for trout fishing and must run up stream in heavy current. It is not too much motor for this boat. However, if you want to save some money the 15hp should run pretty good.

BTW- Keep the metal tank, they are becoming hard to find...................Al

[Raul]

Instead of checking the max HP rated check the weight of them HPs, why ? cuz them 4 strokes are pretty large and weight more than 2 strokes of the same HPs, do the math of the max loading capacity of your boat and if it 's within the limit of the boat then you can get the bigger 4 stroke engine, also in flatbottoms correct weight distribution adds stability and safety.

I remember when I had this truly unjustified urge to get a bigger engine for my 12 ft tub and jumping from 6.5 Hps to 10 Hps ( max rating of the boat ), I went to Academy and they had both 10 Hp 2 stroke and 10 Hp 4 stroke, man, the 2 stroke looked like a toy next to the 4 stroke, also the 4 stroke weighted a lot more. Finally I ended up discarding the idea of an upgrade, the truth is that for the places I fish on a regular basis 6.5 is a lot more than I really needed and if I ever wanted to go somewhere where I could benefit from a larger outboard it was just a matter of asking my friend Pedro to lend me his boat, or better, talk him into going with me. 

[Way2slow]

I run a two stroke, 25 merc on my Lowe 1436 when I'm in clean water.  I run a 9.9 Johnson in rivers with lots of limbs and logs I'm subject to hit.  I run a 4 hp merc when I'm in areas that I know I will never be able to open it up.

I agree that a four stroke might be a bit heavy on the back of it though.

[Catt]

20 hp is actually small