50hp or 70hp?

Hello everyone, I have a 1974 Astro glass bassboat. It has a 33 hp motor on it right now but on the stamp it’s rated for a 60 hp motor max. I’ve been thinking about upgrading the motor to a bigger and this is where my dilemma is. I’ve found a very good deal on both a 50hp and 70hp motor. I wanna go with the 70 but I’m worried it could mess up my boat? Am I overthinking just 10hp or should I play it safe with the smaller motor. Will 20hp show much of a performance difference? What do y’all think?

I am guessing as far as the boat goes it would be fine with a 70hp motor. That being said if you were to get into an accident it could open a whole new can of worms in this lawsuit happy society.

out of curiosity –
What is the boat manufacturer basing the rating on weight or speed?

If you put the 70hp on you are liable for any accidents and makes the boat illegal
Stan

bassn7 wrote:

If you put the 70hp on you are liable for any accidents and makes the boat illegal
Stan

X’s 2 and this!

Don’t hang the 70hp on there. The upside will be minimal, and you’re taking on so much more in the way of liability for 4-5mph.

May 7, 2017 at 9:54 am#1692711
out of curiosity –
What is the boat manufacturer basing the rating on weight or speed?

This should answer your question. http://newboatbuilders.com/pages/hp.html

I would say your best plan would be to look for a 60.

Thanks Wanna Be, that’s very interesting.
IMHO, that info to the HP question has a simple answer.

So many mixed answers on this.

Each boat should be looked at individually, yours off Nada looks to be 16′ and 1000#, don’t think anyone would bat an eye with a 70hp back there. Be more concerned with added weight of a bigger and possibly 4 stroke motor hanging there.

Call your insurance and see how they feel about it. Always the argument of lawsuits but seems like unless you’re driving like an idiot would be pretty hard to prove to a judge you were going faster than what is recommended with a 70hp on an old glass boat. Does every Corvette or Mustang automatically get sued for having a bunch of ponies under the hood?

If you put a 70 on and the plate says 60 it would be illegal…….

CAPACITY AND OVERLOADING
The boat’s operator must limit the total
horsepower, weight and maximum number
of passengers to that shown on the capacity
plate installed by the boat’s manufacturer. It is
unlawful and dangerous to load or power your
boat beyond its maximum capacity.

Depends on your definition of unlawful

The horsepower is rated by the actual boat dimensions, length, width, gunnel heights,transom heights, etc. They say by over powering it can become dangerously unstable, thus.. the HP rating. I don’t think ANY insurance company will either OK it or cover it in a loss if it’s powered beyond USG specs.

At the NW Sports show I asked the DNR officer that question. What are the ramifications of overpowering vs what the coast guard plate says.

The answer was……….unless I had a reason to look (accident, major speed violations, reckless endangerment) why would I look. So, they don’t endorse overpowering but unless it’s flagrant they won’t be to concerned. In other words you won’t find a CO at the landing checking to see if you are rated for 60 hp vs the 70 hp motor you have hanging on the boat.

But all that said, your insurance company will view things differently and there is the one in a million chance you get the one CO who has nothing better to do.