That’s my plan. Going to go with Helix 9s instead of 7s, get an Ultrex instead of Terra Nova, and add the steering assist kit on the 90 Merc. So, I essentially saved money dropping the kicker and talked myself into spending more money!
That little tag in the boat that most people over look with capacities listed on it can be a critical piece of info.
Just an experience I had a number of years ago with a guide trip.
I took a father a son out for a day trip. It never even crossed my mind to ask “How much do you weigh?” The son was about 250-300# and the father was MUCH larger – would not have been surprised if over 400#. Now I’m not looking to make fun of any large people and this got very serious in a hurry.
Between my 200#, their 700ish#, gear, 40 gallons of gas……. my boat was well over the rated limit and I didn’t realize it at the time. By coincidence, two different tuna boat wakes merged and rolled up; on my boat. The first “wave” washed about 4″ of water over the entire rear deck. We rocked up on the second wave. The third wave did us in. More than a foot of water washed over the rear deck, putting my combustion engine under water, and completely filling up the cockpit area to the steering wheel.
Fast thinking by the guys next to us saved my rear end. They fired up and got ahead of me (on a river) and tied up and gave me a tow. The moment we had some momentum of moving forward had a rush of water pouring out of my boat that was indescribable.
Two bilge pumps running, dipping a five gallon bucket for eternity, and every crevice in my boat filled with wate4r was a hell of a wake up call to watch for capacities.
NEVER again will I ever run a boat at or near max capacity. We all think that they are very conservative numbers or don’t pay attention to them. Well, I learned otherwise and will never be in that position again
Randy, the mention of the tag made me chuckle, not your circumstance. Glad you made it through without disaster. What made me laugh was remembering my tag listing both people limit and weight limit. Doing the math, each person would have had to weigh under a buck and a quarter. So, much like your deal, the number of people was pretty meaningless.
One thing I’ve never understood is how the same size model say a 175 tiller is rated for 90hp and a counsel boat is rated for 115hp or more. Are they bulking up the transom to handle more weight and power. I’ve seen a few 185’s that have both kicker and talon on them. I added a kicker on my 185 competitor with a 90SHO and didn’t see much change in speed. Getting just shy of 40mph on calm river. If you are under restrictions definitely go with the kicker and carry a rope.
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