Canoe and motor question

Hmmm - Yesterday I rec'd a message from God telling me to buy a new outboard for my canoe, but it could be Satan trying to trick me. Maybe I could bounce my plans off you good people here.

I have a Pelican Bayou 160 (16' plastic square stern) that I picked up cheap as a factory second. I will be fishing 95% in medium size rivers (Mainly Ouachita and Little Red in Arkansas). I am an experienced canoist but only w/ arm power. I also have *many* hours running rivers in a motorized flatbottom. I read here somewhere on this site that the Pelican Bayou 160 sinks when swamped. I tried it w/ mine and it floats - 'pears to have floatation under the floor. I know that the Merc 5hp 4-stroke weighs 55 lb and I weigh 220 so I'll need another person or ballast in the front but I do have some concerns about stability. The comment about flipping over after striking an underwater object caught my attention since some of the shoals I intend to run need to be hit full speed and some whacks on the bottom w/ the prop are inevitable.

To get my wife all hacked off over buying this thing and then tumping over and loosing/damaging things would be a humiliation that I could not bear.

Any advice, warnings etc. on the rig I am planning to put together?

I have an OT discovery sport canoe 13ft with a square stern. I have a gamefisher 3 hp motor for it and it pushes it along pretty well (though with much noise). I have thought about a larger 4 stroke but the ones I've looked at weighed nearly 50 lbs. Also the canoe manual suggested that you not use any motor over 3 hp. I think the fear is that a bigger motor would overpower the boat and make sharp turns dangerous ( the power could capsize the boat). I think that if one was aware of the potential and was careful, a 5hp motor could be used. Also i got one of those tiller extenders so that I could operate the baot from the middle seat. That helps distribute the weight more evenly when going solo.

I should have mentioned that 5hp is the max motor that the manufacturer recommends on this boat.

Here I thought I already made a reply to this post ... guess I must be losing it!

I use a 3 hp Evinrude; the old two stroke kind (and twin cylinders, too). This motor will push any canoe or small boat right along. What is real important to me with motors on a skidish type craft like a canoe is that this motor has a "shift" ... or really, a clutch. You can start the thing in (N) and when all's ready, plunk it into forward and away you go. My experience with canoes and motors without this feature is that starting the motor in direct drive can be tricky. The total weight is 34 lbs, compared with it's counterpart, a 2 hp "one lunger", without the shift, weighing 29.7 lbs. Also, at 34 lbs it's easy to carry aways down to the lake or river.



Dale

You did already reply. I just made another post w/ canoe and outboard motor in the title to catch any other comments that might be out there. Thanks for the info!

Pat

My fishbud uses a large water jug in the front to add weight up front in the bow of his Grumman square stern canoe to distribute the weight. He claims this works well to keep the Grumman leveled while he is motoring alone.

One option that you might consider for stability sake is to add outriggers. I have a 17 foot Grumman which is not a square stern model and I've found them to be very useful and make the craft much more stable. I can standup and fish without any concerns. The outriggers are close to the thwarts so they really don't get in the way.

My dad built a motor hanger on the back of my 16 foot canoe as it did not have a square stern. Then we hung a 9.9 Johnson on it. With that 2 stroke I could get that canoe going an estimated 22 MPH. It was scary fun. One day we were running full bore and hit an underwater stump which tore the motor from the hanger and sent it into the bayou. That motor ran for a couple of minutes driving itself in circles underwater while attached to the chain, then it died and hasn't run since. We could get the thing on plane pretty easy. Steering is a major concern since a canoe isn't really made for this purpose, so make long slow turns instead of quick ones or you will capsize. I don't really think it's the safest thing in the world to be doing but why bother living if you're not going to live dangerously? Better wear your PFD.