What is the right size motor for 14 or 16 ft boats?

Most boats have max motor out put. My 14/48 is 25hp. Go with what is posted on the transum max for outboard. More is better, performance....heres what I done with my 25ph 2004 Merc Classic, choose the correct pitch on your prop,(aluminuim prop suck, too much drag too soft of metal chips easly) stainless, this will allow the motor to operate in the RMP range your manufacture alows to. I run a 3 blade, 3 blade fastest but in some cases the 4 blade will deliver more bow lift to achive faster speeds. I run a REBEL prop, 3 blade design highly polished stainless steel, excellent fuel economy with longer cruising speeds & faster speeds at lower RMP. (I sand blasted it and sprayed a black matte teflon moly coating on mine) I dislike shinny props & the teflon moly helps for cleaning. Another is how your motor sits on the transum, most are set at 12 degree's(thats normal), I run a 2004 Mercury Classic 25hp long shaft, I built a elevated transum for the long shaft, I wanted to get the max output performance of my boat & outboard. After several trips in the water I ended up setting my elevated transum @ 12.5 degrees. You might think 12.5 degrees ain much or doesnt matter but it was a good difference in whole shot & planing. The boat comes out of the water fast planes quickly & the motor doesnt work as hard. (this is when it was a duck boat) now I lost alot of speed from this converting it to a bowfishing boat. But just slapping a outboard on and calling it good is what you get from it, fine tuning everything to the boat is another. Spending the time tinkering with what you can do to inhance the performance is another. I've done other things to my motor as well, opening up the air intake (larger) exhaust(large) running non ethonal fuel.

No! on going bigger. Weight of the motor will sag the azz end of that boat low low in the water, too much of a risk of back wash. Theirs a reason why manufactures have outboard limits on their boats. Typically a 35hp would be the largest "I" would suggest on a 16ft, but all that info is on the transum of your boat. Weight limit, max outboard size recomended. My 2004 Mercury 25hp long shaft weight is 118 lbs. Be safer to go with a 25hp motor. Now you can add more weight to the transum by float pods, I done this on my boat, float pods will add as much as 200lbs more buoyancy. I swear by them for numerous reasons.



I have the Beavertail pod, I ordered them direct and they were great to work with. All their information is located on their web site for the size pods needed. Their pretty easy to install, just follow the instructions.