Thread: portaboat
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Old 12-03-2007
Valiente Valiente is offline
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I haven't had the one I bought from Killarney Sailor out yet, but my impression is that the limitation is a weight limitation on the transom of circa 55 pounds. Some 4 HP four-strokes are below that now, and it's conceivable that a 5 HP of 50 lbs. is here or "in the works".

I would say that weight limit plus your prop design, plus the way you distribute weight (a 160 lb. man and a 110 lb. woman, or two typical Americans?) in the Portabote is going to determine whether you can plane or not.

In my Zodiac 310 RIB, I could plane with a Doel fin on my Honda 9.9 4-stroke (about 110 lbs. of engine, as it was a long-shaft) only by leaning far forward when alone, but my Mercury 9.9 two-stroke with NO Doel fin (about 70 lbs. and short shaft) got me on the plane effortlessly and could do so with only slightly more delay with my small wife and smaller son in the bow. My point is that on a transom-weight sensitive craft, little things appear to make a difference: a full 5 gallon gas tank on the Zodiac put me on the plane faster than the 3 gallon Honda tank I preferred to use for space and convenience reasons, because the extra "ballast forward" kept the whole thing more horizontal.

Hope this helps.
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