Small crafts

[pig n jig]

Last year my 25 hp mercury quit on me. The trigger stator ring bit the dust.I put a ton of hours on it and decided that it's time to get a new motor to better suit my fishing use.I ended up getting a Nissan 8 hp 4 stroke.The reason I chose the 8hp , was because I have a 14 ft. aluminum and I troll with downriggers alot for trout and salmon. The 8 hp would troll easier for this purpose.At first, I said what in the hell did I do ? Going from a 25 hp to a 8 hp is a dramatic difference.The 25 hp merc pushed the little craft over 25 mph, where the 8 hp will only push it 17 MPH, dramatic difference, but yet it is fast enough to get you off the water if needed .The Nissan motor weighs 90 lbs, thats with the electric start option, which I needed in order to get a loop charging system to run my marine radio, extra lights, fishfinder, while keeping a full charged battery.It trolls dowriggers with ease, extremely quiet and there is no 2 stroke fume smell while trolling. I am averaging a gallon of gas for every 20 hours trolling time at 1.8-2.2 MPH and its under a gallon of gas for running around the lake in an hours time full throttle.It probably doesn't thrill alot of people, but those who fish from small aluminum boats, it's something to consider.For a 14 ft. aluminum, I think a 9.8 hp would better suit my needs, I listened to those who said you cannot slow the Evinrude 9.8hp 4 strokes down to troll efficiently, but my 8 hp will troll down to 0.3 mph , so I am thinking the Nissan 9.8 would troll slow enough, if you fished downriggers for trout and salmon , as I do. P N J