outboard question

[donal murphy]

i bought a 17ft boat that used to fish out of greystones, but ive only been using it in lakes fishing for pike cause i only have a 2hp outboard... but im just wondering wud 2hp do the job while i wait to get a bigger engine... im dying to go tope fishing in it!

[TubeNFish]

i bought a 17ft boat that used to fish out of greystones, but ive only been using it in lakes fishing for pike cause i only have a 2hp outboard... but im just wondering wud 2hp do the job while i wait to get a bigger engine... im dying to go tope fishing in it!

Because a boat is essentially weightless, the weight being supported by water, the smallest of engines can push very large boats. That's why your 17 footer can go on a lake with only 2HP outboard.

However, water is not friction free, so moving through water at increasing speed requires rapidly increasing power, to push the boat through water. To test this if you go onto a river you will soon see how little 2HP can cope with faster (going upstream) demands from the boat.

Next there is the winds, a 17' boat catches a lot of wind, and the wind on the coast is far greater than the wind inland. A stiff breeze would be able to reduce your forward speed to nil.

So my guess is in flat calm, in a sheltered bay, on a nice day, it would work.
But the sea is not normally so nice.
In open water offshore, with a breeze cancelling the forward power of your 2HP engine, what will make the boat move in the direction you hope to go? Only extra power will overcome the resistance of wind, wave, and current, and still push the boat home.

For sea fishing inshore, if it is a displacement hull, you need at least 6HP, preferable 10HP, and if it is a planing hull you need at least 15HP and preferably between 25 HP and 50HP.
A heavily made boat would want to be at the upper end of the ranges I have suggested.

[The Austrian]

very good advice there TubeNFish, spot on