Repowering 1650 Mr. Pike

[curtisb]

Just wanted to get some oppinions as to whether people thought this was a good idea or bad idea. I have a 1650 Lund Mr. Pike at the moment with a 70HP Yamaha 2-stroke. The boat is rated for a 90HP and is a little underpowered on Lake of the Woods with full live wells and 3 people in the boat on rough water. Wondering whether people thought it would be worth it re-power to a Yamaha F90 4-stroke. I will most likely keep the boat for another 3-4 years and then I am looking at buying something like a Lund 1850 Tyee or possibly something along the lines of a Ranger 1850 Reata.

I guess I could just live with it for now and upgrade sooner as well.

Any oppinions welcome. Thanks.
Curtis

[1625rebel]

What year is the Mr Pike? Just wondering what kind of resale you'll get when you go to trade it in. New motor + old boat can sometimes give you problems getting some money back on the motor.

If the boat is 10 yrs old or less, than go for the Yamaha. I have the F75 (same block as 90) on a 16 foot Lund with narrower beam. I get 40 out of it and acceleration is brisk. I would also consider the 90 Etec if you don't do a lot of low rpm trolling (hope that doesn't spark controversy here).

[2Labs]

Just wanted to get some oppinions as to whether people thought this was a good idea or bad idea. I have a 1650 Lund Mr. Pike at the moment with a 70HP Yamaha 2-stroke. The boat is rated for a 90HP and is a little underpowered on Lake of the Woods with full live wells and 3 people in the boat on rough water. Wondering whether people thought it would be worth it re-power to a Yamaha F90 4-stroke. I will most likely keep the boat for another 3-4 years and then I am looking at buying something like a Lund 1850 Tyee or possibly something along the lines of a Ranger 1850 Reata.

I guess I could just live with it for now and upgrade sooner as well.

Any oppinions welcome. Thanks.
Curtis


Curtis ... it strikes me that you have posed a question the answer to which depends on personal preference, job security, financial situation, how often you fish, how much traveling you do when you are on the water, how many years your 3 people will fish as a group, etc.

I have a Pike 18 with a 150 Opti and it is plenty of boat and motor for 3 people (18'2" long and 95 inches wide). I went up from an Alumacraft 165 Magnum (16.5 feet long and 80 inches wide) with a 75 Merc on it to my Pike. For me, it was a good move. But, that doesn't mean it would be a good move for you. That all depends on the variables I listed above, plus others I probably could come up with if I thought about it some more.

I fish the NE Quadrant of LOW at least 3 weeks a year. Personally, I will probably drop down a notch in size for my next boat for easier towing and garage storage. Something like a 17.5 footer. The wider boats being made now make for a better time when fishing 3 people compared with the 17 footers of 10 years ago. On the other hand, if your Pike 16 is a recent model, it is already probably 88 inches wide (that is what the Lund catalog shows for 2003) ... which isn't bad.

In the end, it comes down to personal choice.

If you are not sure what you want to do, you might consider a lower pitch prop (more torque but less top end speed) for your 70 while you sort your options and think about them (if lack of "grunt" is your complaint about that 70).

Personally, I bet you would not notice much difference between your 70 and a 90. Maybe a little more torque and a couple mph faster. If you are set on getting a bigger boat in 4 years, I would change the prop and live with the 70.

By the way, I struggled with a similar decision myself when I bought my Pike 18. I find that most of my cruising is done at 3500 rpm on that 150 Opti which combines max mpg with a 30 mph speed. I seldom get on the throttle and run at max rpm's (but I admit I do it for grins a couple of times on each fishing trip). I could have lived with the 30 mph with my 75 on my Alumacraft (top end was 42). For me, it wasn't the engine. It was the fishability of my entire rig (the boat was only 80 inches wide and liked to pitch side-to-side in rough water on LOW). The IPS hull of the Lund does make a big difference in stability ... but so does the fact that my boat is 95 inches wide.

[curtisb]

I guess I should have gave some more specs on my boat. It is a 1998 Lund Mr. Pike which has a beam of about 80" which is not to bad. I bought it last year from an older guy whom hardly ever used it and it is just like new. Overall I am happy with the boat other than the fact that I get wet on Lake of the Woods. I love the boat for the smaller lakes and it does well on Lake of the Woods most of the time. For those that don't know, Lake of the Woods is the huge lake on the Minnesota/Canadian border, about 50 x 90 miles in size. The main reason I went with the 1650 was for towing purposes, I tow it quite often behind my fifth wheel and it gets me within the legal limits.

However, the biggest problem with it is power. It seems to be a little lacking and I would like to be able to troll for Walleye on LOW without using my trolling motor. I only get about 32MPH out of it with 3 people aboard so I am not sure changing the pitch on the prop would be beneficial. My 70HP likes to troll at about 3.5mph in order for it to run well, I understand that I should be able to idle down quite a bit more with a 4-stroke. My other choice is obviously to add a kicker.

Yes, eventually, 4 years or so, I will get rid of it in favor of a Tyee or something along those lines more fitting to my family. Both my kids are under 7 years of age and love being out on the boat but hate no windshield and getting wet.

Thanks.
Curtis

[Hot Runr Guy]

Curtis,
First of all, welcome to Walleye Central. I'm a big believer in being happy with your rig, horsepower-wise, and spent $4500 to upgrade from a year old 60 4S to a 75 DFI motor, which provided a huge change in how the boat performed. But, according to NADA, your hull is worth roughly $3K, and a new F90 will probably cost you $8K, minus the value of your 70 2S. In 3-4 years, when you're ready to upgrade, I'll bet you have a hard time getting a good percentage of your investment back. I'm not sure if this had been brought up yet, but maybe trying to find something in the used market makes more sense.
If you need help trying to spend your money, we're the guys (and gals) to help! :cheers:

HRG

[curtisb]

Thanks everybody, I got some much needed information. I think you have succeeded at talking me out of my ordeal. :banghead:

I guess I will just continue using my ole Minnkota for trolling or else get a trolling plate for the 70 and deal with it for awhile.

Thanks.
Curtis

[1625rebel]

Good call on saving the $8k on a new F90, as you are considering upgrading. As long as you stay with Yamaha (same controls & rigging) I wouldn't rule out a used F90 though. It seems people get 41-45 out of your boat hull with maxed out 90 hp motors. It should troll down to the very low 2's for you.

Also consider looking at your prop a little closer. You can completely change a boats performance with a different prop. What's your WOT RPM's with a light load? Diameter and pitch?

Another fairly cheap option for trolling is going with a 24 volt system to get more battery life, or even adding a second battery in parallel to your 12 V system (assuming this is what you have).