Pro-V 1800 Tiller w/ Yamaha 90, How Fast?

[IeyeA]

Either 2 stroke or 4 stroke what kind of speed can I expect. What do you like or dislike about this rig. Anyone running a kicker instead of an electric to backtroll with? If so how effective is backtrolling with the kicker vs electric. Also it looks like the aft livewell takes up alot of room in this boat. What do you think about the layout.

Thanks

[rebelrn]

Maybe mid 30's. I have a 1775 w/Honda 75, I get low 30's.

[REW]

I agree with the previous post.
You will be getting 30-34 mph, depending on prop, loading etc.

Take care
REW

[tjsker]

Here ya go:

http://www.yamaha-motor.com/products/otb/perfbull/performance_02.html

[Eagle Guy]

I have a 2001 with a 90 Merc two stroke. I run a 74 lb Vantage on the back and 65 AP on the bow. I would HIGHLY recommend the Vantage if you like to back troll and work structure. The Vantage will handle the boat in pretty big chop. If it gets too out of hand, I just use my 90, but I would say I can use my Vantage 90% of the time when I'm back trolling (love this trolling motor!). Also like the boat for casting, lots of room to roam and nothing to get in the way when you are fighting fish. I also troll a lot with cranks and the boat works great for this as well. All around, I think it is a very nice all purpose fishing rig.
Speed.... 33-36 depending on load and conditions.

[Ambler]

IeyeA,

I have a 2003 ProV 1800 tiller, and I can tell you that the other posters are right on about your speed. A heavy boat load will be hard to plane easily, and you should look for a stern lifting prop. I tried a few and settled for a Powertech prop that does the job quite nicely. My boat can be very rear heavy with the motor, full live well, 35 gallons of gas, and kicker motor. If you do any serious backtrolling at all I would recommend the Yamaha T-8 kicker as an absolute must. The 1800 is a big boat and has a lot of sideboard to act as a sail. I have a 24-36 volt rear electric from my previous ProV that has become obsolete, I just NEVER use it. The electric trim and tilt on this kicker make it a dream. The motor is so quiet that people in the front of the boat do not even hear it. This little motor purrrrs like a sewing machine. I have sat on top of both walleyes and smallies in 12 feet of water with this kicker running while backtrolling in three footers on Rainy lake, and the fish just keep coming into the boat:) I use my rig on big water, and have backtrolled with this kicker in 5-7 foot rollers. A good set of splash guards are a must. Someone on this forum recommended Whitecap splash guards, they are easy on, and easy off, and are custom made for each boat. And at half the price of Wave wackers they are quite a deal. I could not be happier with this set up, tons of room in the boat etc... One more thing, I used to fish about 50% from the rear, and 50% from the front with my autopilot up there. After using this kicker for a two seasons, it is about 95% rear, and 5% up front. My minkota has cobwebs on it. You will spend a little more for the T-8, but you will come to depend on it more than your electric motors. I am sorry for the lenght, but I hope this helps.

Ambler

[IeyeA]

Ambler,

Sounds like a kicker may be a good idea. If I went with a Yamaha 2 stroke would I pick up a little more speed? Did you price your rig with 2 stroke? I am wondering if the difference in price between a 90 4 stroke and 2 stroke would almost pay for a T8. Also, do you find that you are ever sitting too far away from the transom with the livewell and splash pan back there or is the set up pretty comfortable for a full day of fishing. Thanks for your reply.

[iaia]

bump to ambler

[John Hunt]

Ambler:

Thanks for your information. Could you tell me how you have your T-8 set up? Port - Starboard? Tiller - Remote? And which seat base do you use?

Thanks.
John

[Ambler]

IeyeA and John,

Sorry it took so long to get back to you I have been out the last two days. IeyeA I will get to your inquiries first. I guess you might save on the two stroke over the four. I would add that this heavy tiller rig probably makes acceleration less of an issue. I do not use mine for skiing or tubing, so I'm not sure you really gain using the two over the four stroke there. I like the quiet at full throttle of the four 80. Others sitting next to you can hear you without having to yell. The lack of smell and two stoke oil worries are also awefully nice. From what I understand, these motors are rated and geared in such a way that your top end will be practically identical regardless of which style you choose. This makes sense intuitively to me, you are not going to get 100 hp performance out a two stroke 90 vs. a four stroke 90. They say you will get better hole shot and acceleration since the motor jumps up the torque curve and hits higher rpms faster, but again I do not think that impacts top end like you might hope.

On the issue of room and ease of use of the T-8. Yamaha has obviously engineered this tiller's handle so that it is right at your left hand when driving your boat. You can look right at your electronics and easily manuever your tiller without having to lean over, reach, etc.. As you probably know, this 1800 ProV has a very large splashwell. The T-8 tiller's controls fit easily over this span. I even mounted my marker bouy holder on the side of the boat right over the splashwell so I can just take my hand off the tiller, grab the marker, and toss with great ease. Like I mentioned earlier, I have abandoned using the front of the boat for almost all of my fishing applications. This T-8 tiller has throttle lock, and an easy to use steering tension lock so that you can set your course and fish hands free when trolling open water. A friend, who has the T-8 on a 1900 proV with a counsel, warned me that the tiller set up would make landing big fish in big water difficult. We have found that this has not been the case at all. I often just stand up on the livewells and grab boards, net fish and just leave the motor take care of itself. You will also find that once you set a general course you can use your big tiller as a rudder to make slight course adjustment without having to touch the kicker. We have yet to lose a fish because the driver was in the way of the landing process. We do lose our share due to poor netting, a large coefficient of stupidity, and just plain being dumb when it counts most, but the driving the boat issues just are not there. On the other hand, show me another boat that will backtroll in 3-6 foot swells and keep you on fish like this boat can.

This spring we backtrolled down current in the Menominee river pulling boards and harnesses on bottom bouncers and had the opportunity to watch a poor guy driving a brand new Tyee trying to backtoll like us with a slight cross breeeze. This guy did nothing but spin that steering wheel all day, left hard, then right hard, over and over and over. I really do not know how he held a rod, watched his depth, and kept from going insane trying to keep his boat straight.

John, I am a bit learning disabled over the port starboard thing. While sitting in the drivers seat, the kicker is on the left side of the main motor. My electric is on the side furthest from my reach. Also, the ride in this heavy boat is very smooth for the driver sitting a the very back of the boat. I use the standerd seat Lund sent with the package, a somewhat fancy fold up seat (approx. $170 each if that helps) and I have not found the need to use a more sophisticated shock absorbing system. My fishing friends take far more shock than I do. As you can probably see, they sit near where a counsel driver normally sits. As you probably inferred from the above, there is no need for remote controls if you sit in the driver's seat. I guess you coud use one if you want to sit up front and control the kicker, but from what little information I have about these systems I am not sure how you would steer this system since you ae not rigged to the main motor or a steering wheel. I think you might utilize remote throttle controls if you planned on using a front electric for steering, but that sounds like a lot of work to me. When I want such precise control, I put down my front trolling motor, and I have the front flasher rigged to send its signal to my back flasher so the I can start a turn as soon as possible.

The best advice my dealer has ever given me is that there is nothing like the T-8. After two years of heavy use in my tiller, I could not agree more. Also, FWIW, a frien has a Yammy T-6, we had it on Lake of the woods this summer, and he used less than four gallons of gas backtrolling all week long. I never get a feel for the gas use since I draw my fuel from the main 40 gallon tank, but they seem to be very miserly when it comes to their fuel use.

Sorry for the long reply, but I hope this answers your questions and gives you some idea how this set up might work for you.

Ambler

[IeyeA]

Ambler,

Thanks for taking time to explain your set up and your experinces with the rig. Sounds like a bullet proof set up.

IeyeA

[IeyeA]

Ambler,

Thanks for taking time to explain your set up and your experinces with the rig. Sounds like a bullet proof set up.

IeyeA

[MNJackpot]

IeyeA;

Back to your question: I'm running this same tiller rig, proped with a 13 x 17 Yamaha sstl prop so my max rpm's are at 5950 and I get 34 mph per gps with perfect conditions and drop about 1.5 to 2 mph when loaded down w/ extra people and their gear.

Good luck,

MNJackpot

[Difference]

The difference in cost is about 1600 bucks.