Have a 12' L, 4' W aluminum v hull row boat w/ transom of 15" no hp plate on boat?

Question

i have a 12 foot long and 4 foot wide v hull row boat with a 15" transom with no hp plate on it (boat was purchased by my dad 50 years ago). i also have an 8 hp short shaft outboard that i inherited. would this be too large for this boat? hopefully not as i really don't want to buy a different motor as this one was just serviced and checked out.

Answer 1

no that's ok but i wouldn't get any bigger than that

Answer 2

Unfortunately, from that information the question cant be answered.

Hull thickness, hull design(size and shape), transom design, transom thickness, and buoyancy all have factors in this equation.

Best way is to find the manufacturer and see if has a horsepower rating.

next to find comparable boat with approximately the same design and material specifications and see what its rated for.

next is find someone with same boat and see what they are using.

and last is to try it.  

Just based on experience sounds like you are in a really safe ball park in engine size.

If you overpower an aluminum boat, you will not usually get a explosive failure, more than likely what you will notice is cracks forming in the transom, bad welds breaking, the hull shape bending (flat bottom boats bend at the planing water line) and the boat becoming squirrelly due to stability issues.

Answer 3

nope that motor will work great

i have two 12 foot boats and my 8 works great on both of them

in fact on my wider of the two i have a 20 hp that i use all the time and it is fast but not unstable or scary

Answer 4

you should be fine with an 8 hp outboard, I have a 12 foot v hull and I've had a 25hp on it a couple times( don't recommend that. it went fast but never would plane out)  I haven't looked in a while but i believe mine is rated for 15hp  and it was made in 1958

Answer 5

An 8hp should work out ok.  I wish I wasn't away from my desk or I'd use the info you gave to punch into the ABYC (American Boat & Yacht Council) guidelines to determine what size motors are safe for the hull in question.