Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Captain Joe
I don't know what 4-stroke you are referencing. The Yamaha is 60 pounds dry weight and the Mercury, which claims to have the lightest, is 57 pounds dry weight. If you leave the gas and oil on the shore, I guess you can by with the Mercury.
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If you call Porta-Bote (if you are lucky Sandy, the owner, will answer) and ask what size motor you can use on the various sizes, they will recommend the 6 H.P. Suzuki or Mercury/Tohatsu/Nissan (all three manufactured by Tohatsu) for the 12'. The 6 H.P. motors have an external tank as an option (the on board tank is too small to be practical). I actually have been using an 8 H.P. Honda for many years on the Bote. At 89 lbs. it well exceeds the recommended weight. RPHoward has been using a 6 H.P. Nissan for the same amount of time. The Honda will out run the Nissan, due to the extra H.P., but not by much.
But don't trust me, call Porta-Bote ((650) 961-5334 Monday through Friday Between 9 am and 2 pm PACIFIC TIME.) and talk to them.
We do a lot of crabbing on the Oregon coast. We originally used an inflatable but found the flotation tubes take up a *LOT* of interior room. Two people, traps, bait and misc. extras (PFDs, oars, etc.) require room that didn't exist. The Bote's interior space is just slightly less than the exterior dimensions. Much more useable space for us. YMMV
We have been using these Botes for six years