Pontoon Boat Motor Upgrade Question

One of these days my motor is going to konk out. It’s a 1980 Evinrude 35hp 2-cycle and, while it starts like a dream and runs really good when it’s warmed up, it’s old, it’s got a lot of hours on it, and I’m getting a bit concerned that it’s going to leave me stranded one of these days.

So, I’m thinking of proactively upgrading (hopefully, maybe, someday) before it just up and leaves me stranded somewhere on pool 2. The question I have is this:

Since I’m gonna be upgrading to a newer, warranted used motor, what sort of HP range should I be looking at? I can’t find the Coast Guard sticker on the boat, so I don’t know what it’s rated for. Ercoa’s website says their 21′ pontoons can go up to 90HP, which works for me, but I want to make sure that’s legit before I start sniffing around for prices.

I’m assuming when I do this that I’m looking at needing to install new throttle, shifter and steering (fine by my, the old ones are quite, erm, old) and I can’t imagine doing this without getting electric tilt/trim, too.

Advice anyone?

I wouldn’t write off a motor solely based on its age.

Coming from a guy that has spent 80+% of his time fishing in front of motors of that vintage and older, not one has ever left leave me stranded. If it ain’t broke…. Well you know how that saying goes…

Now I do understand that random things can happen and stuff can break, but as long as proper maintenance is done and you don’t beat on the thing, I wouldn’t be shocked to see the thing running in another 20 years. I mean, just thing of all the fishing stuff you can buy for the price of a motor.

However, If you’re truly set on re-powering the toon, I’d keep in mind weight distribution. While I’m not sure how evenly distributing weight on a pontoon compares to a regular boat, depending on where you’ve got stuff placed it could get real back heavy in a hurry. If I’m not mistaken the 35hp Evinrude was the virtually identical to the 25hp (aside from carbs etc), which weighs significantly less than a 90hp 4stk.

My 2 cents

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I wouldn’t write off a motor solely based on its age.

Coming from a guy that has spent 80+% of his time fishing in front of motors of that vintage and older, not one has ever left leave me stranded. If it ain’t broke…. Well you know how that saying goes…

Now I do understand that random things can happen and stuff can break, but as long as proper maintenance is done and you don’t beat on the thing, I wouldn’t be shocked to see the thing running in another 20 years. I mean, just thing of all the fishing stuff you can buy for the price of a motor.

However, If you’re truly set on re-powering the toon, I’d keep in mind weight distribution. While I’m not sure how evenly distributing weight on a pontoon compares to a regular boat, depending on where you’ve got stuff placed it could get real back heavy in a hurry. If I’m not mistaken the 35hp Evinrude was the virtually identical to the 25hp (aside from carbs etc), which weighs significantly less than a 90hp 4stk.

My 2 cents

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x2 Drive it like you stole it!! Proper maintenence and that motor will run forever

I’m one of the guys who wants stuff to start and work correctly when I turn the key. I upgraded from a 2 stroke 60hp Yamaha to a 60hp 4 stroke Yamaha and couldn’t be happier. I don’t know that I would ever max out a pontoon. After all isn’t the point to haul the wife and kids? Speed won’t be the main concern, reliability, cost will be your main factors. Maybe split the difference and get a 60 hp?

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I’m one of the guys who wants stuff to start and work correctly when I turn the key. I upgraded from a 2 stroke 60hp Yamaha to a 60hp 4 stroke Yamaha and couldn’t be happier. I don’t know that I would ever max out a pontoon. After all isn’t the point to haul the wife and kids? Speed won’t be the main concern, reliability, cost will be your main factors. Maybe split the difference and get a 60 hp?

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The ‘toon has 2 primary purposes. One is definitely family fun in the sun… but lately it’s been used far more for an all-night catfishing barge on the river. It’s been on the St. Croix and the Mississippi far more than it’s been on any local lakes… and the river is mostly where the newer, higher power, more reliable motor would be useful. Tooling around on the lake, no biggie. Getting up and down the river? A bit more of a biggie. Right now I can barely make 10 MPH against the current.

And getting stranded on the river gives me the freakin chills… and not because it’s cold out there.

I’m getting good info here tho! I love getting people’s opinions about this kind of thing because it means making better, more informed decisions.

So when on the river at NIGHT how fast are the cattin’ crowd running? Seems to me that running a river at night at any kind of speed is looking for trouble. Deadheads, anchored boats, sand bars, wouldn’t that require moderate to slow speeds?

I’m not condemning anybody, just seems that slower speeds would be in order at night.

Anyway, 60 hp four stroke is my vote.

Depends on the stretch of river, moonlight, weather, etc., I will often run pretty slow, but other times, depending on the circumstances, open’er wide open. Daytime is the same, but speeds run a bit higher then. I’ve been in boats that were wide open with a 90HP motor behind them at 2AM with no incident.

So the only real answer to your question is “it depends”. But a lot of the time it’d be nice to open it up a bit and make some time on the river, not to mention being able to pull a tube behind the ‘toon for the kids as they get older.

If you’re looking at that 60hp range, I’d check into a Honda 4-Stroke

My 2 cents if I could swing it and the toon will take it I would go for the 90hp. Some day the weather gets bad, or emergency it is nice to have the extra umph. The 90 will work a lot less then the 60 even at low speeds and use less fuel. With the 60 may have the tendency to run it wide open where the 90 maybe, maybe not. Kids on tubes the 60 is going to work hard…tubing is not any fun at 15-18 MPH.

J, your current motor just sounds like it needs some love. Two strokes down’t wear out very fast in fresh water unless someone how they run short of oil.

Toons are an awesome example of diminishing returns. You might double the size of motor to get 5mph.

Thanks everyone! Just FYI – I’m in no rush to make this happen, but I’ll probably consider upgrading to the full 90HP sometime (or just upgrading the boat heh). Eventually I’d like to have one of those tri-hull beasts with the 250 on it, but for now the 35 is running well and I don’t actually have any complaints.

Well, the fact that the tilt is fully manual and I really gotta watch my depth is kind of a PITA, but beyond that I’m happy!