Thoughts on a 30hp on an Alumacraft Competitor 165 tiller

I currently have ‘95 Alumacraft Lunker 16’ with a 30hp 4 stroke Suzuki tiller that is only a couple years old. I’m thinking about upgrading to an Alumacraft Competitor 165 tiller (or something similar) with a max hp of 70hp. but don’t have the cash for a new motor right now too and would rather not finance a motor. I know it would be underpowered, but how do you think it would handle with the 30hp? Would I be able to get on plane with 3 guys(maybe 600lbs) plus gear, etc. It would probably be a couple years before I upgraded to something like a 60hp.

I usually fish smaller lakes and speed isn’t a big concern. More concerned about not getting on plane at all.

The bigger boat and space would be nice, but not at the trade off of too much performance loss which if that is the case maybe it would be better to wait and get both new boat and motor at the same time.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Edit to add: Thanks for the replies. Consensus is that 30hp would too underpowered, so best option is to wait.

I can’t imagine it would be even close to planing off with 3 people in the boat.

Wait!

I would wait. Or buy a older 2 stroke 60 for the time being. The 30 on that would not be a great choice in my opinion.

Would you rather wait and be happy.

Or rush in and regret every minute of ownership?

Keep what you have, good deals will come along.

Go for it… It will work for now. I have a 2019 30hp Suzuki tiller on a 16′ Sea Snapper and it goes 27mph. Kid has had 4 teenagers 600lbs+ in it and it gets up on plane with no issues. A 60hp would be better of course though but you can always swap it out down the road.

Thanks for the replies. I figured that the consensus would be to wait, but it’s fun to think about a new boat.

From specs, it appears the Competitor boat would be 357 lbs more (920 lbs total) in dry weight and I guess that is too much for a 30hp.

I can keep saving until the right scenario presents itself.

Wait and be happy.

I bought an older Lund 16′ Tiller with an Evinrude 60 & trailer and it runs perfectly.

Ive rode in both a 1675 Lund Pro Guide & a 165 competitor with 4stroke 60hp motors and both imo were under powered with 3 guys and full livewells. they are wide boats and need some decent hp to get up on plane.

I have a Competitor 165CS with a 60HP. No way a 30 will get it on plane with 3 people in the boat.

KG,
Which Lunker 16′ do you have now? There’s a 100+# weight difference between them.

Anyway, I’ve been thru this 60hp tiller combination a couple of times now, you REALLY need to minimize your hull weight, preferably no more than 800#, even less if you always fish with 3 on board. As mentioned in the above post, the 165 Comp would still be under-powered, even with a 60 on it.

HRG

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Hot Runr Guy wrote:

KG,
Which Lunker 16′ do you have now? There’s a 100+# weight difference between them.

Anyway, I’ve been thru this 60hp tiller combination a couple of times now, you REALLY need to minimize your hull weight, preferably no more than 800#, even less if you always fish with 3 on board. As mentioned in the above post, the 165 Comp would still be under-powered, even with a 60 on it.

HRG

I currently have the Lunker LTD model, the heavier one with a max 45hp rating. The 30hp I have on there now performs to my satisfaction without any issues.

As much as I’d like to upgrade now, it seems best to wait until I can get the right boat/motor combo from the start.

A relatively inexpensive way to get by with the 30 horse would be to get a large diameter, shallow pitch prop. It’ll allow the motor to run at higher RPMs. That will help with getting on plane.
I have a 16.5 Lunker II with a Merc 25 hp 4 stroke. It’s a heavy boat for a 25, but bought this set up for fishing lakes with HP restrictions.
After some experimenting, I found a prop with an 8.5 pitch worked to get on plane, 2 big guys, full live well at about 20mph.

Does the width/beam matter? Lots of people have mentioned weight but the Competitor is much wider than a Lunker.

Yes, the “beamier” the hull the harder it will be to plane, due to the wall of water it has to push over. A longer, narrower hull, especially one that can put a passenger up near the bow, will plane easier than a wider hull, with 2 passengers sitting side by side mid-point.

HRG