Thread: Flotation pods and repowering

My experience is with a whole different class of boat from yours. I added them to my 16' War Eagle with 50 hp Yamaha tiller for the purpose of being able to get on plane in very shallow water. It worked perfectly for my application. They made the back of the boat ride higher in the water and also provided a neat set of "steps" for climbing in the boat. There is really no bow rise when you gas it from a stand still, the boat just rises out of the water and stays pretty level the whole time. The only negative I've seen is that trimming the motor up, while on plane, doesn't raise the bow any at all. So, in my boat at least, I lost a couple of MPH's at full throttle.

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate your insight.

What effect does the lack of bow rise have on the ride of the boat in rough water?

How can you legally raise the hp beyond the rated hp? I am underpowered, but I have max rated approved hp on my Pondtoon aka 30hp on a 16 foot boat.

From what I've read there are ways around it. You can file (somehow) for a variance based off design or performance. I have to do more homework to find out how to do that.

Originally Posted by FurFlyin

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate your insight.

What effect does the lack of bow rise have on the ride of the boat in rough water?

If anything, it improves the ride in choppy water.

Thanks shadboy. This isn't going to be an any time soon project, but it is on the horizon.

When rating boats today several things are considered by builder not least of which is steering single cable, dual cable and on certain boats to go higher in rating it requires hydraulic steering. Long time ago there was a formula from coast guard as a basic starting point. Length vs width of transom plus depth and bow width. But i think the revised that a few years ago. I know that on some boats (cane pole has one ) crappie deluxe they changed hp rating in different years but still same exact Hull. Main thing is sit down with insurance agent and discuss what would happen if you went higher than rated hp. I don’t know any way you can legally change the rating yourself. Figure you would have to go through manufacturer.


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Was going to add them to a 1542 war eagle but was told by manufacturer I would lose warranty because of altering the boat . They offered to do it for 3x what I could do it for .