Trolling with 4 stroke outboards

[reeleyz]

I am thinking about getting a little bit bigger boat. I am looking at some 16' boats. Seems like most all new boats have 4 strokes this year.

I know the 4 strokes are supposed to idle down better than the 2 strokes.

My question for you guys is have you been sucessful getting a 50HP or 60HP 4 stroke to troll down to say 1.2 - 1.5 MPH?

[Reel Force]

I got a 90hp and use a drift bag ... no problems.... not sure if that helps... 

[esox v]

I am thinking about getting a little bit bigger boat. I am looking at some 16' boats. Seems like most all new boats have 4 strokes this year.

I know the 4 strokes are supposed to idle down better than the 2 strokes.

My question for you guys is have you been sucessful getting a 50HP or 60HP 4 stroke to troll down to say 1.2 - 1.5 MPH?

Yes you can... My question is would you want to put those hours on your big motor ?

[reeleyz]

Yes you can... My question is would you want to put those hours on your big motor ?

Good point. I am not that concerened about it though. I have a 20 year old 30 HP evenirude that has hundreds, heck probably thousands of hours trolling on it with no issues.

[DWS]

I use a 50hp yamma on 18ft sea ark and it trolls down just fine. It's a 2 stroke though. Dont know if the 4 stroke would be different. Hard to handle the boat in the wind sometimes  on low trolling speeds . See ya

[bcons]

I am thinking about getting a little bit bigger boat. I am looking at some 16' boats. Seems like most all new boats have 4 strokes this year.

I know the 4 strokes are supposed to idle down better than the 2 strokes.

My question for you guys is have you been sucessful getting a 50HP or 60HP 4 stroke to troll down to say 1.2 - 1.5 MPH?

If it doesn't a beaver tail/trolling plate can be had on ebay for $50 used, $80-100new.  Much better performance than a bag/sock or buckets. 
The thing with the 4 strokes and using the main to troll, is the maint........ 4 strokes require much more, & more moving parts than your old motor.  So depending on how much you troll, by the time you factor in increased maintance, buring more fuel than a kicker, possible increased repairs due to additional hours, & loss of value, is it worth it to you?  Everyones different.  Just don't forget the costs, even if you do your own maint, the gas north of $4? A 50-90 burns a WHOLE LOT more than a kicker even idled down.

[pyle]

I am thinking about getting a little bit bigger boat. I am looking at some 16' boats. Seems like most all new boats have 4 strokes this year.

I know the 4 strokes are supposed to idle down better than the 2 strokes.

My question for you guys is have you been sucessful getting a 50HP or 60HP 4 stroke to troll down to say 1.2 - 1.5 MPH?

I have an '09 60 hp Merc 4 stroke  and it will troll down too 1.2

[TheSystem]

also, if you're unhappy with the sped your motor holds, you can prop up or down, changing the pitch of the prop to increase or decrease thrust without changing the whole engine.  plus having a spare prop on hand never hurts.

[reeleyz]

Thanks for the responses guys. All good info.

[wsr137]

I tell everyone that gets a new 4 stroke from me to go and try it first.  Maybe 1 guy out of 20 will want to add a kicker...  

Someone else had mentioned cost and wear tear.  I agree. But, you also have to keep in mind to put a say a 10 hp kicker on the back new could cost you another $2k to $4k depending on how you wanna do it.  

The new 4 strokes will sit and idle all day.  Quiet, wont load up, and you just change the oil at the end of the season.  Im a fan of 4's for trolling.

[filetandrelease]

me to i have a 9.9, 4 S pro kicker on mine and it runs almost all day and it burns almost no fuel ,and no fumes and quiet, super pleased

[SnowRd]

I troll with a 115 yamaha 4 stroke use 2 drift socks to really slow me down. maint. has not been an issue, oil and filters once a year. Engine has never loaded up. A drift sock is much cheaper than a kicker motor. and you can do probably 20 years of normal maintenance for the price of a kicker.

[esox v]

I fish more than the average person... So... I would never want to use my main motor to troll with...  I can also troll 8 hours with my kicker and burn a gallon of gas. You can dial in your speed way better with a kicker..      
The key words are probably and normal maintenance..... I would double my routine maintenance If your running your outboard 4 to 8 hrs a day when your trolling all season and its way above normal use.
It probably won't be a problem... but if your big motor takes a dump... and they do... or boat dealers wouldn't have a  service department.... your going to be off the water until it's repaired and stranded on the water if it does. Not to mention paying the money to have a 50-60 hp repaired apposed to a 6. Your old 30 hp doesn't have a cam shaft and valves.
 I would look for a deal and add one in the future... for a 16ft boat a 9.9 would be big and you could use a smaller one.  

[JDK]

I have a Mercury 50 hp 4 stroke.  I can get to 1.8-1.9 without a bag.

[filetandrelease]

I fish more than the average person... So... I would never want to use my main motor to troll with...  I can also troll 8 hours with my kicker and burn a gallon of gas. You can dial in your speed way better with a kicker..      
The key words are probably and normal maintenance..... I would double my routine maintenance If your running your outboard 4 to 8 hrs a day when your trolling all season and its way above normal use.
It probably won't be a problem... but if your big motor takes a dump... and they do... or boat dealers wouldn't have a service department.... your going to be off the water until it's repaired and stranded on the water if it does. Not to mention paying the money to have a 50-60 hp repaired apposed to a 6. Your old 30 hp doesn't have a cam shaft and valves.
 I would look for a deal and add one in the future... for a 16ft boat a 9.9 would be big and you could use a smaller one.  

yep theres more to it than an oil change, your absolutely right , in my case it would be just stupid to use my main motor to troll with, in some cases electric trollers are a better way to go than a 4S , cheaper and more cost effective  but for a gas troller it would be a 4S