Conference vicki::boats

    
    The US Coast Guard requires all boats to have a permanent label which
    
    states the capacity (# of persons) and the maximum H.P. allowed.
    
    The closer to the max. H.P. the less likely you are to be unhappy
    
    with it. When you get out on a big lake you are most likely to want
    
    more, generally speaking. It's like the potato chip theory.....

    	It would seem that this is only applicable to planing hull designs.
    Sailboats use miniscule motors to push them along when under power and
    wine glass type hulls have characteristics so different than planing
    hulls so as to make this ratio less effective at showing anything
    usefull.
    
    	As .1 mentioned, look at Max HP for given boats and divide that
    into the boats weight to get what should be, the lower set of ratio
    numbers representing the other side of the spectrum.
    
    	Ray

    Actually the capacity plate is a requirement for bouts under a certain
    size.  I don't remember the size.  Larger boats have a plate that
    states compliance with all CG regs at time of manufacture. 
    
    You can figure out the hp required from several books.  The one that
    comes mind is the Propeller Book by Dave Gerr or his The Nature of
    Boats for a simpler look.  
    
    If you have choice.  Get the bigger engine.  You can always pull the
    throttle back.  But is very hard to go past the stop.       
    
    If you expect to have wildly varing loads.  ie 1 to n people.  You should
    size the engine for the max load.  Changing the prop pitch is also a
    possibility to deal with various loads.  I had two props for a 26ft
    express cruiser with 260hp IO.  One for light loads.  Day trips with
    just my wife, and a second 1 inch shallower for overnight trips with
    4 people.  (the beer for 4 people for week weighs alot :-).
    The person I sold the boat to forgot to put the lower pitch prop on
    when he took out 8 people.  Max rpm was about 3300 for 30 sec.  Then he
    cracked one piston and holed a second.
    
    
    KC
    
    
    

	I think HP/Weight ratio can be a valid number, but like
many other statistics it's got to have a caveat of "all other things
being equal". Like prop pitch, type of hull......

	For instance, many people have said to me, "I would really like
a Nautique". When I ask why, they say "...because they're really fast".
To them, the 255 HP engine in my Nautique means speed, which, of course, isn't
true. Because the prop is a 13 pitch and the hull is more a displacement
hull than planing the top speed is only 43 MPH. Granted it will get to
43 MPH pretty damn quick with just about anything tied to the transom! :-)

	But, the point is that if you're comparing similar design
boats (with the same pitch props) then the ratio is going to mean
something, otherwise it could be very misleading.

	My philosophy.... Buy the biggest engine the boat and
your wallet can handle, you won't be disappointed.

Rick

    Thanks for your inputs.  I believe you're all trying to say the same
    thing...go as big as you can.  Like one of the replies stated, <<you
    can always pull back on the throttle, but you can't push past the
    stop>>.  Our initial plan was to get into boating with a cruiser, but
    my wife and I decided perhaps we should walk into this instead of run
    blindly.  We have now decided that our purchase this fall will be
    something around a 20 footer, full canvas, (for those nice cool but
    sunny October days), and some toys for our 17 year old son and some of
    his friends.  BTW, he was much happier when we told him about our
    change in plans.  Anywho, there's an extremely large amount of boats
    for sale that suit our needs, so it should be quite difficult to make a
    choice.  We plan on buying a used one first, so this makes it even more
    difficult.  Will keep you posted.
    
    Rick_who_really_wants_to_get_out_there_and_splash!