No Ideas on turning my V20 into a trawler speed boat

[MoonGlow II]

I was hoping some of you would have some thoughts on my idea of making my V20 into a slow boat like a hull speed trawler...Anyone have the same notion. It would be a nice roomy boat with a hardtop and camper type comfort for long weekends and overnight diving trips....Open to all your comments
Thanks again for all you prior help
PS just got my Pool Cover to use as my boat cover Will report back when I try it out

[phatdaddy]

if that is your goal, i'd sell the v-20 and pick up a 22 sailboat, cut the mast and all the rigging off and putt around on that. lot better for camping and cruising.

[MoonGlow II]

Had a sailboat, to hard to scuba dive from, to narrow, hard to fish from, and can always re power the V20 when more fuel efficient motors or electric motors come along

[draglink]

The problem I see - putting a small outboard is that engine is going to be STRUGGLING the whole time with the weight of the boat and you will kill it rather quickly....A trawler has a low turning diesel(torque) and a big wheel that is designed to lug a heavy boat at slow speed. If thats what you really want find an ex navy launch at a Govt auction....they have small diesels in them...they go pretty cheap.....trying to turn a V into a trawler type boat is like training a cat to go retrieve ducks.....just my 2 cents

[dbetterred]

One of your problems is that the v20 has a planing hull. Which makes it much less efficient than a hull designed for displacment speeds. Your v20 will always be trying to push itself up out of the water (on plane). A displacment hull simply won't plane no matter how much power you put behind it. It just gets less efficient with more power above the maximum hull speed.

If you want slow and smooth, your best choice is a boat designed for it. Luckily they are usually somewhat cheap. They have small motors and don't get beat up, cause they are never up on plane. And typically their owners are less hard on the boat.

[randlemanboater]

Several guys on here have already done what you are talking about......though not intentionally.....who all has a 15 hp kicker on their V?

I'd start by talking to those guys.

[yodaddy]

I've got a 2 stroke Yamaha 15 kicker on my V20. It will push the boat 7 mph in calm water, burning approximately 1 gph.

[RidgeRunner]

How about a throttle stop on your current rig. I mean adjust the throttle so that your current engine will only turn 2000 rpm WOT. If you can live with a non-planing, planing hull and it does what it needs to (such as carrying you thru inlets with a stiff current and such) Go For It.. You will discover the current engine is way more efficient at the slower speeds. You could get a much smaller motor, possibly find one with a larger lower unit (BIGFOOT that will give you a lot of thrust and better handling) and a small pitch prop so you aren't lugging the motor. It works for pontoon boats without killing the motor. A 50 hp 4-stroke gets crazy good mileage, you can run all day on less than 6 gallons. It would defeat your goal of spending less per trip unless you could find something cheap. Then, how long will it take you to get to and from your dive spots, reliability issues with buying something on the cheap. Playing devils advocate here. I think I want the 150 Optimax on mine, but don't want to give up the extra 100 hp from the 250 I have now and don't want the extra weight of the 3.0L 200-250.