# HEAVY 1448 GRIZZLY, NEED HELP WITH MOTOR SUGGESTIONS



## bassin0331 (Feb 15, 2017)

Need some input.... Narrowed down the motor I want to a Suzuki 20 4 stroke, tohatsu 20 4 stroke, or an Evinrude etec 25hp. Scared of I get the 20 4 stroke it will be underpowered. I'm a big guy and it's a heavy boat. Any input an experience would be appreciated


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## bobberboy (Feb 15, 2017)

I have this boat with a 25MercEFI w/T&T. Sucks out of the hole but good once on plane. I'd go with the 25 (which is max rated for this boat).


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## bassin0331 (Feb 15, 2017)

Price is a big issue to me and a jump to a 25 from a 20 is very large in price difference in the 4 stroke. That why I was considering an etec. I can get one new just pull start for 3250


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## bobberboy (Feb 15, 2017)

Hopefully one of the motor guys will chime in but sometimes a good used one will do the job and save a pile of money. I'm by no means a motor guy though...I can point one out but that's about as far as it goes.
My set up with two people and the usual gear (+ two batteries) will get in the upper 20's. My only complaint is how long it takes to get on plane. I've never figured out that part because I don't care enough. I'm not racing anyone to the fishing hole so the hole shot would be just for show anyway. Love the T&T though and use it a lot.


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## lovedr79 (Feb 16, 2017)

i had a merc 4 stroke 20 on my grizzly. i wasnt happy. after a transom riser, weight movement, prop change it did alright. i would go with the 25hp. if i had to do it again.


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## DaisyCutter (Feb 16, 2017)

It's a tough call. I just had the same decision to make on a lighter Alumacraft V-16. 

The 20s are like the biggest of the small engines, and the 25s are the smallest of the big (mid range) engines.

The salesman was pushing for the Merc 20, which is a good engine by all accounts.

I paid an extra $1200 premium (ouch) for a Yamaha 25, which comes with EFI, PT&T, and variable troll (VTS), not to mention 20% more HP. Truly a 2017 engine with modern tech, and a light weight.

Buy once, cry once, and never wonder 'what if'. 

My boat is also rated for 25, my goal was to find the lightest 25.


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## nowgrn4 (Feb 16, 2017)

Put the max it's rated for on the capacity plate. You won't have to run the piss out of it just to cruise and the engine will last much longer. Better to have it and not need it than to need it it and not have it.


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## Crazyboat (Feb 16, 2017)

Big guy, heavy boat= more HP IMO, I'd go with the 25 if that's what I have to think about. Now a 25 isn't as portable as a 20 but you don't mention that at all.


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## turbotodd (Feb 17, 2017)

The ETEC 25 weighs more than some of the 20hp 4 strokes. Hard to believe given that it's a 2 stroke motor, which to me the only advantage nowadays of owning a 2 stroke is a little lighter weight. ETEC shoots that right out the window, IMO. Yes it makes 25hp. And that might be attractive for a heavy boat with some heavier loading.

I've run some 15hp and 20hp motors at different times on my war eagle 1548. I wasn't opposed to the 15hp, and actually I was impressed that it ran 23 mph but it was an absolute SLUG getting on plane. Took about 8 seconds from idle to plane. The 25hp takes just under 4 seconds. The 20hp was a little faster, 25 mph, and on plane a little bit quicker (7 seconds) but the 15 and 20 are the exact same motor with the 20hp having 5 more horsepower-which really shows from 4000 RPM up. Below that, felt about like a 15. These are Yamaha's so keep that in mind. 

I ran a 1448 Lowe for a while with a Tohatsu 20hp. This was about 4 years ago. It was a slug, hard to plane, slow top end, or should I say slower than I would expect. With 2 of us in the boat, it would not plane at all unless the 2nd person moved his/her weight around enough to get on plane. It was not a "fun" boat at all. We commonly fish a spot that's almost 3 miles from the ramp and 3 miles displacing water takes forever to get there...seems like an hour. Much more fun when it'll plane out! Oh and something else worth mentioning, the tohatsu 20hp power tilt is just that...just tilt. It won't power tilt under way. I thought it would be nice to have but only if it would TRIM under load, which it won't. That hurts both time to plane and top speed both because you have to adjust the trim pin like any other manual tilt motor, to find a happy medium between good holeshot and good top end.


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## Crazyboat (Feb 17, 2017)

turbotodd said:


> Oh and something else worth mentioning, the tohatsu 20hp power tilt is just that...just tilt. It won't power tilt under way. I thought it would be nice to have but only if it would TRIM under load, which it won't. That hurts both time to plane and top speed both because you have to adjust the trim pin like any other manual tilt motor, to find a happy medium between good holeshot and good top end.


Well that just sucks then doesn't it! WTF good is pwr tilt without the trim feature. I was in love with that engine until now when you point that out.


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## turbotodd (Feb 17, 2017)

Crazyboat said:


> turbotodd said:
> 
> 
> > Oh and something else worth mentioning, the tohatsu 20hp power tilt is just that...just tilt. It won't power tilt under way. I thought it would be nice to have but only if it would TRIM under load, which it won't. That hurts both time to plane and top speed both because you have to adjust the trim pin like any other manual tilt motor, to find a happy medium between good holeshot and good top end.
> ...




My thoughts exactly. Aside from the obvious being able to tilt it when loading/offloading to the trailer, or having to tilt to get over skinny water, it has no other real use, IMO.


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## lovedr79 (Feb 18, 2017)

Oh yeah, foroot about the "power" tilt not working at above 4mph.


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## mbweimar (Feb 18, 2017)

Go for the 2-stroke! Remember, EVERY stroke is a power stroke. The ETEC 25 weighs in at 154 lbs, while the competition's 20 HP engines are lighter, if you compare HP to HP, ETECs are still lighter. For a heavy boat and load , you can't beat the torque of a 2-stroke.


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## nccatfisher (Feb 18, 2017)

I have a 1448 Grizzly and it is rated for a 40. I have a 25 Yamaha 4 stroke tiller and it does decent. 26 MPH and I have it loaded fairly heavy.


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## bassin0331 (Feb 19, 2017)

Well I've decided on the etec 25hp, I'll post pics and a review once I get it


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## scoobeb (Feb 25, 2017)

The etec is a great outboard but don't be fooled about the 20hp suzuki, it's a beast of an outboard for a 20hp. If I was you hands down I would get a 25hp 4 stroke suzuki, no questions asked. It's the best outboard for the best price and it's a 3 cylinder powerhouse. You can get a brand new suzuki 25hp delivered to your door for around $3300. If you got the etec already,good luck with it,they are fine outboards,just overpriced imo. Other than that they are powerhouses as well . Hope you like it.


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## xXOnyxXx (Feb 25, 2017)

E-tech 25 is a strong motor .. they just a pain to work on ..


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## redrum (Feb 26, 2017)

Lol am I the only one thinking 60? :shock:


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## Pappy (Feb 26, 2017)

We service a pile of Etec 25hp engines. They are on Craig Cats and are part of a Tour/Rental deal. 
We occasionally see an issue but usually it is routing maint. Considering what these engines go through I would say that it is a pretty tough engine.


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## Pappy (Feb 26, 2017)

redrum said:


> Lol am I the only one thinking 60? :shock:



Nope, I have not found a boat with too much power on it yet.


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## zrxfishing (Feb 26, 2017)

I have a 14ft Starcraft V hull with a 30 e-tec electric start & power t&t. It's rated for the 30. Pulls my daughter up on ski's & even my 220lb fat butt up on a knee board with the wife driving & my 3 kids 4, 8 & 9 and a cooler. I have a 10 pitch stainless prop & get 5900 rpm trimmed out and 27 mph with all of us in it. Cruises at 19 mph at 4400 & burns less than a gallon an hr cruising. Kneeboarding & skiing it burns about 2 gallons an hr but it's getting run hard. I know these are 2 different hulls, just giving my experience with the e-etc. I absolutely love it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Duramacr (Feb 26, 2017)

Good choice and that's a great price on that 
Etec. The grizzly is a heavy boat. I would of
done a 30hp , but I know the difference is 
about 1000 bucks .


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## scoobeb (Mar 1, 2017)

bobberboy said:


> I have this boat with a 25MercEFI w/T&T. Sucks out of the hole but good once on plane. I'd go with the 25 (which is max rated for this boat).


I know what your talking about with sucks out of the hole,it's a dog. The good news is they fixed that problem now by going away from the 1.92 gear ratio and making it at 2.17 which is night and day. It can spin a much bigger prop as intended due to the gear ratio change and now it's not a dog out of the hole. They should of done that from the get go.


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## bobberboy (Mar 1, 2017)

scoobeb said:


> bobberboy said:
> 
> 
> > I have this boat with a 25MercEFI w/T&T. Sucks out of the hole but good once on plane. I'd go with the 25 (which is max rated for this boat).
> ...



So to show my lack of motor savvy, can that change be made to my existing motor? New lower end?


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## scoobeb (Mar 1, 2017)

I'm sure you can order an up to date lower unit,I don't see why not. It won't be cheap though. The question is,is the cost say of $1k or possibly more worth that extra emmphhh to you. I have no doubt it will make a huge difference. You can also go another route and sell your motor for a good penny and then make up for the difference in cash. If you get a good penny for your current outboard you may only have to dish out less than a $1k and then you would have a brand new engine as well,some good things to think about. I know a place to that has a 2016 25hp efi suzuki in the box shipped to your door extremely cheap,I mean the deal of the century,it is a manual start shirt shaft engine. So you have tons of options. If your interested in the info let me know. The 25hp suzuki imo is the best 3 cylinder engine for the money with mega power as well as it's only 136lbs. Let me know.


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## scoobeb (Mar 1, 2017)

Just wanted to throw that out to you just in case you were interested in going new.


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## bobberboy (Mar 1, 2017)

scoobeb said:


> Just wanted to throw that out to you just in case you were interested in going new.



Thx.. I'm gonna have to see whether I get out enough this year to make it worth the $.


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## xXOnyxXx (Mar 2, 2017)

I used to run a mariner 20 on a lowe [email protected] for just the hull, it ran fine, right at 23-25 mph with 2 guys and a 110lb dog plus fishing gear ... the tracker is 150lbs heavier .. the 25 is the way to go ..


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## scoobeb (Mar 6, 2017)

There is a guy on YouTube with a 1652 all welded tracker and he runs a 20hp 4 stroke merc on it and gets 25mph gps by himself. Loaded down with his kids and gear,etc...he said he's getting around 22-23mph,now that's not to shabby for a 20hp 4 stroke engine pushing an extremely heavy boat. All the 20hp 4 stroke engines are rather strong today but if the money is right and you can find a killer deal then a 25hp is hard to beat. It sounds like only 5hp and in reality that is all it is but it makes a huge difference going from a 327-351cc engine to a 489-577cc engine. I just put those numbers up because the 20hp cc's vary as with the 25hp cc's vary but you can see the monster difference on engine size and performance difference. So it's 5hp again in reality but when stepping up to a 25hp from a 20hp in 4 strokes they are 2 totally different animals, lol.


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## scoobeb (Mar 6, 2017)

Big difference going from say like a 15hp to 20hp (very little performance difference in those two but yet 5hp difference. Going from a 20hp to a 25hp is night and day but a 5hp and huge cc difference as to where the 15 and 20 are identical engines and cc's just a different carb or computer setting.


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## bassin0331 (Mar 6, 2017)

Well got my new etec and been able to take it out twice, all I can say is wow! It's quite and strong as an ox. Gets me two trolling motor battery's and 6 gallons of feul up to 31 mph on slightly choppy water! Got it cheaper than I'd originally thought and it looks pretty sick on the back of my grizzly. Need to take better pics


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## scoobeb (Mar 6, 2017)

Nice,where did you purchase from? Did you have it shipped to you or does evinrude only do local pickup on 25hp and up?


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## scoobeb (Mar 6, 2017)

Take care of her and she will take care of you for many yrs. Are you running 50 or 100:1,I know they come factory set at 50:1 which is dumb imo if it can run 100:1 out of the box. They should just set them all to 100:1 but it's just another way for dealers to make extra money by switching it from 50 to 100:1. I was going to get one a few yrs back and the dealer charges like an extra $100 or so to change it over. Money,money,money,lol. Good luck.


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## bassin0331 (Mar 6, 2017)

C and p marine in Burnside KY, I'm running the XD 50 blend it's cheaper and the warranty is 10 years either way. They bolted it on for no extra charge and even sent a mechanic to the lake with me to make she she ran fine. Took an hour of there time to go over every lil feature the engine had. Good people


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## scoobeb (Mar 7, 2017)

The oil is cheaper but 100:1 burns much slower because at that setting it uses very little oil so at 100:1 you will get twice the life out of a full tank of oil which in the long run will run your bill much,much cheaper. Plus at 100:1 you will get almost no carbon buildup as with 50:1 likely. 100:1 is also full synthetic oil vs blend. The oil itself is cheaper as you said per gallon but you will run through it much,much faster. The 100:1 setting oil will last you forever so I have read. I would just for your own peace of mind do a little research on this because you could,be saving yourself a ton of money on oil in the long run. Running at the 100:1 setting has so many advantages,the engine uses much less oil,runs way cleaner,no carbon buildup, smoother running,protects the engine better,etc.. You can always do it a bit later if you want but your overall savings of money for oil will be astronomical at 100:1 vs 50:1. Just wanted to throw that out to ya. Glad you like it,can't go wrong with a 10yr warranty, that is awesome. Good luck with it.


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