# Lowe Pathfinder 1660



## Xpress165

Hey all, I recently sold my old jet boat and have been looking at the Lowe Pathfinder 1660 with the merc 60/40 and pods on the back. Is anyone familiar with these, how they run/speed etc? It has everything I've been looking for and in my price range. It's similar to the G3 1656 ccj, but I heard their underpowered and worried this would be the same. Any info/opinions appreciated.


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## RiverBottomOutdoors

I have the 1656 CCJ w/ 60/40J. I think it needs about 10 more HP at the pump for me, but overall happy with the performance.

This Lowe boat weighs the same as the G3 1656, doesn't have a livewell and looks like it has less storage volume than the G3. I think the Merc has a large pump, while the Yammy on the G3 uses the medium pump...or maybe it's med on the Merc and small on the Yammy. No catwalk around the gunnel like the G3 which I find very useful. Leaning post would have to go for me. Lowe has a 6.6gal full cell...which is nowhere near big enough, G3 has 9 gal.

I believe the boats will perform similarly because of the trade offs of each. Merc a little faster than the Yammy, but the Lowe is wider and has pods that will slow it down but carries less fuel so that's less weight.

I like both boats.


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## Xpress165

What kind of speed are you getting out of your G3?


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## RiverBottomOutdoors

On flat water with just me (about 220lbs):
Off the showroom floor about 28-29. 
After rigging 27ish. I'm rigged with 80# TM, 3 batteries, 3 bank charger
After 4 years on the same liner: 25.5


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## handyandy

personally for what the manufactured hulls cost new you can get a much stouter boat from custom builders for the same money or less. If you can do the rigging and setup yourself you can save yourself more money.


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## LarryMc

RiverBottomOutdoors said:


> I have the 1656 CCJ w/ 60/40J. I think it needs about 10 more HP at the pump for me, but overall happy with the performance.
> 
> This Lowe boat weighs the same as the G3 1656, doesn't have a livewell and looks like it has less storage volume than the G3. I think the Merc has a large pump, while the Yammy on the G3 uses the medium pump...or maybe it's med on the Merc and small on the Yammy. No catwalk around the gunnel like the G3 which I find very useful. Leaning post would have to go for me. Lowe has a 6.6gal full cell...which is nowhere near big enough, G3 has 9 gal.
> 
> I believe the boats will perform similarly because of the trade offs of each. Merc a little faster than the Yammy, but the Lowe is wider and has pods that will slow it down but carries less fuel so that's less weight.
> 
> I like both boats.



The Lowe has a livewell. The Mercury 60/40 4S uses a large pump with a 6 7/8" cutback impeller. The Yamaha 60/40 uses a medium pump with a 6 1/8" impeller.


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## LarryMc

Xpress165 said:


> Hey all, I recently sold my old jet boat and have been looking at the Lowe Pathfinder 1660 with the merc 60/40 and pods on the back. Is anyone familiar with these, how they run/speed etc? It has everything I've been looking for and in my price range. It's similar to the G3 1656 ccj, but I heard their underpowered and worried this would be the same. Any info/opinions appreciated.



Judging from my experience with the Mercury 4S 60/40 on a Lowe Roughneck 1655CC, I'd say you will be disappointed with the performance of a Mercury 4S 60/40 on the Lowe 1660 Pathfinder.


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## Xpress165

What kind of performance are you getting on your Lowe?


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## Xpress165

Larry, I just read through some of the older discussion regarding the 4 stroke merc. Did mercury fix the issues on the motors to get the rpms up towards 5500?


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## LarryMc

Xpress165 said:


> Larry, I just read through some of the older discussion regarding the 4 stroke merc. Did mercury fix the issues on the motors to get the rpms up towards 5500?



Their fix was to cut back the trailing edge of the 2S impeller which increased the WOT RPM to around 5200 from 4900 or so. If they did anything else I'm not aware of it. My 4S is a 2016 model, so I doubt if any changes have been made from it to the motor you will get with a new Lowe.

I'm getting 25-26 MPH (in still water) at WOT on my Lowe 1655 which is about 2-3 MPH less than I was getting with my 2S 60/40. The distance required to get on plane approximately doubled.


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## ford36cab

I have a 1660 SeaArk tunnel with pods and center console moved all way forward with 4s 60/40 merc 12 gal tank in back it will run 28 mph with 1 ore 2 big guys comes up great. Back end will slide some on sharp turns


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## llbaker2

ford36cab said:


> I have a 1660 SeaArk tunnel with pods and center console moved all way forward with 4s 60/40 merc 12 gal tank in back it will run 28 mph with 1 ore 2 big guys comes up great. Back end will slide some on sharp turns



Ford36cab I would very much like to talk to you. Im in the market for my first decent boat. Currently have a small no name 1432 with a 6 hp Evenrude. I think I would like either the same boat you have (SeaArk 1660 tunnel) or a G3 1656 ccj. Cant make up my mind. What part of the country do you live in? Im in south central Missouri. Would love to see your boat.


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## ford36cab

Sent you pm


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## dimecovers3

ford36cab said:


> I have a 1660 SeaArk tunnel with pods and center console moved all way forward with 4s 60/40 merc 12 gal tank in back it will run 28 mph with 1 ore 2 big guys comes up great. Back end will slide some on sharp turns



Do you have the RXJT model? If so and you moved console forward where do you have to stand driving and have no where to sit?


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## archery68

llbaker2 said:


> ford36cab said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have a 1660 SeaArk tunnel with pods and center console moved all way forward with 4s 60/40 merc 12 gal tank in back it will run 28 mph with 1 ore 2 big guys comes up great. Back end will slide some on sharp turns
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ford36cab I would very much like to talk to you. Im in the market for my first decent boat. Currently have a small no name 1432 with a 6 hp Evenrude. I think I would like either the same boat you have (SeaArk 1660 tunnel) or a G3 1656 ccj. Cant make up my mind. What part of the country do you live in? Im in south central Missouri. Would love to see your boat.
Click to expand...

where in south central Missouri? Reason I ask is I'm from Willow springs mo and to the east of here there are all kinds of boat dealers that know their stuff about jets and will build you a boat to your specs and preferred layout. They know how to set jets up and they run great and will run shallow. I have purchased 3 new jet boats through the years and have set each one of them up a little different. I like to run a tiller cause I fish a bunch, leaves lots of space in your boat. I also like 18 ft boat. They run just as fast as a 16/17 ft boat. What size motor you want? I don't think you need pods on a boat unless you getting a behemoth of a motor. I see big motors,150 hp and bigger all the time on the current river with no pods. They run fine without them. Don't know if they have internal pods on them or not when they go by. My boat is a 2017 18/52 with 60/40 Mercury 4 stroke. Have hit 36 one time downstream. If your close to me you are always welcome to come look at mine.










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## RiverBottomOutdoors

The Blazer boats that I've seen are all are built like tin cans.


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## archery68

There are tons of tin cans on rivers everywhere then!!! They must be doing something right at the blazer factory. Not tin can I assure you. 


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## RiverBottomOutdoors

I only see pics of them in sandy rivers. They seem built to be light and fast, but not take a real pounding. A real minimalist design.layout. Not knocking the boat, every boat is trade off.


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## archery68

We have gravel and rocks. The water is very clear so you can see what your about to hit and dodge it. Mine is an .80 gauge and runs great with the 60/40 Mercury 4 stroke. Mid 30's downstream. I know that blazer makes a .100 gauge and not sure but think you can order heavier, not sure on that one. As far as minimalist layout/design I think they do that on purpose. All the dealers here are good fabricators and will lay the boat out however you want. Not everyone wants their boat set up by the factory or all the same. It is nice to sit with the dealer and choose where you want live wells, fold up decks, rear decks over gas tank and battery, rod holders where you want them, where you want seats, quick attach trolling motor brackets that the dealer makes. I don't see any two blazers the same and that is a positive. Yeah I will agree from the factory, yeah pretty minimal, but not when the dealer is done. 


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## New River Rat

archery68 said:


> We have gravel and rocks. The water is very clear so you can see what your about to hit and dodge it.



That describes my river, too. It's the berm/ledge that you don't see that works like a can opener.


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