Grand Raid Power?

[AlexT]

Took the plunge. GR Mk ll. Will use for tooling around and some fishing..near shore in ocean and in big lake. Looking to minimize weight as much as possible.

So..30 looks really good and from searching looks like about 25 mph with medium load. 40 is way to heavy for my taste/needs.

Can I get by with 20 or even 15 for the weight issues? I realize there are sacrifices...can ou describe them in ral terms..not just "slower'.

Anybody got experience on what I can expect. i know the speed freak weill say underpowered, but I am not one...but do want a boat that functions well.

[95gstnj]

15hp would probably only plane with 2 guys and limited gear, and it would probably only go 15mph. I had a 15hp on a mercury 430hd- 14ft. Worked well but only with 2 people (about 400lbs) Anything more and it wouldnt plane. I'd reccomend at least 25 for that. If I had to choose i'd probably go 30-40 hp.

15hp was really not enough

[John Kennett]

A 25hp 2 stroke should be a good compromise if you are going to be manhandling it. Like 95gstnj says, anything less will struggle. Anything bigger and it's going to be a bit of a beast to lug around.

If the boat will be trailered then you could get away with something bigger. After a few goes putting the floorboards in and taking them out again to pack the boat away you'll probably want to get a trailer anyway!

[cgoing]

Alex- My fire department is running a Grand Raid Mk 2 with a 9.9 hp on it. The boat will get out of it's own way but not by much if you have more than two people in it. Granted for most of our needs in ponds and shallow areas of our local river it works. I've put a 15hp on it and the differenace was nil. I would say that at a minimum you should probably look at a 20-25hp . Actually a 25 does quite nice from past experience.

Good luck with the new boat !

[prairie tuber]

Will you be trailering it or assembling & disassembling it with each use?

Do you drive a pickup truck or a car?

Do you have launching wheels?

I believe that the mark IIs are rated for a maximum of 40 hp. Staying within that maximum, I'd recommend getting the most powerful outboard that you can manage. You can always use less throttle when not needed.

I'd also highly recommend getting launching wheels regardless of whether you have a trailer. If you don't have a trailer, but have a pickup truck, you can get one of of those portable folding truck bed hoists that swivel. They would allow you to lower the outboard directly onto the transom & vice versa without risking injury to your back.