2012 Pro Guide v16 w/ 9.9 motor??

[Michael Hand]

We are looking at purchasing a new proguide v16 boat for the family to fish from. (main fishing will be on lakes for bluegillCrappie.)



The thing drawing us to the proguide is the comfort (over a john boat) and safetystability of it on the water. (we have 2 kids, both autistic that will be with us, so overall stability is very important - sit still just doesn't work that well or often for us...)



Anyway - the lakes we will be on 90% of the time are horsepower limited to 10hp. We may be on bigger lakes occasionally that will allow a larger motor, but not more than a couple of times per year max. My thought is to just purchase the ProGuide with a 9.9 motor (bigfoot or prokicker - not sure which or the difference between them). Another option is to purchase the boat with a much larger motor (like a 40-50) and add a 9.9 as a kicker motor on the back.



I am currently thinking the single 9.9 motor rather than 2 motors on the back of the boat. (Less cost to purchase, lower weight on the back of the boat) if we went that route though - 9.9 bigfoot with a hydrofoil added - would the boat be able to make it on plane? I don't really care about overall speed, but would prefer to see what is in front of me rather than an elevated look at the front of my boat.



this is really the only thing keeping us from making the purchase as changing my mind after the fact sounds like it would be pretty pricey, and i won't really know if it works for me unless I make the purchase and try it. (then its to late to return)



basically - I am limited to 9.9 most of the time, don't want a john boat and want something very stable for when my children both run to the same side of the boat to see the fish. Are there other options I should be looking at (boat or motor)? will this work?



Thank you,



Michael

 

[Michael Hand]

well, went back down and spoke with another salesman. He suggested another solution I had not considered.



I could get the same boat (Pro Guide V16) with a 25 Hp motor (they happen to have one in stock - as expected) the Pro Guide has 2 batteries (one deep cycle for the trolling motor and 1 starting battery). His suggestion was to run 2 trolling motors. 1 standard one on the back (I already own one), locked facing forward and use the trolling motor on the front to steer and for additional powerspeed. he stated that this would work better than a single trolling motor.



He felt the 25 (with a hydrofoil) would have a much better chance of getting the boat on plane.



Anyway - that would be my other option. (it is about $2,000 more than the same boat with the 9.9, but if it would work out much better for me - it may be worth it)





So given those 2 options - which one do you think would be the better long term option??



Thank you,



Michael

 

[Jim Sauer]

I have a deep V-17, unfortunately, you can not get this boat anymore, but the 18 is close. Larger than what you are looking at, but I have two trolling motors and find I can get around just fine on one. Often take it on smaller lakes where you can not use anything but a trolling motor and can stay out all day. Not sure why the 16 would do any worse. Would say that the 17 is comfortable for 4 and I personally would feel a little cramped in the 16. I run a 50 HP, but have seen these with 25's on other lakes and they seem to do fine.



P.S. The way I look at buying a boat, you buy the motor and they almost give you a boat for free - so make sure you get all you will need in the motor up front, don't short change the motor.

 

[Rich D]

I have a Pro-Angler 16, very similar to the Pro Guide. I have the 25hp without a hydrofoil and can get up on plane. The hydrofoil would definitely help though. I opted for a 9.8 kicker motor for the restricted lakes in SW PA. I'm still not sure it was the best way to go... I like the 25 for trips on the rivers or other unrestricted lakes, but thats only about 20% of my fishing. The rest of the time, I was using the kicker and it was a bit of a hassle. I had to haul it around, steer from the back, the control was a little difficult... If I did it over again, I would probably go with the 10 hp.



Now that the state has raised the limit on my home lakes to 20hp, I just put new stickers on my 25hp and run it at about 3/4 power. I'm sure I'll eventually get a ticket, but the fine is low and worth the saved trouble.

 

[Michael Hand]

well, purchased a boat......



to fish with my wife and 2 kids (10 and 12) we decided we would be pretty tight on a pro v16. We ended up going with a pro V175 combo.



The deciding factor on this was more room and if the kids decide fishing is just not their thing, we can still offer to take them tubing or skiing with it.



Obviously we blew the 9.9 motor idea out of the water (ended up with a 90hp optimax motor) and now we are looking at a 9.9 kicker motor for the smaller lakes we like to fish on.



Not sure if we made a smart decision yet or not, but from what I have read, very few people are upset they went with a larger boat and as I mentioned above, it will offer more versatility than the boat mentioned above.



So - whatcha' think??



Michael

 

[mark gohmann]

You made the right choice getting the larger boat with the bigger motor! I went thru the same thing many years ago, bought a 9.9hp and ended up getting a 50hp to replace it. You will find that you want to go to lakes that allow a larger motor, we enjoyed running the larger motor cruising the lake. Buy yourself a 4hp tohatsu/nissan/mercury kicker motor. I had a 17 foot aluminum bass boat and this is the motor we used for years on the limited hp lakes. The type boat you have is perfect for a kicker motor. The transom is designed to hang a motor right next to your big outboard. And you can sit in the rear center seat to control it. Several years ago we bought a 9.9hp motor as a kicker to replace our 4hp and regretted it. I would NOT buy a 9.9hp motor and here is why. The 4hp motor weighs about 55lbs. and I could take the motor on and off the boat by myself. The 9.9 weighs about 100lbs. and it was very difficult if not impossible to do it myself. The 4hp has a self contained gas tank and the 9.9 has a separate tank which takes up deck space. There is no way that a 9.9hp will get our boat on plane but we thought we would still get a lot more speed out of the 9.9 as opposed to the 4hp and that just wasn't the case. Every time I took the 9.9 on or off the boat I regretted selling the 4hp. And the 4hp moved the boat at about the same speed as the 9.9. If you don't have to have a motor that says Mercury on the cowling you can also save a bunch of money buying a Tohatsu. If you didn't know it they (Tohatsu) make all of Mercury Outboard motors 40hp and under FOR Mercury so they are the same motors!!
http://www.onlineoutboards.com/