I have a 16.5 foot alumacraft with a 40hp 4 stroke merc. and had tons of trouble even with a hydrofoil on the motor to get on plane.
I had to add a manual jackplate to the boat and dial it in. With the jackplate and hydrofoil I pop up pretty quick on plane now and can reach about 28mph with my boat.
I have my boat rigged pretty heavy with a ton of gear so that plays into it quite a bit also.
Fishing alone with minimum gear you shouldn't really have a problem but if start adding a ton of gear and a few people it will be very tough to get on plane.
I should also mention that my boat has a 24 volt bow mount motor, 24 volt transom mount motor, a ton of tackle, a dozen rod combos, all the safety gear, 3 batteries, and a 20lbs anchor with 8 feet of rubber coated chain and 100' of rope.
I am hoping to sell my motor to upgrade to a 75-90hp tiller motor after this season.
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