Minimum horsepower on the Tanana

[FL2AK-Old Town]

For those of you who have motor canoed UP the Tanana River, what is the minimum horsepower needed to go upstream from say Minto to Nenana in a moderately loaded (525 lbs people+outboard+fuel, then add your standard 3 day camping gear, so probably under 675 lbs...) Grumman Sport Boat/square stern? I'm taking my son camping up there in two weeks.

We had a discussion here a few weeks back where we discussed carrying a spare outboard. I'm going with a 2 stroke 9.9 (1975 model) on the transom, but this engine is relatively new to me (my first season with it), and I'm thinking of carrying my 2 stroke 4 hp (1969 model) as a spare. The 4 hp just had a big overhaul done to it, but I've only run it half an hour since then. Carrying that outboard would only add about 25 lbs or so to the boat's weight and would run off the same fuel as the other engine. Whereas if I carry my newer, 4 stroke 4 hp, it adds 65 lbs and...well I guess I could run gas/oil 50:1 mix through it in an emergency.

[Yukon Cornelius]

For those of you who have motor canoed UP the Tanana River, what is the minimum horsepower needed to go upstream from say Minto to Nenana in a moderately loaded (525 lbs people+outboard+fuel, then add your standard 3 day camping gear, so probably under 675 lbs...) Grumman Sport Boat/square stern? I'm taking my son camping up there in two weeks.

We had a discussion here a few weeks back where we discussed carrying a spare outboard. I'm going with a 2 stroke 9.9 (1975 model) on the transom, but this engine is relatively new to me (my first season with it), and I'm thinking of carrying my 2 stroke 4 hp (1969 model) as a spare. The 4 hp just had a big overhaul done to it, but I've only run it half an hour since then. Carrying that outboard would only add about 25 lbs or so to the boat's weight and would run off the same fuel as the other engine. Whereas if I carry my newer, 4 stroke 4 hp, it adds 65 lbs and...well I guess I could run gas/oil 50:1 mix through it in an emergency.

I have no experience here. I simply posting to post. Lol.
In all seriousness I think you will be fine. You once told
me something very wise about engineering a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Or something like that.

[FL2AK-Old Town]

I have no experience here. I simply posting to post. Lol.
In all seriousness I think you will be fine. You once told
me something very wise about engineering a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Or something like that.

Yeah and then I kept reading stuff here....

[Yukon Cornelius]

Yeah and then I kept reading stuff here....

Lol. So much to think about. I did ask a friend about HP on the tanana river. He said "john back in day we used no horse power". lol.
But if I was in your situation I'd take the smaller outboard as back up or take Jo back up. Just extra prop.

[FL2AK-Old Town]

back in day we used no horse power"

Well if that river is slow enough that you can paddle up stream, then my oars are enough. (That sport boat rows pretty well.)

[Yukon Cornelius]

Well if that river is slow enough that you can paddle up stream, then my oars are enough. (That sport boat rows pretty well.)

Lol. Do you have a pic of your set up. I think I found a sport boat in the bushes.

[Yukon Cornelius]

Well if that river is slow enough that you can paddle up stream, then my oars are enough. (That sport boat rows pretty well.)

He so told me I was crazy for wanting to float the tanana to access the yukon. Lol.

[FL2AK-Old Town]

Lol. Do you have a pic of your set up. I think I found a sport boat in the bushes.

It's not mine! LOL. Go look in the waterfowl hunting section. I just posted a bunch of photos from stripping and repainting and building a new transom etc.

http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/...n-to-Duck-Boat

[Sid]

ll pepends on how fast you want to get back the small eng will get you back [ not fast ] you play the slow water SID roud:

[Yukon Cornelius]

It's not mine! LOL. Go look in the waterfowl hunting section. I just posted a bunch of photos from stripping and repainting and building a new transom etc.

http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/...n-to-Duck-Boat

i like it. It's like a canoe or is it a canoe?

[FL2AK-Old Town]

i like it. It's like a canoe or is it a canoe?

The older "official" name was Sport Canoe. The term Sport Boat is a kind of generalization/street name so to speak. In fact, the hull ID number has the letters SC in it for that reason. It is essentially a canoe with more of the back cut off than the standard Grumman freighter, which is why I have a 24" transom. The hull is a little wider at 43". Other than that, it is every bit a canoe. Same displacement, round bottom-type hull with a small keel. Same tippy initial stability. (My son, inexperienced with the outboard as he is, will goose it for more power or he will make suddnen, dramatic (wide) swings with the tiller, and the boat responds immediately, which is pretty nerve racking.

I had it in the mouth of Kasilof river this week, and thought it handled the small swells and wake fro the boat traffic pretty good. Still did a lot of bobbing, though.

[Sid]

sport canoe ???????????? did Grumman ever make a 17 FT or were they all 15 FT just a question for my own info neaver was in one but were fairley common back late 60's tp early 70's that is all I know about them, SID roud:

[Rock_skipper]

sport canoe ???????????? did Grumman ever make a 17 FT or were they all 15 FT just a question for my own info neaver was in one but were fairley common back late 60's tp early 70's that is all I know about them, SID roud:

They used to make a 19'. Most of the old guys that ran them used 15 h.p. and a jackass lift.

http://www.armslist.com/posts/193296...-5-h-p--engine

[FL2AK-Old Town]

Okay, wait a minute, guys. Let's backup a minute. This is why folks refer to the sport boat as a sport boat. (Indeed, the current iteration over at Marathon Boats IS called a Sport Boat. The link that rock skipper shared shows a square stern canoe, and there are some not so subtle differences. (Even though I often refer to my own boat a simply a square stern.)

My boat is 15 ft long and, to my knowledge, Grumman never made a "sport boat" longer or shorter than 15 ft. (actually, it's 15 ft 6 inches). Take that boat in rock skipper's link, shorten it almost to that aft thwart, remove all three thwarts altogether, and you have, roughly a sport boat. (should be a little wider, too-couple inches, not much.) Because more of the aft of the canoe is "removed", I have a wider transom. My seats are the same. That front deck looking thing is the same, although I have a mast stay there instead of a ring, and I have a mast thwart separate from the front seat instead of a mast ring attached to a seat.


Aaaaaanyyywaaaaayyyy....there is a diffeernce between a sport boat and a square stern canoe, but way back when (my boat is a '69) they called it a sport canoe.

[FL2AK-Old Town]

Oh. Looking at he specs that guy listed on his web add (rock skipper's link), my sport boat is 3" wider. Same weight, same carrying capacity. I don't have a bulb type keel; my keel is straight.