Motor on Coleman

[Louis]

We have a 16 foot Coleman Scanoe, thought It might be nice to put a motor on it someday. Anyone out there have any experience with that particular canoe and have any opinions about motor options?

I was looking at the new four stroke Briggs and Stratton outboard. Anyone have any experiences with that motor? Too heavy? ..Thanks......Louis

[Water_Gremlin]

I have a 17' Osagian with an 8hp long shaft 2 stroke Suzuki motor. I know its not a coleman or a small brigs outboard but I have some insight that might be of help.

If you plan to get on step a dolephin will be manadatory. I had a 16' coleman and I tried to convert it to a square stern and put a 5hp outboard on the back. With any throttle the nose of the canoe would point towards the sky. That was worthless effort.

The best thing for a canoe that is lake bound is a trolling motor. Most trolling motors have plenty of power to push through a lake. I never took my coleman w/outboard on a creek but it was obviously crippled in a lake. I think with a dolephin (or substitute) on the outboard it would have worked out much better. Simply, there isnt enough area in the back of a canoe to apply enough upward pressure to keep the nose down, that is where the dolephin comes in charge. I assume it would do no better in a creek without a dolephin. I have taken my Osagian with outboard (my Suzuki has a dolephin) in creeks and it has done quite well.

In my experiences if you dont plan to get on step a trolling motor will be just fine. If you do plan to get on step or travel creeks either plan to add a dolephin to your outboard or add hundreds of pounds to the front of the canoe.

[AKmud]

outboard

WG,

Did you try adjusting the hinge pin on the outboard to it's lowest setting? I am wondering if you could get enough adjustment from the tilt of the motor to give it a little bow down action?

[Water_Gremlin]

On my coleman (It may have been a Penobscot canoe, that was awhile ago) the outboard wasnt adjustable. On my Osagian with Suk outboard I had the prop adjusted to where the prop was under neith the canoe and the handle was stareing me in the face. Adjusting the Suzuki was as simple as pulling a pin and letting the motor tilt. Both canoes would point the noses to the sky. The back of both canoes didnt have enough area to keep the front end down. The only thing that worked for me was the Dolephin.

One time I didnt have the Suzuki outboard clamped down hard enough. When I hit WOT the outboard flew off the square stern of my canoe. Thats down much upward pressure that Dolephin provides. Then I knew why my dad told me to chain the outboard to the stern. :-)

[Spanman]

I have a scanoe with 4hp Johnson. Works well enough for 3 grown men on the Kenai (Warren Ames bridge) to dip net and move us back and forth. And well enough to push the family (2 adults and 2 kids) around Fire lake with no problem. I've been close to getting it onstep but am afraid that you will cut the water too sharply and possibly flip. I plan on using it float hunting this year and shouldn't expect too many problems. I will never purchase a "regular" canoe again......

[Michael Strahan]

"Rub-a-dub-dub"

I have a scanoe with 4hp Johnson. Works well enough for 3 grown men on the Kenai (Warren Ames bridge) to dip net and move us back and forth. And well enough to push the family (2 adults and 2 kids) around Fire lake with no problem. I've been close to getting it onstep but am afraid that you will cut the water too sharply and possibly flip. I plan on using it float hunting this year and shouldn't expect too many problems. I will never purchase a "regular" canoe again......

Dipnetting the lower Kenai with three grown men out of a Scanoe? Aye Carumba! I almost get pulled in from the bank! Are you just fishing slack tide?

-Mike

[Spanman]

2 skinnys and a BIG boy....

When we did it last year it was slack to low tide. I was nervous as hell but we went along the bank and the 4hp pushed us up the river just fine. The scaone has extra aluminum ribbing in it to keep it from flexing to much. We only caught 4 fish because the nets were out (nobody on the beach did any bettter) but after a few runs and getting comfortable it was ok. Biggest problem was beaching the canoe to get the fish out of the net, wasn't allot of room to move around.