Ok i just baught a 2002 14ft flat bottom alumacraft john boat. I baught a 98 20 horse 2 stroke manual pull motor. Question is? Is this to big for this boat because a friend told me to look at rating and its rated for a 15 horse? Don't want to mess up boat but at the same time fish with my kids and want ot be extra safe. please help.

We used to have 14' Lone star aluminum boat with a brand new 25 hp Johnson. It was just a little much with one person and no gear. But with 2-3 people plus gear, it was perfect. Ran it that way for many years.

Only time we ever got a scare was when Dad and i took it out in the open lake to break in the motor and test drive it. It was windy, and no one was in the front of the boat (He was drivin in the rear, and i was in the middle). The nose was up a little high, and the wind caught us while we were running wide open, and it pushed the boat onto its side, nearly tipped us over. We were fine, but both needed a change of shorts.

Never had any other incident in the following 10 years we used it. And we used it alot, even again in those same conditions. Just gotta be smart.

I think you will be fine with the 20 hp.

With the new laws coming and the ethanol junk I would go with a 15hp four stroke and save on the fuel and pounds. The added pounds of the 20 or 25 would be too much and the bow would get too high.

My first boat was a 14 foot Jon with a Evinrude 15hp. It would go everywhere I wanted.

Do yourself a favor and make sure you have a kick up lever and your set for running any water with logs or stumps. That lever allows the motor to kick up if you hit anything with it. BUT watch out for running in reverse it will lift the motor out of the water!!

good luck

+1 on that kick up lever!

Also agree with Skeeter on the extra lbs. That was the only downside about having that 25 hp. If only one person was in the boat, the bow stuck up high enough it was sometimes difficult to drive.

15hp 4stroke would be my opinion.

I have a 14' Lowe flat bottom with a 25 Evinrude. It has a casting platform with trolling motor and a storage box up front. I keep tackle, anchors and misc item adding weight to the front. This helps keeping the nose down.

The 20 HP motor will be safe if you are careful with the throttle control and use the minimum power necessary. Be extra careful in reverse. Watch your own wake when stopping from high forward speed. Keep the boat balanced with heavy gear in the front to keep the nose down.

A bigger concern is the number of people in the boat. The boat size is too small for more than 2 people or 3 if two are young kids. If you plan to have more than 1 kid at a time be extra careful. Keep passengers forward in the boat. Kids must have their life preservers on at all times. Jon boats are not safe in windy conditions.

It is not too much power, but like everyone has said you have to watch your wake when you slow down so it doesn't come over the back of your boat. I did this years ago on lake Livingston and me and a buddy were hanging on to an upside down boat. Luckily someone saw and came and towed us in. I now own a 14' v-hull aluminum. I will never own a flat bottom again. Good luck and be safe.

You're only going 5HP over, which a lot of folks used to do.

What is the wight limit of the boat?

You need to make sure you don't over-load your boat, as it won't take much to swamp the boat.

My buddy uses a 25hp on his 14ft flatbottom, it is alittle hairy at times with full throttle, but you should be fine.