Johnson 90/65 Opinions?

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rotus623

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Charlottesville, VA
Hey fellas,

Long time, no see. Still running my 16' rhino with 4 stroke 60/40. I love the motor but with a tunnel cut in, .190 gauge bottom, UHMW on the bottom, bait tank and live well (30-40 gallons) and two people we are wanting more throttle.

Anyways, I came across a 1993 90/65 Johnson factory jet for $750. The powerhead is locked up but that doesnt matter to me. These blocks are all over the place. I was just wondering what you guys thought about this platform? This motor is framed on a 99.6 cubic inch block. Only thing I am leary about is it is a crossflow motor. I haven't fooled with many crossflows. I know they idle well, drink lots of gas, and dont have the upper end that the loopers do. Would that stop you from buying one?

Icing on the cake: My uncle has a 1992 Johnson 115 that he wants to take off of his bass boat to turn into a reservoir boat. He told me if I buy him a 24v transom mount trolling motor and two batteries, he will trade me. I would also get him an onboard battery charging system and install it all for him.

Basically, if I made this move, I would have a 115/80 sleeper motor...............
 
The 115 power head would go on that 90 mid if I'm not mistaken. The 90 and 115 are good engines if everything is up to snuff. Usually what kills them is a gummed up carb causing a lean condition burning up a cylinder, or bad t stats that cause it to run to cold or too hot. I would get the 90 and then make the trade for the 115 and put that power head on the jet mid. I would haggle down the 90 price some as all your really buying is the outboard jet since the power head is junk. You will most likely have to go to a different impeller than what is in it if you put the 115 power head on. That and your boat might need pods for the added weight, but you will be very pleased with the power/performance gain, you won't like the fuel consumption.
 
Andy agree with all that you have said. Except for one thing, I cAnt really argue with the price. It has a working power trim on it as well as controls. I get $250 for trim system and $100-$150 for controls around here. Plus all the goodies are still on the powerhead. I wouldn't sell that jet unit for less than $1000 out this way, and that's if that is all I was selling. But markets are different all over, so it may be different out your way. Also, OBJ is 4-6 months backed up last I checked.

I can live with the gas consumption cause I only get to fish 1 day a week. I just wanna go fast!!!!
 
It's not a bad deal I'm just cheap lol. That engine would probably push a 17-18ft just fine as well if you ever decided to go to a little bigger river boat.
 
I hear ya. Well they are very hard to find around here. The guy who makes the jet boats has a few motors, some from 2000 up to a mercury optimax in the 2006 range. He wants $6000 for each of them. He knows they are hard to come by. On top of that there is a 16 week wait for the jets from OBJ right now, and he doesnt even have any ready to go!!!

With all that accounted for, the guy that I am getting the 90 jet from is going to paint her all up fresh for me in whatever paint scheme I want for $1100. I see 90-115 crossflow v4's all over around here, in the $500-$1500 price range. I should be right at $2000 with a freshly painted engine. Cant beat that!!

P.S. I am selling my 60/40 and will have it listed on here.
 
Unless it is a heck of a paint job I'd just pay the 750 for it. But then again I don't care about paint on my engine as long as it runs good. To each their own, glad you found a deal. That boat will be even more arse heavy now though.
 
Well the guy selling it is a good dude and he paints and restores motors for a hobby/side biz. He isn't making much on the motor so we decided it would be fair to us both to get her all painted up. The rhino is too pretty (IMO) to throw a faded motor on the back of. :) She ain't too heavy in the rear right now. The reason that the water line is so high back there is when we are pulling in big cats we both stand back there. One to wind em up, one to net em. The boat actually sets pretty in the water at a drift. The bigger 2 stroke also weighs a little less than 50lbs. more than the 60/40.

I am going to stick the motor on there and see how she runs/floats. I am considering putting some custom float pods on the back if need be. Here is how she floats with 2 "people" at the console:

Truth be told, Id probably be better off with a 1654 and the 90/65. Lots of reasons to keep this boat though. It is set up just how I want it to be.

With the CC mounted up front and my passenger and I up there she runs skinnier than ever now. Just needs a little more go-go juice.

All-in-all she fishes excellently and runs great. I won't be using this boat through the winter and figured I could use a little something to mess with. Just gaining experience and testing all fundamentals here.
 
I'm one of the believers that there is no such thing as too much power so I understand. A 1854 to me would be pretty ideal, but I can understand not wanting to deal with changing hulls, until I have legitemate reason to go to a different I'm sticking with mine. Even though there are better options, I don't feel like spending the time or money dealing with it.
 
Andy,

I ended up posting the boat on CL just to see what the market thought she was worth. I thought I priced it very fairly. The next day I had a guy send me a deposit from up north. Cant believe I sold the boat in one day.

I posted the motor for sale for 2 weeks and no love. Decided it would be easier on the back just to sell her whole. Plus I want a wider rig.

Needless to say, I am not hull shopping. I can get a new hull, 1754 for the same price as a 1760. I am wondering which route I want to go. Any opinions?
 
I have a 1652 which I like but I would really prefer a 1660. I can fit my 1652 in the garage barely for the winter so I would not want to go any longer and I don't really need the extra length. Sea Ark makes a 1660 and you can get it in a jet tunnel if you wanted to. I think Xpress makes a sweet looking 1660 as well but it's kind of pricey.

Here's a picture of the XPress 1660 a member here (Goaround) posted a couple of years ago.

file.php
 
You still planning on using that 115/80 v4 omc? I wouldn't be scared to go 1860 or 1854 with a 115/80 it will plane out easier with the longer hull. It will draft less and won't be much slower if any than a 16-17ft hull.
 
my case in point on the shorter hulls only going to be faster if you load it light for speed, but they don't perform much better if your going to have a load in it like most of put in them while fishing with a buddy or two. I copied this from a FB group that guy posted that was in search of more speed from his motor that had a shorter hull made and wasn't any faster than his longer hull. Granted these are narrower boats, but same principles apply. Now obviously there is a limit when you can go with a hull that is just too large for the motor. But I would go at least with an 18ft for that size engine won't be any slower, you'll have more room, and will be able to carry a heavier load if you ever needed to. I just copied and pasted this post from SEMO jet boat enthusiast FB page where numerous discussions have popped up over people always surprised that the 18ft boats of same width and similar design are almost always just as fast as the shorter 15-17ft boats when they have they're typical load of 2-3 people, cooler, and some gear. Sure the the little 15 footer made light, loaded light, and set up for speed will be faster with the same 60/40 engine, but if you want to be able to use your boat with a livewell full of water, two guys, fishing gear, and cooler I would go for an 18.

"Scratching my head on why a smaller,lighter boat has no performance gain on a long heavy boat with the exact same motor. Please tell me what y'all think, I would like to see this small boat work out.
Motor is a 2001 tohatsu 70 powerhead with power trim running on a 6" atlas jack plate
19' by 44" boat, 3/16 bottom/sides/subfloor, full length stringers. Slick bottom. HEAVY. Runs 29 with 2 men, 3 trolling batteries, 30 gal fuel, loaded yeti, trolling motor. Same speed with varying load once it gets on plane. Will run very shallow with front of foot even with boat bottom and trimmed all the way down. Made extension plate to extend boat bottom towards foot which helped with spray and cavitation.
Now same motor and jack on a 15' 48" with 1/8" sides/bottom. No floor. Bottom is slick but has angle welded for strikes on both sides and one up the middle which stops roughly 3' before transom. Same load as other boat. Only runs 29-30 with front of foot 1/2" above bottom. Had extension plate on this boat as well but it was cavitating so I removed it. Must have weight up front to prevent hopping. Any trim at all and it goes into a hop.
I am disappointed the smaller boat did not gain any speed at all. Any ideas on what might improve performance? I have talked to some who say short boats <15' just don't do well with a jet. What should I try? What are some of you seeing or past experience with similar boats? Possibly this motor just won't push beyond 30?"
 
Too many variables to really determine why that guy still only got 29 out of a 15' boat. It takes a lot of fine tuning to get the best performance. I had to add the transom wedges to get rid of the porpoising at WOT. But it's really the overall package you need to look at for what you plan on doing with your boat. I have no plans to ever run with 2 large passengers and a livewell so the 60/45 works fine for my setup. If I needed more hp then I would also want a wider hull, but I want to fit the boat in the garage so 16' is my limit. We have a guy with a SeaArk 1872 here on the river and that is a sweet setup. but I don't think he gets much more speed than I do and he has at least a 90 jet. Running super shallow might require pods which will then scrub off some speed so there are tradeoffs that need to be balanced out.
 
Yea I hear ya. I will have to see how much more the 18' is as opposed to the 17'. Id like to see other OBJ hull options but we just dont have a lot of boat builders around here. Id love to find some boat builders on the east coast that I could get some prices off of.

All in all, Id love to find what I am looking for used, but you know how that goes......
 
There are a lot of variables, true, but he didn't get any faster speeds out the shorter boat cause it just doesn't displace enough water to carry a load of two guys with bow fishing stuff. If it was loaded real light it would be faster, but the longer boat displaces more water and will plane out easier. With a load it won't have much more hull in contact with with the water so it won't be much slower on the top end either. If it were me if you can swing it I would be going 1852-1854, you may have to make a trip for a hull sometimes that part of getting a deal. A shorter hull will end up benefiting from pods, which is a sign that you need a longer hull. Yes I'm going to put pods on my hull, hence why my next hull will be longer. Usually the difference in cost between 17-18ft of the same width from what I've seen is pretty low. This is just my opinion based off my experience, at the end of the day go with what you think will work best for you. If you can get past the BS on the FB page I would recommend looking through the SEMO jet boat enthusiast FB page you might have to dig through the garbage, but there are a number of people on there running 1852-1854 boats that aren't any slower than the guys running 16-17ft boats with the same engines. I'm running a short boat yes, because that's what I already have, but a longer one would be nice. I figure the time when I finally get a longer boat will be when at some point I have kids, and need one in order to get the family out on the water.

Granted this is a prop scenario, but I have been really impressed by how well my buddies 2060 flat bottom moves with a 1979 70hp johnson with a 13x19 prop. I figured the thing would be a dog with only 70hp, but it runs really well manages 37mph with a two guys and a lighter load, 34mph with a heavy load of a hard side duck blind, decoys, gear, and four guys in it. For experimental sake some day him and I want to try my 1994 evinrude 70hp with the jet lower on it to just see how it will do. But screwing around with a none necessity boat experiment has been one of those low on the list things for both of us.

Granted these are fiberglass boats, but still similar case top of there page is a video of a 2060 running quiet well with a 90/65.
https://www.facebook.com/Shawnee-Supreme-Boat-Co-404346796315661/
 
I recently bought a 1997 Sea Ark Mcbass 170 (17feet long and 72" beam) with a 1995 90/65 2 stroke jet on the rear. This boat is not tunneled (For Now) and it can run 32mph downriver according to my GPS Phone App...

rotus623 I noticed your listing right before I bought my boat and almost called, but since I got this one for 2500.00 I could not pass it up. Needed interior work and had to file for a lost title... oh well I expect some work for that price.

I live in Western Goochland and would be willing to give you a test ride to see if this size range is what your looking for.

Matt
 
pics of the boat after much work...
 

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Matt,

Cool lil boat for sure. I would love to take a run on her. You did really well on that one, price wise. Id have paid that for the motor.

The boat I will end up with will have higher sides and a .190 bottom. I am looking into a Mod-V rhino, 17-18' 60" bottom.

As far as the tunnel goes, if you are in Goochland and fishing those waters, I wouldnt bother. Only way Id consider a tunnel was if I fished scottsville regularly. Anyways, Andy has me thinking hard. I will likely rig my next jet boat without a tunnel. I dont think the extra 2" of foot clearance is worth the performance lost.
 
P.S. That 90hp can be converted to a 115 if you are ever interested. Thats the same motor I have but Im going 115. Carburetors, exhaust plate and boom. 25hp........
 

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