Help ? about 18 hp Argo 8x8

[liveclean]

I hear you

Mic Mac,

I hear you loud and clear. My only hopes lie in that my mud motor pushed up words on the back producing alot of cavitation. My sense was if I had been powering it down below that I would have gotten some more speed. Either way I have alot of applications that I would use it outside of the out board, so I am still considering the buy. I have a long shaft 18 horse that just needs a bit of work to be up and running. I would defently need to do some reinforcing to run in. I am also really trying to weight out the upgrades of a newer unit also. It is an 03 response, and guys have been filling me in on some of its lackings!

[jml79]

Water Speed

About the hydrodynamics of an argo, they are like pushing a brick with speed brakes on. The hull is a displacement only hull and will not plane under any circumstance and with a short length of only 10 feet and big wheels sticking out either side you are stuck to about 4.5 MPH or less. Any faster and the front end will likely submarine or make a big enough bow wave to swamp the front. The only advantage that a larger than about 5-6 HP motor will have is fighting a good headwind and I would think an 18 HP motor would just be to heavy on the back for the little advantage it would give. Just my $0.02.

[Roger S]

The nose down issue is a user problem. Argo site used to have a pic of an 8 wheeler cruising open water, with an outboard and two men in the back. It was slightly nose up.