Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

My brother gave my husband and I his older pontoon boat just before he passed after a very quick illness last Summer. We had driven the boat a few times with him on it but are trying to learn everything we can before we put it in this year. It is a 1986 20ft Crest. He made a lot of improvements to it but we took it into a shop and found out the motor is shot. We are trying to determine the best size motor to replace it with. He had a Honda 4 stroke 50HP on it but it did seem to drag. We won't be doing a lot of fast driving but may want to pull a tube occasionally. What size motor should we get? I've read 90HP is the minimum you should have but I also see where people have 25HP too!

Welcome! a 90 would be fine. Is there a sticker in the pontoon that shows capacity? Those have max HP on them as well.

So there is a max HP? I didn't know that. We couldn't find one but it's covered up and hard to see inside. Is there a standard placement for that sticker or does every manufacture put it someplace different? Outside the boat or inside?

Usually by helm/captains chair. Here's ours.

Thank you! I will specifically look there!