I do not plan on buying a boat for still another few years. I was looking at the Tracker boat 175 txw's. http://www.trackerboats.com/boat/?boat=3880

 

 

The issue is that most lakes I fish are 20HP or under. Would this be an insufficient motor for this type of boat? Would another type of boat be recommended?

 

I also fish Lake Arthur which is a fairly large lake, but it is still limited to 20HP.

IMO, yes, its insufficient. I've seen a couple with 20s and 25s on them. They just plow along throwing a 2'+ high wake behind it. Not enough power to get on plane. The older Lund Rebels were really good with smaller motors. I believe Carolina Skiff do well with small motors too.

If you are limited to 20hp, stick with a boat that has a fairly wide, flat bottom, and try to stay as light as you can on hull weight. Wider, flat bottom boats, while not as fast on the high end, get on plane a whole lot easier and ride higher in the water at low speeds, which is what you would want.

Another trick a lot of people do that helps some is to get the similar size motor, with more HP, like a 30, and replace the decals with 20 HP decals. However, this only works in states that don't do inspections and check serial numbers. There are a couple of states that are very anal about their HP limits and do actually run the motors SN during random spot checks, especially if the boat looks like it's moving a lot faster than it should be able to.

PA is one of those states! Guys have been doing it for years running 18hp motors when the limit was 10. Then they raised it to 20. People kept getting bigger motors and changing stickers. The officers got wise and started checking serial numbers.

My Lund, with the 20 kicker, topped out at 8mph and threw a 3' wake of destruction behind me.

The way I see it, since you are limited to what size motor you can run, forget about performance and get the boat with the layout and storage you like the best.

Can you get the normal motor for it and just not go fast?

If it we me I would drop down to the Pro170

A slightly larger motor is not about more speed.  Lets face it, with that size boat and that size motor, the speed does not even equate.   Many time, the next size up has more CC's.  Granted, there are those cases when a 20 is a detuned 25 so up sizing don't help.  But it you can go from something like a 700cc to a 800cc, that could make all the difference in the world.

 

The hardest part about getting one like that setup is being able to get it on plane and not be pushing through the water like a barge.  If you can get it up and on plane, it takes a lot less power to push it down the lake, but making that transition from bow up and plowing to laying over takes torque. 

 

Torque is what gets you going, horse power is how fast the motor can push it when it gets going.  I don't care how you dissect it, it takes CC's to make torque.   I've heard the ramps about with these modern motors they are getting more and more horse power from smaller and smaller motors, but again, we are not looking for how much HP the motor will make at max rpm, we are looking for how much torque the motor can develop at 3,000 - 4,000 rpm.   Boat motors don't have transmissions so they can change gears to get rpm up into it's peak torque band.  They have to do it with one gear and if that one, and sometimes, that one is not enough.  That's why us speed freaks play with bunches of different props and setups,  Changing props is the only "transmission" you have.   Years back, they even tried making a variable pitch prop but that invention, while a great idea on paper, never worked out.

Can you get the normal motor for it and just not go fast?

No. On the PA limited lakes, you cannot operate a motor exceeding the stated HP limit.

I have done exactly what you are looking to do, so please let me share what i learned.  I lived in Maryland and set up a boat to fish Lake Marburg in Hanover PA.  It too is a 20 hp lake.  There were two boat dealer there, one sold Triton VT-17s which was a 1000 pound  mod vee shaped hull.  They set them up with Honda 20's. The other F&S, sold Alumacraft and set them up with Yamaha 20s.  Both installed a T&H Marine PT-35 Trim/Tilt plate.  On an under powered hull trim/tilt is of major importance in order to perform well.  My choice came down to either the VT-17 or a Lowe Stinger 170. I chose the Lowe because the hull was identical in weight but I liked the storage and deeper front vee on the Lowe.  Lowe later bought Triton aluminum boats so now the VT-17 is called a Lowe HP-17.  My boat came from the dealer in Marysville PA(near Harrisburg) Big Bee Boat and RV.  They have a great rigging department there, so a I let them rig my 2002 25 HP Merc (decaled as a 20 of course) and a ton of goodies like an on board battery charger, a 24 volt trolling motor, front electric anchor, and two gps/ depth finders. After a little prop experimentation, a little adjusting the plate and the addition of a StingRay Junior hydrofoil, the boat came out of the water almost level and top end was 18 mph.  If pictures would help just e-mail me and I can send you some. That boat set up that way has been down on Lake Anna, and several lakes in Tennessee as well.  Those lakes were 60 miles long between dams and we ran all over them.  I will say this the deeper front vee on the Lowe rides much better than the Tracker hulls you were considering.  I have test drove some of each.  Since then I moved to the Bay so I replaced the PT-35,and motor setup with a used Merc 75 and chase bass and stripers on the Chesapeake Bay now all from that same boat. I hope this helps.