# beavertail bt3 or vengence with 115



## hmaadd29 (Aug 18, 2007)

Anybody got one and can tell me what top speed is.


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## Capt. Gregg McKee (Sep 28, 2007)

Contact my buddy Capt. Mike Bartlett down in Key West: www.keywestflats.net. He's running a BT3 with a Yamaha F115. With the right prop you should see speeds in the mid 40's with that motor. If you hang a ProXS 115 on the back, which I'm convinced is putting out around 130hp, you'll see a few more mph.


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## wesley76 (Jan 23, 2008)

Allen go with a 90. Mine does 40 with my 90 etec. With a 115ho a vengance does 44-46.


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## wesley76 (Jan 23, 2008)

The boats not designed to go very fast.


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## MSG (Jan 11, 2010)

I have a 90 e tec on mine and cruise at about 35 mph burning about 6gph. Tops out about 40 with a casting platform on the front. I wouldn't want a 115 on the back - more weight, less draft, not enough speed gain to make it worth it - to me.


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## Beavertail (Jul 2, 2011)

> I have a 90 e tec on mine and cruise at about 35 mph burning about 6gph. Tops out about 40 with a casting platform on the front. I wouldn't want a 115 on the back - more weight, less draft, not enough speed gain to make it worth it - to me.



i agree.


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## MSG (Jan 11, 2010)

flats dreamer - I bought my boat used, but if I ordered new, I would have considered the yammy f70 - can you let me know what type of performance numbers you get with it?


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## Beavertail (Jul 2, 2011)

> flats dreamer - I bought my boat used, but if I ordered new, I would have considered the yammy f70 - can you let me know what type of performance numbers you get with it?


if you fish live bait and keep your live wells full the F70 takes for ever to get up on plane. I sold my vengeance last weak and building a smaller boat like the Strike or 17.8 professional. don't get me wrong here i truly believe that the vengeance is hands down the best 18 FT skiff on the market and i am shore you know that but my garage went from been 26FT deep down to 20 ft 5 inc after our room addition to our house. Speed with the f70 is top 35mph (thats with trimming and finding the sweet spot on your jack plate) 27 mph cruse . IF I WAS GOING TO BUILD A 18 FT SKIFF I WILL GET THE BEAVERTAIL BTV OR BT3 AND PUT THE ETEC 90 IN THE BACK NO MORE YAMAHA FOR ME THEY GOT NO HOLE SHOT AT ALL


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## MSG (Jan 11, 2010)

Sounds like the etec 90 is the best balance, overall. I've seen a bit over 40 before my casting platform was put on, and the 35mph cruise is pretty good @ 6gph.


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## Beavertail (Jul 2, 2011)

> Sounds like the etec 90 is the best balance, overall. I've seen a bit over 40 before my casting platform was put on, and the 35mph cruise is pretty good @ 6gph.



Yea i agree 100% the etec 90 is the perfect motor for all the BTV Bt3 and Vengeance .


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## Grant (May 6, 2009)

I like the etec 90 on my bt3. I have the apte model so I'm not weighed down with baitwells in the back. At my request Wil swapped out the 4 blade prop mine came with for a 3 blade. My hole shot is better than it was with the 4 blade and it added 4mph to my top end.

I'm totally satisfied with the 90 in my configuration.

fltsfshr


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## Beavertail (Jul 2, 2011)

Here is one more think to take in cosideration . Beavertail don't offer thre 1 inc set back jack plate any more. They know use the atlas 4 inc set back. The etec is 320 pound dry, plus the oil in the cawl you lokking ar close to 330lb next to the F70 been only 257lb that a difference of 73 lb so if draft is important than F70 is not a bad option


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## MSG (Jan 11, 2010)

I'm lucky that my boat has the custom 1" set back jack plate. Had to figure out what the individual parts all were, as I needed to re build it., but it's now working great. LOVE the beavertail - what a great all around boat.


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## hmaadd29 (Aug 18, 2007)

I'm not really worried about draft. 8-9 inches will be fine where I fish. The 115 etech is 55lbs more @ 375lb and only 600$ extra. I don't think that's gonna add alot of draft. An F90 comes in at 372lb The stu model I demoed went plenty shallow and it had a a lot of extra wt on it. It poled plenty easy for such a big skiff. 

I was getting my numbers for the 90 from the evinrude performance report. They don't list the numbers you guys are seeing. It's good to know you guys are getting better than they say. From my experience with performance reports the numbers normally go down not up.


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## Luke_WL. (Nov 28, 2012)

I have an etec 90 on my strike and I love the motor. I think it would be great on the bt3/v.


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## rdiersing (Oct 7, 2012)

> > flats dreamer - I bought my boat used, but if I ordered new, I would have considered the yammy f70 - can you let me know what type of performance numbers you get with it?
> 
> 
> if you fish live bait and keep your live wells full the F70 takes for ever to get up on plane. I sold my vengeance last weak and building a smaller boat like the Strike or 17.8 professional. don't get me wrong here i truly believe   that the vengeance is hands down the best 18 FT skiff on the market and i am shore you know that but my garage went from been 26FT deep down to 20 ft 5 inc after our room addition to our house. Speed with the f70 is top 35mph (thats with trimming and finding the sweet spot on your jack plate) 27 mph cruse . IF I WAS GOING TO BUILD A 18 FT SKIFF I WILL GET THE BEAVERTAIL BTV OR BT3 AND PUT THE ETEC 90 IN THE BACK NO MORE YAMAHA FOR ME THEY GOT NO HOLE SHOT AT ALL


Keep us in the loop with what you go with. Strike and 17.8 are two sweet rides.


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## Capt. Gregg McKee (Sep 28, 2007)

I have to stick up for the Yamaha F70 a bit here, since it's the motor I chose for my BT3. If hole shot is at the top of your list when it comes to performance needs, or if you buy a Vengeance/BTV and usually run with the livewells full, then the F70 is definitely the wrong motor. A 2-stroke 90 would be ideal and if you need speed then bump it up to a 115 ProXS. 

Reliability and draft were the two most important things I needed and the F70 exceeded my expectations. With the Atlas Micro jackplate, my hole shot is just fine. When the tide is really low I do need to drop the tabs and maybe put someone on the bow. These little Yamahas are not torque monsters but I knew that before I bought it. I still burn around 3 gph and get a 28 mph cruising speed fully loaded. That also says a lot about the BT3 itself. Show me another 18 footer with an 82 inch beam that can deliver those numbers for under $40k. No matter what you hang on the back, BTs are fantastic skiffs.


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## Capt. Gregg McKee (Sep 28, 2007)

> The boats not designed to go very fast.


I think 46 mph is plenty fast for an 18 foot skiff, but if you want to go REALLY fast in a Beavertail just wait a few months.


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## wesley76 (Jan 23, 2008)

Don't care to go fast love my boat though.


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