TH - So far, all the advice posted has been good. My 2 cents worth is as follows. I run a 21" hardtop Trophy (3450 lbs) with a lot of freeboard to catch the wind. My Yamaha 8 hp high thrust has never failed to push the boat where I wanted it to go. If you go with this model, check to see if the electric tilt model has an external rope pull start. Last time I looked, it didn't. The non-electric tilt model does have an external rope pull starter and that's the one I went with for safety reasons. I'd rather be able to start the motor than remove the cover, a bracket and then wrap a rope around the flywheel (all while rocking the boat in waves and getting rain in the motor!).