The 50 works great for the boat. It planes in just a little over the length of the boat and will run in inches with three bigger guys in it. It's done many trips on the Fraser, Nooksack and throughout the whole Skagit river. The boat is really light (somewhere around 400lbs, Im guessing) so you don't need a very big motor on it at all. You should be very pleased with a similar setup to this. Good luck.