I recently purchased a two man scamp to hit back waters, creeks and smaller lakes. I used this boat 6 times now, the first trip was in a creek where wind was not an issue and the TM (30lb bps prowler) was more that sufficient for power/ propulsion.

This past weekend was a different story, took it in the river Friday afternoon to get out of wind, and I knew with low water and no rain last week the current wouldn't be much of an issue. We got down stream fine, but noticed a couple of shallow areas where it caused the current to increase significantly. On the way back the TM did fine until we got to these spots and then had to assist with one man paddling to make headway. Got back to the ramp area and battery was almost shot, less than 3 hours of use most just steering downstream.

Saturday went to a small lake and we all know the NW west was brutal (11mph constant - with 18mph gust) this boat actually handles rough water well, better than my 16ft jon. I was solo fishing this day, since couldn't find anyone crazy enough to brave such winds and cold in such a tiny vessel. The battery held up well and 30lb did well against the wind, but decided since the prowler TM was almost 8 years old it may be time for an upgrade. Stopped by Sportsman and got a new Endura C2 30 and tried it out yesterday morning, I was in disbelief the older prowler seemed to have more power, of course hard to tell for sure cause has 2 in the boat this time so more weight by 200lbs or so.

So now that I have explained what types of waters I fish and the load in the boat, the questions is this. Should I spend $1000 on small 3hp or under outboard or would I be better off going to a larger thrust TM and just carry an extra battery on board?