Sk8man

I hope you are talking about a real small boat. I'd check out the water level in the river itself as it is normally really shallow. Crappies, perch, sunfish/gills, and bullheads primarily but intermittant action and sometimes a lot of fishing pressure there mostly right near the launch which can inhibit getting out as you may have to avoid many lines in the water.

I've had both types and have used a bunk type for the first twenty two years with my 13 foot Whaler and the bunk type for my 18 ft Whaler for the the past twenty two years. The first trailer was not galvanized and broke in half while retrieving it at the launch so having a galvanized one is a good idea and never an issue with the present one. Along the way, I was cautioned by two different seasoned mechanics to use the bunk type trailer with glass boats as the roller type can create slight wavy dents or very fine cracks in the bottom of the boat surface (from trailering). I have had to replace the wooden bunks only once (last year) so although it was a minor pain it was worth doing. The one critical thing about bunks is that they have to be properly aligned with the structure of the boats hull and any installed transducers etc., When I say aligned I mean that the angle of each bunk has to fit and barely rest against the bottom contour of the boat. It is crucial to loading the boat back on the trailer at the dock; otherwise the boat will be hard (if not impossible) to get straight on the trailer and especially with tight clearance as there is on mine. With the bunk trailer I have never had the problem described above with the boat sliding off the trailer. I did have it once with the roller trailer even with the little 13 footer and it definitely related to the angle of the launch which was steep.

At that depth at least some of them will make it if you very slowly retrieve them. Otherwise their eyes pop out and they are pretty much toast.

I'll bet the owner hasn't tried paddling that 21 ft boat in to shore with the wind picking up and lightning in the sky when his motor quit either

I think you should be able to troll down to 1.8 with a 40-60 hp motor. I can troll down to 1.8 with my 135 Optimax 2 stroke (although if I were to do it for really long periods it would probable load up the plugs). If you do decide to get a 4 stroke kicker look carefully at the weight issue. Ones that have power tilt etc. are quite a bit heavier (e.g. 9.8 may vary from 85 or 90 without to 120 something with) and may upset the way your boat runs in the water if too extreme. The other thing is make sure the mounting bracket you use will support a 4 stroke engine. Most of the older two stroke brackets won't support the full HP requirements of the 4 stroke motors.