Trolling Speed Concerns With 8.1 Mercruiser Horizons

[Addiction]

Looking at a new 31' boat with twin inboard 8.1 Mercruiser Horizons on it. They do not have the DTS system on them. I'm concerned that I won't be able to throttle them down enough to achieve optimal trolling speeds on Lake Ontario and can't seem to find out from the boat or engine manufacturer. Any of you guys with the bigger boats with twin engines have any idea if these will do the job or if I will need other equipment to slow the boat down to trolling speed? Mercury told me that the DTS system could not be installed on these (would have had to come from the factory with it). So, I guess I'm trying to figure out if I need to sink more money into before I even get started. I would rather not put a kicker on it and don't know if there are any other solutions out there.

[Diversion]

You can use trolling bags to slow the boat down, run one on each side. I do that with my rig, as do many others on this board.

[Addiction]

Thanks, Diversion. I use trolling/drift bags on my current boat (25' SportCraft Sport Fish) and sometimes (depending on wind, current, etc) I still can't slow the boat down enough. Was hoping to try to avoid that with my next boat. Do you have that problem occasionally, too?

[Tim Bromund]

I have 2 of the 28" Beefy Bags from Amish Outfitters and those almost pull my 24' Thompson to a dead stop at idle when both are out. They make bigger ones than that that I'm sure will get you in the speed range you are looking for.

http://www.amishoutfitters.com/

Tim

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

This has been a hot topic amongst guys repowering or exploring repowering. I'm pretty sure the Cold Steel guys rely only on various sized bags, and they have 8.1 Crusaders. I also know that in a new application, asking for trannys with trolling valves even with the new generation gas engines is a growing concept.