2003 207FS upgrades

[DaveH923]

I have had a 2003 207FS since new. It was passed down from my dad and the last 3 years the family has taken to love it.
Since new to 2023 it had 120 hours on it. We ended last year at 500 hours. We fish/cruise A LOT and I've learned that we need some upgrades.

Ski/Tow Bar - has anyone installed one or know one that works well? We started tubing with the kids last year on a whim using the cleats which was not good. Before I start drilling into the transom plate I wanted to see if anyone has a recommendation. I'm not opposed to a ski tower either, though, I'm not sure how that would install.

Trolling motor - we have a flush mount deck which doesn't allow for a trolling motor easily. Looking for any ideas on how to mount one as well as batteries for weight distribution. I believe 60-80# thrust is what I need.

Rod Storage - I'm thinking about just buying a fishing arch with rocket launcher as loading 7ft - 9 ft rods appears to be almost impossible. Any ideas/recommendations are welcome.

Repower?? - We have a 60HP Mercury Bigfoot EFI which has been a workhorse and earned it's badge of honor. Consistently maintained and horribly abused at max rpms weekly. It gives us around 19mph WOT with 4 people and tubing with 6 took us down to about 14mph. We travel 22 Miles on some days to fish and enjoy some locations, and that can take a while...

I spoke with 4 marinas and 2 of them said the max they would install would be a 75-90HP Mercury Command Thrust but said we wouldn't see a huge difference. The another said they would install a Mercury or Suzuki 115HP without an issue. The last one said they have a refurbished and 5 year warrantied Yamaha 150 VMAX SHO for less than the cost of both other options installed. Not sure what my best option would be.

Thanks for reading and hope to hear some good advice.

 

[sunedog]

Welcome. I don't think it would be practical to retrofit a ski pylon to your boat. (I think this is what you mean when you say ski tower.) They mount into an engineered receptacle welded to the transom below the deck. The pylon itself costs over $900 based on what I've read on social media from people looking to replace lost or damaged ones. Then you'd have to fab and install a suitable receptacle.

There are after market ski tow bars that I'm sure could be added to your boat. There may also be a Bennington OEM version still available. Your dealer could answer that.

Another option is a Turbo Swing that mounts to the outboard motor bracket. Several long time members here have them and love them.

Just be aware, pulling a tube puts an incredible amount of stress on a ski tow and many are not rated for tubes.

19 MPH WOT for a 60HP Bigfoot is not bad. Make sure your toons are clean or you could easily loose 5 MPH. Repowering is expensive and the gains are unimpressive. Keep the rope out of the water when towing tubes for best results. Lots of people swear by those booster balls that attach to the tow rope and keep it out of the water.

 

[Vikingstaff]

I was going to share much of what Sunedog said above. I will leave others to advice on trolling motor and fishing gear questions.

I will only add, that your boat should have a capacity plate near the throttle/helm on the inside of the fencing panel. It should list the maximum HP motor for your boat per its design and USCG rating. Broadly speaking, that is the legal limit for it to be registered…let alone insured. Also, based on your boat, my guess is that the first couple dealerships were quoting you what your boat can legally be upgraded to. And as was mentioned, very little gain for that model and hull design pontoon.