I like cruising along in a boat, and I don't have any interest in going fast. I was thinking that maybe I could get along ok with a 9.9 hp. motor. My boat would spend its life in my neighborhood, between a 40 mile long reservoir, and another huge lake, Flathead lake. and two smaller lakes inside Glacier national park. One lake named Bowman lake has a hp. limit of 9.9 hp.I am concerned that I would not have enough engine to get off the water fast enough if winds got out of hand and the water gets too dangerous. I am also concerned that a 9.9 hp 4 stroke would ware out prematurely,if it were used as the only engine on a 16'cd. Most of the use of my boat would be day use fishing,and occassional camping, mostly pitching a tent on shore type camping.Another concern I have is beaching,beaching on a rocky shoreline would be the norm, naturally I'd be looking for the smoothest rocks to pull a shore on, but my experience has been that you can't always see that great. Is the c-dory bottom tough enough for beaching on the freestone lakes. My last aluminum utility boat got some dents and scrapes,but held up.I'm only a novice boater on protected lakes and I would appreciate your thoughts.