Seeing as I have 2 sons with the boats your looking at I guess I'll chime in.The DE is the better boat build and ride wise but the Campion has a self bailing deck,a big plus..My oldest son has the 185DE with a 150 Yamaha and my youngest has the 542 Campion with a 140 Suzuki,both 2006 I think.The 150 Yamaha blows away the 140 Suzuki for speed and is quieter. As "N2013" said a 115 is adequate but if you plan on any heavy loads I'd go bigger and it's easier on the motors when they don't have to work as hard.I owned a 206 DE and found it too small in the back,a podded 185 would be better.You have to consider that most of the DE's you look at will be older because of slow production ,so there may be rotted transom or stringers or a leaky fuel tank to deal with if it hasn't been kept inside. Yamaha stopped production of the 8H.P high thrust a few years ago,so the 9.9 is your only option if you want the best kicker.