optimax owners........

[esoxanator]

I have heard that with the mercury optimax outboards that you can troll with them without fouling the plugs....is this true? Or would you still recommend a kicker? Whats your take on them good, bad, worth the money?

[Frank Walsh]

I trolled with my 150 for two years, and now my 175 for one season, without either of them missing a beat. Can't speak for the big blocks.
This was only for the fall trolling season (approximately 6 weeks), and not a whole season.


Frank Walsh

[GregM]

This subject was going around the walleye central boards a few weeks ago. Apparently the older ones ran engaged at 450 RPM causing problems. They all now have update kits or like mine (new this year) have the update in it already. I put 65 hrs on mine this fall from mid Sept. to end of season, many of those hrs were "engaged" trolling at 550 RPM, never had a problem.

p.s. mine will troll at 1.5 - 1.8 mph engaged just nicely, no kicker here, am considering a kicker for boat control though, but I don't see myself using it for trolling.

"I fish cuz the voices in my head tell me to"

[dougj]

I used my 225 Optimax for quite a bit if trolling and never had any problem with the plugs, the smaller ones are no doubt even better. You can also get "smart guages" from Mercury that let you play with the trolling speeds and RPM's that the engine will run at, but I'm not sure how they work. The new Optimaxs seem to be pretty good.

Doug Johnson

[Capt. Larry D. Jones]

Even though your Optimax 150 to 225 hp outboard can troll down to slow speeds,why would you want to put the extra wear and tare on the most expensive part of your boat package.It is much more economical to troll with a 9.9 hp 4-Stroke kicker,besides using very little fuel for a day trolling on the water,no use of 2-stroke oil either,no fumes and much quieter as well.

[Will S]

I chose to go with a 4-stroke kicker instead of running my Optimax for both fuel/oil savings and saving some wear on the big motor. If the wind and waves are kicking then I know I can troll with the Optimax if I had to.