Kicker Motors

[mallen]

I have a Lund 1700 Pro Angler tiller and I am looking for a new tiller
I went to my dealer and he said I should use a Honda 20hp 4 stroke. Am I going to be able to troll at 1.5 to 1.8 mph with this motor or should I go with a smaller motor? Or would I be better off with a 2 stroke?
Signed Mallen

[DRICH]

20 HP WAY TO BIG. THEIR ARE GUYS IN THE WALLEYE CLUB WITH 20 FT GLASS BOATS RUNNING A 8 HP YAMMAHA. I WOULD'NT GO ANY BIGGER THAN A 9.9.

[Gabby_SD]

Subject Title says "Kicker" do you mean as in auxillary motor or main tiller??

[Steven Borowski]

If you want a kicker, a 9.9 would be perfect. If you're talking a main motor,a 20 would get you down to those speeds. I have a 16' boat I use for inland lakes that has a Merc 25 on it, and it will troll down to .9 mph.

Ask the dealers if they have any leftover 2002s, or 2003s, and you can save a lot of money.

[JimH]

I'm in a similar situation. Taking delivery on an 1800 Explorer with a Yamaha F115. Since ordering the boat, I've heard and read on a number of message board threads, that the 115HP won't be able to idle down to less than 2.0-2.5 mph. It's due to the pitch of the prop and the RPM's, and I'm not interested in changing pitch and RPM's to improve low speed performance and sacrifice my WOT perf. I do a lot of musky and lake trout trolling, and there are times when I need to get under 2.0 mph. So now I'm thinking about adding a kicker to the set-up, and I've heard the Yamaha T8 is a great kicker motor. Pricey, but worth the money. My questions: Anyone with experience in trolling with a 115HP? Problems getting down under 2.0 mph? Is the Yamaha T8 a great kicker? With a tiller kicker, where do you set-up your fishfinder? Can you turn to your right, be able to read your finder mounted on the console, while having your left hand on the tiller? When I troll, I'm usually in open water, not really following a specific contour or weedline. Any thoughts, comments?

[Mallen]

No I have a 60hp Johnson 2 stroke for the main motor. This is just for trolling and emergency use.
Thanks for the imput
Signed Mallen

[Mallen]

Thanks for the imput.
Signed Mallen

[DRICH]

THE T8 IS A GREAT MOTOR. NICE LONG HANDLE SHIFTER ON IT. POWER TILT SO IT DOSENT BANG AROUND WHILE TRAVELING TO THE FISHING HOLE. COUPLE OF GUY'S IN THE CLUB HAVE THEM NO COMPLANTS.

[Steven Borowski]

You should consider an Ezi Troll. It's a rod that connects your main motor to your kicker, so you can steer your kicker by steering the main motor.

[kliph]

JimH
"115HP won't be able to idle down to less than 2.0-2.5 mph."

I have a F115 and it trolls at about 1.1 mph. Thats the speed
off my Eagle fish finder,not my GPS.When trolling for Salmond
and trout I have to pick up the rpm`s.
If it`s calm on the lake I`ll use my T8. My T8 works great,
power tilt, elect.start,batt.charging.The T8 has it`s own
battery. I also have an hour/tach meter on the T8. Tach is
nice for trolling. And the hour meter is used for oil changing.
Good luck

[Wiley Walleye]

I'll second the 2.0 on 115 Yamy. Great motor and I thought 2mph was going to be ok and now know there are times when I want slower. Mine is on a 1900 and still 2.o gps is as low as I can go. I have used the sea anchors and got to 1.6mph.
If I could I would get the yamy T8.

[Been There]

I have a similar sized boat to your Explorer 1800 and the same main motor (115 4 Str Yammie). I opted for the T8 kicker, and would be absolutely lost without it. I occasionaly troll cranks with the 115, but find it pushes the boat well over 2.0 MPH. The T8 on the other hand offers almost infinite speed control, either forward trolling or back trolling. I have mine set up as a tiller steer kicker (main motor is console steer). I mounted a vexilar flasher in the rear of the boat so I have a trolling station. I can also change the screen configuration of the graph on my console to show depth and speed in real big digital numbers that are easy to see from the stern area of the boat. My dealer set mine up on the port side, and even with the long tiller handle, it is relatively easy to turn the motor nearly 180 degrees. Some advocate setting up a tiller steered kicker on the starboard side to offer easier steering. I can't comment on the difference, but it might make some sense to look into that. The port side location helps balance my boat perfectly as far as side to side weight distribution. On bigger boats, this might not be as much of a concern. Finally, I have been playing around quite a bit with using the kicker in concert with my 65 Minnkota Power Drive. I really nailed the fish this fall on Winnie snap jigging in big wind by putting my kicker in forward gear at about 15% RPM, then fine tuning speed and steering direction with my bow mount. It really worked slick. The wind was too much for the bow mount alone to stay on a precise contour, and trying to forward troll with the kicker alone was tough with the bow being blown all over. The combo platter was great.

Bottom line, if you forced me to remove everything in my boat except two items (other than tackle/rods and reels), the two things I would choose to keep would be my T8 and my graph. Don't make my choose between those two:).

[JimH]

Thanks Been There, excellent response. Exactly the information I was looking for. Thank you!!!