I haven't had a chance to test it out yet, but I am running one of JPEater's 7 in cables and the two pictures show the motor at opposite ends of the cable travel. I can't wait to get it out on the water to see how sharp it turns. I also don't have a return spring on the throttle yet, but I'm also gonna test that out first bc I kinda like the idea of having "cruise control". The motor steers so slick, buts there's just enough tension for the steering arm to stay in place when you let go of it. I am extremely excited to get out on the water now!! I can't thank JPEater enough for all the help of the planning of this and helping to get my cables and stuff when no one else would pick up the phone or return an email. Thanks again!!

 

I haven't had a chance to test it out yet, but I am running one of JPEater's 7 in cables and the two pictures show the motor at opposite ends of the cable travel. I can't wait to get it out on the water to see how sharp it turns. I also don't have a return spring on the throttle yet, but I'm also gonna test that out first bc I kinda like the idea of having "cruise control". The motor steers so slick, buts there's just enough tension for the steering arm to stay in place when you let go of it. I am extremely excited to get out on the water now!! I can't thank JPEater enough for all the help of the planning of this and helping to get my cables and stuff when no one else would pick up the phone or return an email. Thanks again!!

I run mine without a return spring also, easier on the hands that way!

 

Looks good Nick! Let me know it turns. I think you may wanna end up moving your cable connection on the motor further in so that you can get a little more turning radius out of it. Its hard to tell from the pics though. You sure worked your tail off to get all that done this weekend!

 

Looks great...you didn't do all that in one weekend did you?!

 

Haha. It was really less than a weekend! I started about 5pm Saturday and worked till about midnight and then on Sunday from about 3pm till 9pm. The key was having everything I needed and not having to run around looking for parts. And after talking so long with jpeater I had a perfect visual of what to do, it just required putting the head down and grinding it out.
I started out with the steering cable closer, but ran into problems with the cable binding on the big motors steering cable. I'm just gonna have to get it on the water and see what it does.

 

how much is one of them cables

 

I'll let jpeater answer that one. I bought so much from him I may have gotten it at a discount price!

 

Nice Work...looking good Nick!

 

Looks good bro, everyone is smack talking kickers but its looking like alot of people are starting to opt with them

 

The smack talking stops when a non-believer steps on board a boat with a well setup kicker. When it comes to ease of driving there is no comparison between a fan and a kicker! Or a troller. My grandma could drive a kicker and never get tired or miss a beat.

 

Looks good. Let us know how she runs when you get it on the water.

 

wheres the best place to find cables?

 

nice

 

I finally got everything painted and finished, and was able to go out for a maiden voyage last night. While I had everything off for painting, I was able to redo the mounting for the steering cable a little bit and was able to get a lot more steering travel. It was my first trip in a kicker and I wasn't sure what to expect. The only problem I ran into was the motor isn't quite deep enough in the water. I would have never guessed that, but it was very picky on weight distribution. With me on the deck and two people in the floor of the boat we hit 5.5mph gps with the little 4 hp. With three people on the front it wouldn't get as fast. The boat would turn on a dime, but it took a little bit for the motor to bite before it would turn because the prop would just spin on the surface. We had good water pressure at all times though and the motor never overheated. The upside to the motor being up is we were cruising in 2 to 3 inches of water at 5 mph!! It was unbelievable! No more having to reach down to pick up a troller shaft or anything like that! So I am kind torn on what to do. I think I'm gonna leave the motor where its at bc I spend more time in the shallows than I do at wide open throttle. If I do need to juice it I'll just tell someone to get off the deck. Plus I don't wanna have to spend the money on a bracket and have to redo the steering!! Another added bonus that I've never heard anyone mention before about a kicker, is it doesn't muddy the water near as bad as a troller. I can't explain it, but we made 7 or 8 passes through an area of about 10 yards in diameter looking for a catfish that pulled off and the water stayed near crystal clear the whole time! Most of the time I get one or maybe two passes before its chocolate milk with a troller. This water was less than a foot deep too. It took us some getting use to shooting fish with the kicker. Most of the times with a troller it was a hail mary shot at fish bc I could never chase one down. If he wasn't directly under the boat, it was pretty much a one shot deal. We started learning last night to not shoot, spin the boat on a dime, hover straight over the fish, and take an easy shot. It worked like a champ once we figured that out (on the bigger fish anyways). We are gonna have to learn to keep the line outta the prop though!! It happened twice and stalled the motor both times. I took a little bit of video but its pretty much worthless. I had intentions of shooting a good bit, but we actually got on fish and that got pushed to the back burner!!

 

 

The steering isn't quite symmetrical, but you couldn't tell it on the water. It would turn on a dime either way...

 

Congrats on the maiden voyage! Quick question or two...is your kicker a single cylinder? I have a Nissan 6hp single and it vibrates more then I like and wondered if that was the case with yours and if it scared the fish away? If yours is a twin and someone else has a single what have you found? Also don't blame you for not takin vid, it is hard as heck to put the bow down and pick up a camera lol.

 

I want to say mine is a single cylinder but I honestly haven't looked at that. As far as scaring fish, they only way we could scare them last night was to fling an arrow at them!! I saw a really nice carp on the outskirts of the lights and without thinking I jerked back on the stick and gave the boat full throttle to turn towards him. The boat did just that and spun on a dime, but in doing so it blew a full throttle blast of prop wash at the fish. I just knew I had screwed that up but to my amazement, the fish stayed exactly where it was but just turned its head into the current!! The fish were not near as spooked as they were last year when we shot the same place. Most of the fish we saw we were able to get 5 or 6 shots at (I know, I really hate admitting to that!!). What I don't know is if it was becasue of the new kicker, the fact that there hasn't been any pressure on the fish in several months, or the colder water temps (55-58 degrees). I'm gonna be an optimist and say it was the kicker!

 

looks good, i like the way that stick folds down. Awesome

 

looking good