Im thinking of putting a 9.9 kicker on my 20/84 whats the pros and cons of a kicker and would it be hard to set it all up . Ive never been around a kicker boat but was thinking it would cover alot more water faster .
Thinking about going to a kicker pros and cons
Hacksaw
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that sounds amazing. how exactly do you get the motor to lock and unlock based on the gear its in?
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Not sure about other brands, but Mercury has a plastic 'U' shaped bracket that is moved up and down by a rod when you shift gears. Hard to explain but it either locks the motor down or lets it pop up.
Its pretty slick if its adjusted right.
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I've had several different kicker set ups over the years...I've used twist type steering, push/pull cable and solid rod steering...the solid rod steering is the best I've found..I have a 9.9 Suzuki 4 stroke on a 2072 with 30" sides and it does the job...sometimes I wish I had a little more get up and go but it does fine...and I love my tilt/trim too...this is the first kicker I've had with tilt/trim and to be honest I won't have another kicked set up without it
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Not on this phone...my other phone took a dip
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yeah it sounds easier said then done. i work the shores a lot and have a lot of "oh ****" moments. If the motor was just floating there and i kicked it in reverse it wouldn't do anything but pull the motor up out of the water before i rammed something.
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what exactly is the reasoning for the control king throttle? why wouldn't a a regular remote cable throttle be just as good?
Alan there are some guys from south Carolina I always shoot the chit with an drink a couple beers with at the muzzy. Dwayne is 1 of them. He has the simplest and cheapest, functional jack plate for a kicker. Snag the power trim off an old junky outboard and make the jack plate out of whatever. If I remember right his is aluminum angle or some like that. But it works perfect an can possibly be built for no money
If some1 here knows him they might could post a pic??
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I really have my thinking cap on about whether i should go to a kicker. If i did it I wouldn't want to waste my time with a half ass setup. I would want a reliable motor with fairly good controls. For that i'm thinking i would spend 3000 grand minimum and that is pretty optimistic.
One thing that i am really on the fence about is the shallow water running on the edge of lakes around trees, rocks points, etc. I would say i fish like this about 75% of the time. I am so sick of broken trolling motors, converters, huge generators, batteries...But i just don't see how i could run the shores precisely with a kicker in the back of the boat...For example i am running the shore line in shallow water there is a tree up ahead so i turn out which essentially drives my kicker into even more shallow water.
I assume that you guys change the way you fish to a certain extent when you went to a kicker but how bad is it running the edges when the fish are right on shore?
One thing that i am really on the fence about is the shallow water running on the edge of lakes around trees, rocks points, etc. I would say i fish like this about 75% of the time. I am so sick of broken trolling motors, converters, huge generators, batteries...But i just don't see how i could run the shores precisely with a kicker in the back of the boat...For example i am running the shore line in shallow water there is a tree up ahead so i turn out which essentially drives my kicker into even more shallow water.
I assume that you guys change the way you fish to a certain extent when you went to a kicker but how bad is it running the edges when the fish are right on shore?
Don't turn out just run over the tree... Just let off the throttle and coast over it and the motor will kick up. At least that's what alwadro7 does when I'm on his boat :laugh:. We have gone over some pretty large stuff to
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As far as price, that really depends on what size motor you are wanting, buying new or used, and how you want to control it. I have about $1600 in my kicker setup and that is with a brand new tohatsu 5hp and push pull steering. Some people have less than $500 in a kicker setup. How shallow are you talking about fishing? I can run in a foot of water all night. If you normally fish with the bank on the same side of the boat, put the kicker on the other side so that it will be in deeper water. Steering the boat with a kicker is different than a trolling motor, but it is just something you have to get used to. It can be difficult to get in the back of narrow coves, especially if you have a long boat. Sometimes I have to reverse out of coves that I can't turn around in. If you do get a kicker, just realize that you will hit stuff. You can run banks alot faster with a kicker than a trolling motor, and alot of times you won't have time to steer away from stumps and rocks.
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I don't need the nicest kicker rig in the world. What i would want is electric start, the engine to start, idle, run well, and steer easily from the front. I'm more worried about having a clean functional rig then a big engine personally.
Thank you for the responses. very helpful.
Thank you for the responses. very helpful.
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The motor came this way from the factory. It is my understanding that all of them come this way from the factory in the past few years. My first kicker didnt lock in any gear and if I was about to hit someting I couldnt do anything to slow it down. The new mercury will stop me from full speed very quick.
As far as fishing style vs a troller, I wouldnt say that its much different. At first you will most likely struggle with driving it in tight places and when your close to the bank, but give it some time and you will be able to put the boat wherever you want. The kickers will take a lot of abuse. I have had mine sucking up mud for hours, chewing up rocks, running over trees that had fell into the lake and everything else and it hasnt gave me a single problem other than typical prop wear. It takes a little time to get used to where the back of the boat is but after a couple nights with it you will be weaving the back of the boat around rocks and stumps without ever looking back there.
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I believe an 8hp is as small as you can go with electric start. As far as steering, i still use my troller in tight spots but slowly getting away from it all together. You will love a kicker. When you get to a dead spot, you can buzz fast until you find more fish. Cover miles of shoreline.
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What exactly is solid bar steering? Im still at least a year out before I can build my own kicker, but I am trying to read up on it now and figure out what im going to need. Never seen a build with one of those. Also, anyone run a rock skipper on the kicker? I imagine that would help save the lower unit
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I believe what you are referring to is when the kicker motor steering is directly connected to the main motor. That way you can still use your steering wheel to steer with. I don't see how that would work if you were controlling your steering from a pedestal up front. Most guys on here run cables or a PowrTran steering system. I am however no expert. I set up my first kicker motor and boat this past winter. Learned a lot from reading on here....
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ah that makes sense thank you! i just saw it in one of the earlier posts and forgot to quote it. Never heard of it
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What he is talking about is a piece of solid rod running from the front of the boat to the back thru a piece of PVC. Youll have a belcrank in the rear connected to the motor and either a belcrank in the front or linkage in the front with a rod from there connecting to the steer stick. it can be hooked up push pull or twist style.
The style Grizzlydog is talking about would be a dual helm.
The two are different.
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