kicker motor

[High Point]

I am looking for opinions on what horse power four stroke kicker motor I need to push a Penn Yan 265. Also I have heard that one can mount a kicker on the boat and lock it straight and use the boats keel to steer, anyone done this with success?

[Don Supon]

My opinion is that you'll want a 15hp kicker for that boat because of its size and weight. Steering will be very sluggish if you set-up as described. Not much problem in flat waters, but much different with wind and waves. Stay out of traffic if you try to steer in that manner. You'll need to steer the kicker somehow if you want to have good boat control. There are many ways to do this by connecting both motors and it is not very expensive. Search the site to get opinions/information on kicker motor connecting to main motor options as much has been posted already. Throttle control for the kicker is critical also, and must be considered.

An auto-pilot is the best, but MOST expensive way. Thousands of dollars! They can control the main motor or the kicker motor, and give very precise control, including fishing manuvers and patterns programmed in. A kicker motor auto-pilot will be ruined if used to control a main motor, so make sure you get the right model if selecting this method.

[lakebound88]

I have 9.9 high thrust on my 28 trophy. It's nice but I can't turn great in heavy winds. If I ever could find another motor around 25 hp. I would...

[ Post made via Android ]

[Knotlost]

The 9.9 are great when they are geared and prop-ed for trolling. But you have to make sure you get the one made to be a kicker, and if you set it up with one of the bars (cant remember who make them, but they are very common) that go from the out drive to the kicker then you use both as a rudder and it gives you better turning. Power isn't really an issue, as pushing a 26 foot starcraft with a hardtop in hardly 10% throttle. And because of the gearing and proping they are made to move heavy things slow very weill. I use the pro-troll, and it has a button that will take it up to full throttle when you push it, and sometimes you need to bump that to make it come around in the wind, then let off and right back to the right speed, so thats very handy. The gas sipping of the 9.9 is awesome like 3 to 4 hrs on a gal of gas, so thats massive to consider.