Mercury 9.9hp bigfoot

[Little Crappie]

Seeing if anyone could answer this question before I hassle the marinas. In the merc manual it says to keep the motor in gear to keep the prop from moving while on the road, but what about in the water? I'm confused cause I'd think going full speed with my main any drag would be harmful to the lower unit on the kicker? I thought it was more harmful to spin the prop while in gear, Any thought?

[Don Supon]

I've never seen or heard of anyone with a kicker that leaves the kicker in the water during a run with the big motor. To do so would cause significant drag which will reduce mpg and speed, not to mention probable damage to the kicker.

 

My 9.9 Honda kicker is tilted up during runs with the big motor. It is in neutral, and the prop doesn't spin. If you are more comfortable, place the kicker in gear for the run to keep the prop from spinning. But don't leave the kicker down when running, in or out of gear.

[Little Crappie]

The kickers not left down but the highest tilt position leaves like half the prop and lower unit in the water, not much but just enough to worry me

[Big Dave]

It may spin alot faster on the road than on the water.   70 mph on the road , with out the water to cool and slow the lowerunit may be to much.

 

Seeing if anyone could answer this question before I hassle the marinas. In the merc manual it says to keep the motor in gear to keep the prop from moving while on the road, but what about in the water? I'm confused cause I'd think going full speed with my main any drag would be harmful to the lower unit on the kicker? I thought it was more harmful to spin the prop while in gear, Any thought?

[Don Supon]

That situation doesn't sound good to me. You will need to find some means of tilting further or raising the transom height in the attachment area. Lower unit draging in the water is going to cause damage eventually.

 

Maybe a kicker mounting bracket on the transom to give more height. This might require a modification to the connector link between motors if that is how you have been steering the kicker.

 

But the additional height of the kicker may make your kicker shaft too short. If this is the case, someone must make a bracket that pivots up and down. I'm guessing that you will need to see a boat dealer for ideas.