Kicker motor placement

[Dmargeit]

getting a idea on where to mount the kicker. how far over should I go? Would it be far enough down in water... Thinking about in chop if it would be kicking out of the water. the orange strap is water line... Post pictures of set ups

[Sk8man]

I steer mine with the big motor and don't even bother with the EZ Steer bracket. I fully tilt it up when I'm running high speed with the 135 etc. As you can see my kicker is a long shaft so the prop is close to parallel with the one on the big motor which allows for pretty good steering. With a shorter shaft motor you should still be able to do OK  and if located properly yours should be all the way out when you are under power high speed. The other thing to think about is can you reach it to tilt it up without falling out of the boat?

Edited July 19, 2015 by Sk8man

[lily]

Even if it comes out of the water. In big chop won't hurt any thing. I think you will notice any thing water big enough to get the kicker out of the water on a regular basis you will want to be useing the main for controll. But otherwise I don't see why it wouldn't work there.

Sent from my LG-D800 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Dmargeit]

Ok thanks I was thinking same thing about bigger chop too with main motor

[Don Supon]

Prop depth is important to consider, but don't forget about transducer placement for the FF and possible interference..

[Dmargeit]

Transducer we use is on the other side

[Gruntman]

I steer mine with the big motor and don't even bother with the EZ Steer bracket. I fully tilt it up when I'm running high speed with the 135 etc. As you can see my kicker is a long shaft so the prop is close to parallel with the one on the big motor which allows for pretty good steering. With a shorter shaft motor you should still be able to do OK  and if located properly yours should be all the way out when you are under power high speed. The other thing to think about is can you reach it to tilt it up without falling out of the boat?

 

I do the same thing; locked my 7.5hp kicker to point straight with a small bracket mounted on the kicker plate.  The 70ph main motor does an admirable job as a rudder.  I'm sure the boat (18' Starcraft Holiday V) would turn tighter/faster if the kicker turned, but not sure how much I need that.

 

With both motors down, neither hit each other at either extreme (even propellers pointing at each other).  And somehow I got totally lucky and got the props within 1/2" of each other in the down position.  Sheer dumb luck, 'cause after much grumbling trying to work things out, I just said "Chuck it!" and eyeballed it into place.

 

When not in use, I have a short ratchet strap to pull it in "tilted up" position.  When trailering, a couple extra clicks on the ratch keeps it all snug.  No pics of that; ask if you want to see my humble efforts.

 

I plan to add a remote throttle control to the kicker.  Seems fairly simple.  Much more challenging: add remote FWD/NEUT/REV to it.

 

Newbie question: I expected, for no other reason than it seemed obvious to me, there would be a latch/bolt/pin/thingy to hold the 7.5hp pointing straight (or at a a set angle).  But now that I re-read what I type, perhaps unexpected/unwanted locking of a propulsion device point is a Bad Idea?

 

So much more to read...  thanks to all for the sharing!