Kicker motor

[Jdavismmu]

Hi everyone. I have a 115 Mercury 4 stroke on a 19 ft Starcraft. I use a drift sock for trolling. I am thinking about getting a kicker motor. No idea where to even start. Thinking a 9.9 hp... Looking for opinions, pros/cons, what to get, etc. is it worth it in the long run? How much should I expect to spend? Thanks!

[Traveling Circus]

Sent you a PM.......

[pjprod]

Just put a 9.9 mercury pro kicker 20" shaft on my 20' Starweld...mounted it to the transom with 2 bolts and the 2 transom clamp bolts. Motor is not going anywhere.  I used a piece of rubber pad on the transom to protect it. I made my own steering that mounts inside the boat with a store bought bracket that mounts on the sea star hydraulic steering unit on the big motor..need a store bought bracket for the trolling motor... purchased 1/2" hem joints from e-bay and stainless threaded rod...works way better and saved over 100.00 than the EZ steer rod that mounts outside the boat and both motors will raise and lower independently from each other...also you can remove the rod by pulling a clevis pin. I purchased a Itroll unit for trolling speed...the Itroll is the cats ass and easy to install! Not cheap...motor was 2850.00 shipped to the door and itroll was 385.00. Well worth the investment for me...     

[Sk8man]

You might want to look into the electric start Tohatsu 9.8 kicker. It is basically the Merc 9.9 (Tohatsu actually makes the small Merc motors). They are a bit lighter (if you don't get the electric trim model (92 lbs vs. 117lbs.) and they are a few hundred cheaper than the Mercs. www.onlineoutboards.com

 

Something worth mentioning on here  is the fact that you don't always need a steering setup if you match up your kicker to your boat real well. I originally had the EZ steer connector between my 25 inch shaft 135 Opti and my 9.9 Johnson 2 stroke 20 inch shaft and after getting pizzed a few times disconnecting on the water I tried not using anything and it worked steering with the big motor by just tilting the kicker slightly toward the big motor. I recently bought a new 9.8 Tohatsu and it works beautifully just steering with the big motor even into the wind (the older 2 stroke didn't do as well into the wind). I'd try it before investing in the steering connector.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Sk8man

[jimski2]

Panther makes an in boat connector, threaded rod, stainless or galvanized, with motor clamps, that you bend and cut to fit. Easy to disconnect for tilting after use.

[FishnChef]

x 2 on the online outboards Tohatsu 9.8. Just got 25 inch shaft electric start shipped to my door for $2,200.also picked up the I troll and just hooked it up today going to go test it out tomorrow. from everything I've heard should be pretty sweet.it was almost $1,000 difference between the Merc Pro kicker and the Tohatsu so for me it was a no-brainer.one note though...my transom was too wide for the kicker bracket to actually fit so I had to purchase the panther static auxiliary motor mount to get around this because I didn't really want to grind down the motor mount.

[sleepy111]

I have a panther t4 for sale. Brand new. $500 cad.

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