Kicker remote steering

[troller1285]

Just wondering is anyone has any experience with the Tailfin kicker remote steering system? I was looking at that instead of the panther system as it seemed more robust

[rolmops]

I have a tailfin kicker setup and I am not sure what to think about it. It is mounted on a 9.8 horse Tohatsu and that caused some trouble because the tailfin relies on the tube that is on the front of most outboards for the actuator to go through. But it is absent on the Tohatsu. It is solved by buying a little setup that replaces this tube. The rest is easily installed. It is nice to have the remote switch and a wired switch. There is a direct connection to the battery with an on and off switch. that means that turning off the engine switch does not turn off the tailfin.  I find the speed of the actuator very high and I tried to make it go as slow as possible because while trolling you usually want to make very small corrections. Because of the high reaction speed I ended up oversteering and having to correct and then correcting the correction. I only used it once on the lake so maybe there is a learning curve. My overal opinion is that the tailfin is more for bassfishing than it is for trolling. It cost me a thousand dollars but I'm not sure that it was well spent. Having used an EZsteer system for years, I am not at all sure that this is an improvement.

Edited March 3, 2023 by rolmops

[troller1285]

Thanks for the info !   I’ve got EZsteer now, the problem is that when the main engine is off It’s a real pain to turn.  We’ve got an old 93 mercury 15 hp motor so I’m wondering if a little heavier motor may help the speed of the actuator.  The other option seems to be the panther system and it just seems cheaply made for the cost (700)

[rolmops]

The actuator is quite strong so increased weight of the kicker will not influence the actuator speed.

You got me thinking about solving the actuator speed problem and I think I came up with a solution. I will extend  the contact point of the steering bar farther away from the kicker by a few inches. This will cause the actuator to have to travel farther to make the kicker move and thereby make the kicker turn slower. I'll try to make it a bit clearer by using this example.

If you draw a circle with a 3 inch radius you will have c=2Pir=2Pi3=roughly 19 divide this by half and the distance the actuator has to travel from far right to far left is 9.5 inch. If you draw a circle with a 5 inch radius you have:

c=2Pir=2Pi5=31.5. divide this by half and the travel distance is now almost 16 inches. This will make the distance that the actuator has to travel 3 times as much and it will slow the turning speed down very much.

I'll go make this adjustment to my kicker as soon as I can get it from under the snow.

Edited March 4, 2023 by rolmops

[hard knox]

There is a setting in the programming to slow the tailfin down  but that being said it's not ideal seeing the kicker rudder turns but main engine doesn't. So you end up with a lot of oversteering  I am going to try two  Amish buggy bags under the forward midship of the boat.I is supposed to make the bow stick and control wandering.

[GAMBLER]

On 3/4/2023 at 4:21 AM, troller1285 said:

Thanks for the info !   I’ve got EZsteer now, the problem is that when the main engine is off It’s a real pain to turn.  We’ve got an old 93 mercury 15 hp motor so I’m wondering if a little heavier motor may help the speed of the actuator.  The other option seems to be the panther system and it just seems cheaply made for the cost (700)

I had this same issue and installed hydraulic steering and a ray marine autopilot with an EZ steer bar.  I purchased the products through Rick at Krenzer Marine and they were installed by Tom Barbera at Eastfork Pro marine in Hamlin.  It was expensive but it’s really the best option out there.  Kicker autopilots work but not as good as regular autopilot units.