Kicker Bracket Question

[Drowned Rat]

I just put a kicker bracket on my boat and was wondering how many of you trailer your boat with your motor on the bracket. Have you ever had any problems with it? My bracket is rated for 120#s and my motor weighs 56#s. If you leave your motor on the bracket, do you leave it all the way up or down? Thanks for your help.

 

[Tinkerer]

Re: Kicker Bracket Question

I don't leave it on for long trips and higher speeds because I want as much weight forward as possible and I want to reduce the load on the transom. For the five minute slower speed trip from my beach shack to the ramp I leave it on with the bracket up and the motor tilted up. My motor weighs 55lbs. My boat is a 15' fibreglass runabout. I haven't had any problems but I only put it on a month ago.

 

[Boatist]

Re: Kicker Bracket Question

My motor a 15 HP 1975 Johnson weighs 74 pounds. I started with it mounted on a single Garlick bracket rated for 20 Hp. It worked ok on the water but on the road the motor bounced really bad. I tied it up with a nylon strap and it was better but still bounced quite a bit.<br /><br />Later I bought a second bracket of the same type and mounted it along side then made a new motor mounting board to tie the two brackets together. I also made a new handle to tie the two release levers together. This stopped any side to side action of the motor but it still bounces some. Checking where the movement comes from on my boat I found most of it was from the transom it self. I braced the bracket from inside the tramsom and that helped a lot. I have always trailered with the motor in the up postion.<br /><br />My boat is a 1980 21 foot Cresliner I/O with a OMC series 400 Stringer and the transom is really not made to hold a lot of weight so your's might be better.<br /><br />Good Luck

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: Kicker Bracket Question

Tinkerer and Boatist, thank you for the replies. It sounds like the best thing is to not leave it on the bracket. Kind of hard on the transome. Sure is inconvenient though. Thanks for the help.