Kicker motor

[flyingd]

What would be the smallest kicker motor that you guys would put on a 18' Chieftain? and I would probably go with a 4 stroke if i can.

 

[erwinner]

Re: Kicker motor

I'd say 9.9hp. But 4 strokes are pretty heavy so I'd probably go for a 15hp. A 6hp doesn't seem like enough to me. I've got a 15hp 4 stroke I plan on using on my 21' Chieftain with a jack plate.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: Kicker motor

Probably depends on the kind of water you are on typically. Wind? Waves? Current?

 

[sschefer]

Re: Kicker motor

I asked myselft this same question for a year. The answer that was given to me by the most informed people was to take your max hp rating and divide by 10 and round down, (sort of). My 16' Jetcraft has max hp rating of 70hp so a 6 is the right motor for me. The same boat in 18' has a max hp of 115 so a 9.9 (11.5) is the right motor. You can run a 9.9 on a bigger boat but you have to bump up to a high thrust like the Merc Pro Kicker or the Yami T-8. The bigger you go the faster your min trolling speed is going to be. Sooooooo when it all came down to nuts and bolts I went with a MinnKota Powerdrive V2 because my 4 stroke 60hp merc trolls at 2.5 so I only need to cover 0-2.4. The electric will do that just fine plus it gives me the added benefit of iPilot and wireless remote controll. The added weight is about the same when you factor in two extra batteries and the motor.

Something to think about..
Oh, cost is about 1/2 of the Kicker motors list price.

 

[elkhunter338]

Re: Kicker motor

As I have mentioned in the past I have a 15hp 2stroke (2001) johnson with a 4 blade 9 pitch prop on a garlic bracket which get the motor set properly in the water and away from the transmon.
I get 5mph per GPS in the pacific ocean.
For a lake I would go no less than 10hp, for ocean or large lakes I would go with a 15-30hp.
If $ is no option a 20hp honda, same weight as the 15hp.
I tried a 25hp 2 stroke 1995 johnson and got 7 mph in the ocean and it pushed the boat around much better when drift/trolling. But that was a borrowed motor and had to give it back.
I see alot of the high thrust 9.9 on 18-26' boats, never had the opportunity so them in action.
Also I use mine on a 14' klamath, not sure how a highthrust kicker would work on a 14' boat, that is if you plan on using your kicker on a smaller boat as the main motor.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Kicker motor

Smallest I'd go is 8.

 

[PKomrowski]

Re: Kicker motor

What you should be concerned with is not the size but the features. The 9.9 for example is a purpose built kicker with an over-sized lower geared lower unit that is longer than the standard unit.

This gives you... DC charging of 6 amps to run as much DC power items as you like without fear of killing your battery's (thats a big bonus), a stronger lower unit that will last much longer, a deeper bite into water below your keel, the ability to use a prop style (they come standard with it new) that is more suitable for slow powerful and better control. These things are really big in everyday use, others will work but not like one purposely made to do the job.

I have the Yamaha 9.9 and its awesome, its on a 26 footer and has plenty of power, but it would work just as well on a 16 foot boat. It uses about 1 gal of fuel about every three hours so it paid for itself very quickly.