2.5 HP Kicker motor is enough for a walleye boat??

[rickr]

Hi

2.5 HP 4 stroke Yamaha motor is enough for a 17' walleye boat??
I mainly troll walleye under slow speed, like on BOQ.
Such a small boat is enough under calm or windy day?
Another question is, if it's not economic in terms of gas?

Regards.

[eye-tracker]

Hi

2.5 HP 4 stroke Yamaha motor is enough for a 17' walleye boat??
I mainly troll walleye under slow speed, like on BOQ.
Such a small boat is enough under calm or windy day?
Another question is, if it's not economic in terms of gas?

Regards.

Hello,
What is the beam(width) of the 17 foot boat that you would like to push with the 2.5HP?

On a 16 to 21 foot deep-v boat with a 96 to 98" beam I would suggest a 9.9hp kicker with a long or extra long shaft. A kicker motor has a high thrust design for pushing a boat through waves and winds, but at the same time keeping the trolling speed slow and under control.

As an example I have an 18ft Deep-V boat and on Quinte I often troll with the winds that gust to 45km and my 9.9 Mercury Pro kicker allows me to troll along at 1 mph and control the boat in down wind trolling passes. I often have to use full throttle on my 9.9 to get the bow around in strong winds so a 2.5hp power motor would never give me the control or thrust I need.

If the 17 foot boat is an open fishing boat that is light you may be able to get away with the small HP, but i would still try to go with a bit more push if possible.

Have fun shopping for your kicker. They add a little security with a second gas engine if the main one fails and they take the hours off the big motor.

-s

[1lastcast]

I too use a kicker motor to troll BOQ. Im new to the kicker motor world. But Id say that 2hp is not enough for a large lake like BOQ. I have a 18' legend and run a 8hp 4stroke as my kicker. Its a long shaft with 20" it moves my boat along nice. I would say that i could have gotten away with a 6hp motor. But if you consider the weight savings and cost. It makes more sense to go with a 8 or 9.9

[1lastcast]

eye-tracker

I have a question for you.

would it wise to invest in the pro kicker prop for my 8hp 4 stroke merc? I also wanted to ask you. Do you control your kicker from the back of the boat or is it connected to your steering wheel? Im going to start using my kicker manually from the back as i find it hard to control the boats speed at times. Currantly im using the boats steering wheel to control the kicker. I also find that using my bow mount with wireless controls helps if i need the extra power to turn around and such.

Sorry if im steeling this tread.

[eye-tracker]

eye-tracker

I have a question for you.

would it wise to invest in the pro kicker prop for my 8hp 4 stroke merc? I also wanted to ask you. Do you control your kicker from the back of the boat or is it connected to your steering wheel? Im going to start using my kicker manually from the back as i find it hard to control the boats speed at times. Currantly im using the boats steering wheel to control the kicker. I also find that using my bow mount with wireless controls helps if i need the extra power to turn around and such.

Sorry if im steeling this tread.

Hello 1lastcast,

You really need the 9.9 big foot or pro kicker 2.42:1 gear ratio to run a high thrust prop. The 9.9 pro kicker and big foot are designed to work as a high thrust kicker with slow trolling speeds. You can check with mercury to see if they have a high thrust 4 blade prop for the 8HP.

I have used both tiller and remotes in the past and in my present boat I have a remote kicker with electric start, trim, tilt and shift at the helm next to my main motor control. The kicker is linked to the main motor with a steering tie bar. This system is good for open water trolling in a small boat where you do not have to move far to reach the steering wheel or throttle. When trolling into the wind or in cross wind conditions I use my autopilot bow mount to control the direction of the bow. I have also found the bow mount works great for contour trolling - I place the kicker into gear and set my trolling speed and then I go up front on the electric bow mount motor and steer along the contour while watching my bow mounted electronics. The kicker provides the thrust and the bow motor steers the bow. Now add the wireless bow motor remote and a network to your electronics and you can control everything from your console as you steer and watch the depth on your dash mounted unit while following the contours on your GPS.

In larger 21 foot walleye boats I like to use the tiller handle with an extension as you spend most of your time trolling from the rear section of the boat. Also the tiller handle gives you better throttle response and greater steering control.

I am thinking my boat for next year will be rigged with the tiller 9.9 Pro Kicker because I miss the hands on throttle and steering control.

Like most fishing things, it all comes down to personal preference...

BTW you may want to look into the TrollMaster remote throttle control for your 8hp.

-sheldon

[Erie-Eyes]

I also run a 9.9 hp kicker with a high thrust prop on my 186 Princecraft with the kicker controlled from the steering wheel. Experience has shown that the boat is not as responsive with this set up as with a manual controlled kicker, but I find it is generally more convient, with good visability of my dash mounted sonar/gps unit and other controls. If by myself, I will also use my bow mounted autopilot minn kota to control the bow, with the kicker providing the power. However when fishing BOQ or Lake Erie in higher winds, I still prefer to fish with two buddies, with one person's sole responsibility being boat control from the helm, with the other two manning various rods/ nets etc. We then rotate positions during the day so everybody participates. With a larger boat, I feel high winds with rough water demands full time helm attention for proper boat control.

[1lastcast]

Thanks guys

I thought i was the first to use my bow mount along with the kicker.

Man i can't wait for the big girls to show up in the bay. Im loving my new boat. Now i just need...