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Posts: 94
| Hi guys, I just bought my first tiller boat, new winter of 2014. Ive always fished out of bass style boats. I want to try trolling as ive never really done this before, the slowest my old boat would go was 4.7mph. My new Ranger gets down to 2.2 so its plenty slow running the 90 e-tec. My question is this, I have the stern bracket on there as a dealer option and am looking to put a kicker on it. Do you think I should put it on to save hours on the big motor? Should I put an electric trolling motor back there instead. I like the idea of having a second gas motor just in case. Does anyone else out there have a tiller boat with a kicker as I haven't seen one yet? How do you like it? Does it get in the way of the big motor? Thanks for any advice Jim |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I see quite a few big tillers with kickers out there. |
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Posts: 1276
| I've always looked at kickers as a remedy for a big motor that won't idle down low enough to creep along when walleye fishing. I thought about one when I had my first boat, which had a 60 horse Johnson two stroke, that I couldn't get slow enough, but I made do by using a drift sock and/or backtrolling. Since then, I have had four stroke engines that would go slow enough. My current boat has a Vantage, which I don't use much muskie fishing, but love for walleye fishing, which I don't do much of anymore. I would find one of those Talons, much more useful for muskie fishing, than either the Vantage, or a kicker. I suppose if you find yourself a long way from shore on fairly big water, frequently, you might feel a little safer with an extra gas motor at your disposal. |
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Posts: 69
| 2.2 is plenty slow for most applications, if I want to slow down more I use a drift sock or I have a trolling plate installed on my 150 etec tiller that gets me down to 1.8mph when all the way down and 2.0mph when at a 45 going forward. The newer motors will easily go 4000 hours when maintained right. I almost have 2000 hours on my 2008 and I have not touched it besides the normal plug maintenance every 3-500 hours when the motor called. I troll a lot and I have better and easier boat positioning on my 620 while using the big motor. I wouldn't throw the extra weight of a kicker on the back of a tiller boat to save a few hours on my big motor. Put a 80 vantage back there and you will be happy. I have seen one 620T in my life with a kicker and zero 618's. Reason being is the big motor can get them slow enough as is and they will run a very long time when maintained properly and incredibly smooth in comparison to motors of the past. |
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Posts: 94
| Thanks dblockjr. That's what I'll do, I'll just leave it as is. I'll put a vantage on the bracket, it's already wired up for it just plug it in. Thanks again guys |
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| EDIT: this non-substantive post wasn't welcome here anyway.
Edited by M Winther 10/9/2014 12:53 PM
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Posts: 455
| Ran a Kicker on a Tiller for over 15 years. Lets see saves gas, Much safer with two motors. Electric won`t get you home on big water, Many musky lakes in my area are 10hp or less. It will troll slower because the prop is smaller. You can take it off and use it on a small boat if you want to fish back waters. You can get buy just fine with 8hp or even 5hp on most tillers so weight is not an issue. |
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Posts: 285
Location: NE Wisconsin | I run a 2007 620T with a 150 yamaha and a 8 Yamaha kicker. I don't troll for walleye, BUT I troll a lot on GB and LOW. I got to LOW today for a 2 week fall trolling trip. I bought the boat when it was 2 years old equipped with the 8 four stroke. Last year I started and ran the 8 for a while, this year, I haven't even started the 8. The 150 is half as quiet. The 8 has to rev RPMs to move the 620 fast enough for me, 3-4 mph. For muskie trolling, if you have a four stroke 150 or less, I see no need for a kicker unless, you feel more secure with a second motor.
John Aschenbrenner |
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Posts: 455
| I will say I preffer trolling with the main motor because it is centered on the transom. The kicker is a must because of motor restrictions in my area. I`m surprised the Midwest does not have many motor restricted lakes as well. |
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Location: Green Bay, WI |
SWEET video! Man, what a great day you guys had. This is an interesting thread, because I grew up running tiller boats.
One thing though--someone mentioned above that the Ranger 620T (tiller) is the same hull as the 620 console. I don't believe it is, actually. It's a couple inches shorter, and the beam is about 6" narrower than the 620VS, and 10" narrower than the new 620FS. But with a 200hp tiller V-rod, it looks like it would be an awesome machine--and I would definitely put a kicker on it, no question. The 150hp V-rod I used to run would suck 0.6 gallons per hour at 2.5-2.75mph on an 1850 Lund Tyee. I didn't have a fuel flow meter on the kicker line, but can say from fuel use that the kicker used much less than that.
Also, being out 5-8 miles (or more) from port on Green Bay makes me uncomfortable with one engine. I had problems with the Smartcraft system on my Tyee when I first bought it, and although there was nothing wrong with the Verado, the Smartcraft gauge would shut it down from time to time...until they finally traced down the issue and upgraded the firmware in the engine controller unit. But the point is that I did use the kicker to get back to port once, when the system was all verklempt. So although it isn't a solution for bad gas because the engines share the tank, it certainly might come in handy for redundancy-based safety.
Also, I would put the 15hp kicker on the hull. It's like $250 more than the 9.9hp last I checked--but you have more power available, or you'll need fewer RPM (and thus generate less noise) at the same speed. Also, the alternator output is double what the 9.9hp offers (12 vs 6 amps). It does weigh about 39 pounds more than the 9.9hp, but I consider that to be inconsequential for the benefits it brings.
TB
Edited by tcbetka 10/4/2014 8:54 PM
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