New Boat Order - Kicker choices

[Koakine88]

Aloha,
I recently placed an order for a 2021 208 Adventure with the 200 Yamaha DEC. I plan on doing a ton of trolling and am looking into kicker mount options for a little 8-9 Yamaha to keep hours off the main and minimize fuel burn. It’s also a nice safety feature.

Question is: what is the best way to go about this? I can still likely request a change to my order (swim step relocate, delete, or battery relocate).

I know having the kicker, batteries, and driver all on the starboard side is asking for a consistent list. If you had an order in and wanted a kicker to be added down the road, what would you ask for?

I don’t love the idea of losing the swim step, so am considering just asking for a starboard mount for my swim platform so I can run a kicker on the port side eventually.

 

[leeccoll]

Aloha Koakine88!

Highly recommend a 9.9HP high thrust extra long shaft. It sips gas. I mounted mine on starboard side because I had a swim ladder already on the port side. You are correct, listed until I came up with a weight fix.

There are brackets that mount on the swim bracket so you don't have to loose it.

PDR Marine » Auxiliary Brackets

Congrats on a spanking new boat!

Lee

 

[ScottyCee]

Yes! 9.9 ht, and consider kicker autopilot. You'll never go back.

 

[Koakine88]

Aloha Koakine88!

Highly recommend a 9.9HP high thrust extra long shaft. It sips gas. I mounted mine on starboard side because I had a swim ladder already on the port side. You are correct, listed until I came up with a weight fix.

There are brackets that mount on the swim bracket so you don't have to loose it.

PDR Marine » Auxiliary Brackets

Congrats on a spanking new boat!

Lee

What did you do to even out the weight distribution?

 

[Flot]

I'm surprised to hear the recommendations for a kicker, my impression was that the real advantage for them these days was more on inland water use / trolling unusually slowly.

Out of curiosity when you say "a lot of trolling" what does that look like? Down here in South Florida we do a lot of trolling but no one thinks twice about their twin engine boats racking up hundreds of hours a year.

I'd expect a 4 cyl 200 to be pretty thrifty on fuel but obviously not in the same ballpark as a single cyl 9.9.

I'm sincerely curious, don't take any of the above as criticism, I know these things can be very regional.

 

[ScottyCee]

My 28' twin is just slow enough for salmon trolling on one 225. Works great - no kicker on this boat - but any smaller and it would be too fast.

 

[Blaugrana]

Out of curiosity, why a kicker vs one of those minn Kotas off the bow? I was envious of this guy who sat in the back fishing while his minn Kota piloted him between narrow passageways of boats. It was letting him drift while we sat dead in the water.

He was the only one pulling in fluke by us because of that motor. Just zig zagged all around us while fishing off the back.

 

[luckydude]

I have a 2020 228 (2 foot longer than your 208 but otherwise the same boat). I have a 250 Yamaha with digital controls and supposedly it trolls. It doesn't. At 600 RPM it moves that 5000+ pound boat around 3.5mph which is too fast for salmon. Troll mode, unless I haven't figured out the go slow button, is a joke.

Kickers are hard to get right now, everyone is buying boats because of COVID. I looked around, I wanted EFI, I did not want a carbed engine, so I was looking at Tohatsu and Suzuki. I got a Suzuki because that was what I could find. I like Suzuki, it's fine, if I could have found a Tohatsu I would have gone with that.

I looked at Yamaha and they are carbed. I'm a shade tree mechanic in my retirement, long story, my job was a software CEO, but I work on engines for a friend of mine. We have have fixed 100s of engines. All of the small engines are remove the carb, clean the carb, clean the tiny tiny holes in the jets, put it back. And it works. Small engines with carbs have small jets with small holes, and gravity feed or some 3PSI pump. Fuel injection is like some dude with big muscles, it is why higher pressure, it pushes the dirt into the engine. Carbs, just say no.

 

[leeccoll]

What did you do to even out the weight distribution?

Put 4 bags of sand in the cuddy cabin on the port side. Band aid fix but it works fine and rides much better into waves BUT nothing compared to the new Grady hulls.

 

[leeccoll]

Out of curiosity, why a kicker vs one of those minn Kotas off the bow? I was envious of this guy who sat in the back fishing while his minn Kota piloted him between narrow passageways of boats. It was letting him drift while we sat dead in the water.

He was the only one pulling in fluke by us because of that motor. Just zig zagged all around us while fishing off the back.

What a PIA to charge up batteries all the time, and in a real need for a back up motor to get you back to safety, it won't get you there. Fine for light duty, excellent for staying in one spot without having to anchor.

 

[luckydude]

I forgot to talk about weight. My 228 has the batteries on the port side, ladder on starboard. The boat, without kicker, lists to port when my kid is along (I'm about 190, he's about 130). The dealer said put the kicker on the port side so it will be balanced when you are solo. That's nuts, 100 pounds of batteries and 130 pounds of kicker is more than me. I mounted it starboard and it lists slightly to that side. Put my 2 12 pound and 1 15 pound downrigger balls in the with the batteries and it is perfect with my kid on board. When I'm solo, I'll either do the sand bag thing in the cuddy or just use the trim tabs.

With the platform, the ladder still works behind the kicker.

 

[DennisG01]

Since the inside of the cockpit at the aft end is the same on the stbd and port side, it really doesn't matter which side the platform/ladder is on. To keep things simple, I like the idea of putting the kicker motor on the port side to even out weight (w/o having to introduce even more weight to offset things) and then putting the platform on the stbd side. If Grady doesn't have a stbd side platform that would work (since the one they have for the 208 really only works for the port side), you can always put an aftermarket platform on there.

 

[Koakine88]

By a lot of trolling, I mean: all of my fishing is trolling. Which is for Mahi Mahi, Ahi, and maybe an unlucky bill fish. I won’t be slow trolling like the salmon guys, but mid 6-10 knots.

Grady-White cannot swap the swim step to Port, but they can delete it. I asked about having it mounted with thru bolts and backing plates rather than screws as I could potentially mount a little kicker off that maybe (Waiting an answer on that). For now I think I’m running the stock swim step and will look into kicker options more in the future. Main purpose for me isn’t fuel but more-so hours. The 200 Yamaha DEC is obviously a huge percentage of my new boats worth. I plan on keeping the boat very long term and want to extend the years I’d have to rebuild and eventually re-power. I’d much rather rack up all those hours on a cheaper more replaceable unit.

As far as the safety aspect: I have other friends with boats (which is good), Towboat US is very limited out here, the area I’ll mostly be operating is out of their “free range” even with my membership. Also, I’m in the Coast Guard and many of the disabled boats end up being our responsibility due to lack of commercial salvage in Hawaii. I refuse to call my own people, I’d never live it down!

 

[ScottyCee]

Well, so that raises another excellent point. my 10 horse high-thrust running balls to the wall would take the boat just about 6 mph/water. there's a good chance you will need a bigger motor than that if you're trolling at higher speeds. at that point I would use the main motor for sure.

I guess to be honest, right up there with the best uses we found for the kicker was putting it on autopilot and letting it do the driving. we cruised for hours on end eating, drinking, and being merry. You just have to keep an eye out for the occasional log, deadhead, or island LOL!!

 

[Bird Blaster]

I forgot to talk about weight. My 228 has the batteries on the port side, ladder on starboard. The boat, without kicker, lists to port when my kid is along (I'm about 190, he's about 130). The dealer said put the kicker on the port side so it will be balanced when you are solo. That's nuts, 100 pounds of batteries and 130 pounds of kicker is more than me. I mounted it starboard and it lists slightly to that side. Put my 2 12 pound and 1 15 pound downrigger balls in the with the batteries and it is perfect with my kid on board. When I'm solo, I'll either do the sand bag thing in the cuddy or just use the trim tabs.

With the platform, the ladder still works behind the kicker.

Do you have any pictures of your kicker setup?

 

[luckydude]

Do you have any pictures of your kicker setup?

I do now

I bought Suzuki instead of Yamaha because (A) No more tiny carbs for me, fuel injected is my choice and (B) Suzuki was the only thing that didn't have a 3 month waiting period.

The bummer is I'm going to have to throw my 250 away and repower with Suzuki because that white looks so nice.

Just kidding, I don't care how it looks

Oh, and the hokey power/fuel line is because I mounted it and I don't trust myself with drilling holes in my brand new super expensive boat. I'm waiting on Bayside, they are gonna do it and it will look great. I do a lot of my own work but I know my limits, not going to experiment on my boat.

 

[Holokai]

Your boat will be more reliable than 90% of the boats here given that it will be brand new. Fill it up with non-ethanol gas, additive of your choice, stay on top of maintenance, and you’ll be fine unless you run over a log or get a rope/net wrapped in the prop.

A 9.9 kicker won’t get you up to trolling speed in the conditions out here. You’ll want to be between 6-8 kts as a general rule. That little kicker will not get you home if the wind/current/swell pick up; my friend had a 15 hp 2-stroke on his 1985 Overnighter (old version of the 208) and it would barely get him moving with the wind and current helping.

Maybe consider a cb radio as a lot of guys here still use them and you can call for help.

 

[luckydude]

Your boat will be more reliable than 90% of the boats here given that it will be brand new. Fill it up with non-ethanol gas, additive of your choice, stay on top of maintenance, and you’ll be fine unless you run over a log or get a rope/net wrapped in the prop.

A 9.9 kicker won’t get you up to trolling speed in the conditions out here. You’ll want to be between 6-8 kts as a general rule. That little kicker will not get you home if the wind/current/swell pick up; my friend had a 15 hp 2-stroke on his 1985 Overnighter (old version of the 208) and it would barely get him moving with the wind and current helping.

Maybe consider a cb radio as a lot of guys here still use them and you can call for help.

What the heck do you troll for at those speeds? I troll at about 2.5mph for salmon and slower than that for halibut or lings, really tend to just drift for those but sometimes I troll.

I've got a stationary VHF and two hand held VHFs. Planning on adding a second fully redundant stationary (radio, antenna, it's own power run) for when I work up the courage to run out for tuna. Also nice to have a mic right there in the cockpit if you are fishing and chatting with a buddy.

Why CB? Do people really use those instead of VHF? I've never heard of that but I'm pretty green.

And, yeah, brand new is awesome. It's my second boat, got screwed on the first one and decided life is short, get a new one. Probably over spent but I had some unique circumstances that made it make sense. I'm not sure it does for 90% of the boaters, find a solid boat that is used for half the price or less. I didn't want more problems so I went new, it made sense for me but I get that some people would shake their heads.

 

[Bloodweiser]

Lucky,
for your kicker, do you have any controls at the helm? how do you steer and control speed?

 

[Holokai]

What the heck do you troll for at those speeds? I troll at about 2.5mph for salmon and slower than that for halibut or lings, really tend to just drift for those but sometimes I troll.

I've got a stationary VHF and two hand held VHFs. Planning on adding a second fully redundant stationary (radio, antenna, it's own power run) for when I work up the courage to run out for tuna. Also nice to have a mic right there in the cockpit if you are fishing and chatting with a buddy.

Why CB? Do people really use those instead of VHF? I've never heard of that but I'm pretty green.

And, yeah, brand new is awesome. It's my second boat, got screwed on the first one and decided life is short, get a new one. Probably over spent but I had some unique circumstances that made it make sense. I'm not sure it does for 90% of the boaters, find a solid boat that is used for half the price or less. I didn't want more problems so I went new, it made sense for me but I get that some people would shake their heads.

Hawaii is weird in that a lot of people still run CB. I think it might have to do with longer range, cheaper installation cost, availability (back in the day), and the fact that there are more open channels to converse.

We troll for pelagic fish using mostly artificial lures that need speed to impart action. Also, since we’re not fishing set structure we need to cover distance while hunting and looking for birds/curretlines/floating trash/etc.