Kicker motor for 14 Lund Laker

[Mas]

Hi,

Does anyone have any good experience for a kicker motor for my 14 laker? I'm looking for a four stroke for the salt water to use while trolling for salmon.

What size hp & shaft length works well??

Mas

 

[Fishing Junky]

Re: Kicker motor for 14 Lund Laker

Hey Mas. What is your main motor brand and size? Do you even have enough room to mount a kicker? Junky..............

 

[ziemann]

Re: Kicker motor for 14 Lund Laker

I suspect that he has his terminology a bit mixed up. I suspect that he is simply looking for a small outboard for his boat...

Or he is simply getting a chuckle and is a troll....

 

[Mas]

Clarification: Kicker motor for 14 Lund Laker

Clarification: Kicker motor for 14 Lund Laker

Hi,

For clarification, I'm looking for an "extra" motor to mount beside my 20HP 'Rude. My primary is a 2 stroke that smokes too much with low rpm. It's kinda hard to be "one with nature" with a blue haze! I do not want to buy a new primary, but I thought I could compromise with an eco-friendly 4-stroke kicker to use while trolling.

I'm thinking of a 4hp merc...or something similar. Maybe a 2hp would work, but I do not know if it would push the boat well enough with wind/currents in the salt water. I just "burnt up" a two summers ago with too many rpms (and other issues) on another boat! :-(

But, I too am wondering if I've got the room to mount a 4hp beside the 20 HP...hence my post! Weight is also an issue. Most 4 HP 4-stroke have a weight between 50-60 Lbs.

Anyone out there with any experience with 4-stroke kickers on 14 Lunds?

Thanks for any info,

Mas

 

[ziemann]

Re: Kicker motor for 14 Lund Laker

OK, gotcha MAS- sorry for implying you might be a Troll.

I have never seen anyone put a small kicker on a Lund that small. I would be concerned that the excess weight on the transom will create some handling issues for the boat. The Laker is a pretty narrow boat for that kind of weight being off center. That boat was never intended to have a kicker on it. I am not saying it can't be done- I see folks with transom mounted electric trolling motors there frequently and then when you add the weight of a deep cycle battery you are getting up there in weight.

I also wonder if there is enough room on the transom to even hang a Kicker.

My suggestion would be to try something else- FIRST, try a different oil. There are some great high end synthetics out there that are virtually smoke free. Yes, Synthetics are more expensive, but they are definately cheaper than buying a kicker.... Your Evinrude 20 is a great motor....

You aren't going to emilinate the smoke, but you will definately reduce it given the clean burning nature of the synthetic. Also make sure you aren't running any richer than 50:1.

Do some research here using the "search" feature and find a brand that works for you and that is readily available in your area.

 

[Mas]

Re: Kicker motor for 14 Lund Laker

Well, I did a bit more experimenting....I just hung a 1950s Johnson 5hp where the mounting plate is for the electric that came with the boat. The Johnson is the old green "eggbeater" style with a rather big hood. There appears to be enough room. My 20 hp 'Rude has full turning ability without hitting the "eggbeater." Just barely, however!

I'm currently looking at the 4hp Yamaha four-stroke, which weighs in at 48 Lbs, and without actually going down & purchasing the motor, I will not know for sure if everything will clear. It sure seems like it would, however. I'm not sure of the hood width of the Yamaha, but the eggbeater is 11 1/2 inches in width...rather big!

I'm aware & concerned width the weight issues & balance too. The "driver's seat" is mounted off-center and with my two bills weight, the boat lists to the right. I have to "oversteer" to balance. If I put a kicker on the right and switch the seat to the left, I bet everything will balance...until I reel in that 45lb King Salmon.

I'm still really hoping that someone on this forum has some experience with kickers (besides the electric Minnekota) for this size of boat. Having an auxillary motor on board really isn't a bad thing either.

Thanks,

Mas

 

[Fishing Junky]

Re: Kicker motor for 14 Lund Laker

Hey Mas. How wide is your transom on your Laker?

 

[Mas]

Re: Kicker motor for 14 Lund Laker

Overall, the transom is 66 inches...but it is dished-out/dropped about 5 inches to allow for a 20 inch (rather than a 25 inch) motor shaft. So where the outboard mounts, the transom is about 50 inches with another 8 inches of "raised transom" on both sides to make up 66 inches.

So basically, I have about 48-50 inches to mount motors on a 66 inch transom!

Mas

 

[Fishing Junky]

Re: Kicker motor for 14 Lund Laker

Hey Mas. Ziemann has made a good point of trying different brands of oil. If that isn't to your liking, I guess if it were me, I'd just upgrade to a fourstroke motor as the main. I'm not sure if you would be totally satisfied with trolling with a one cylinder four horse motor. I've never run a four horse, but I have heard they shake a bit, and thier tiller handles are short. I did look at them when I was looking for a kicker and I decided to go with a 2 cylinder 6hp Yamaha 4-stroke which is a great motor for me. Your kinda limited to space on the transom, and being overwieght in the back of the boat, along with listing. I checked out the 20hp's fourstroke made by honda, yamaha and merc. They range anywhere from 110lbs to about 130 w/power trim and tilt. All three were very nice motors. I have a 2005 1625 classic w/76 beam. I assume the transom is also 76 inches. Boat is in storage, so can't measure. I have a 30hp Honda as the main, w/the 6 yamaha, and I have just enough room on the back for both. Any less room and It would have been difficult. The added weight didn't hurt me much at all. Boat hardly lists at all. But my boat is wider than yours, so that probably helps. Here is my transom before I added the yamaha. http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0QgAM...9uX*KyPfX3459jqeG4ZE/P?dc=4675666926661579196
I don't have pics yet of both. Not much help here I know, but upgrading your main would make sense to me. But what do I know? He He. Good luck, Junky..

 

[Dovekie]

Re: Kicker motor for 14 Lund Laker

Hi Mas,
Perhaps by now you've taken the plunge or found other solutions, but having just read your post, thought that you might be interested to know that i was able to mount a 25 hp 2 stroke & 6 hp 4-stroke, side by ea. on Alumacraft v16 with 63" transom width. I had to do some modifications and t is a side console so weight distn & handling will be a little different than yours. I too fish (a little) & travel in s/w.

Hopefully this link will work & if so, you can see how it turned out.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii312/Allwalle/2008-03-07DovekieonslipDSC09963.jpg

 

[Mas]

Re: Kicker motor for 14 Lund Laker

Well,

I ended up buying a Yamaha 4 HP four stroke, and I crossed my fingers hoping that everything would fit without problems. I decided on the Yamaha because of only 48 lbs! It is a single cylinder and does shake a little bit, but I did not want the added weight of a 2-cylinder motor.

Getting home I found that there is enough room for the motors to mount side-by-side on existing transom mount plates...but very close. Both motors will have full range of turning motion when both are in the water...but the primary will slightly touch the kicker (if kicker is raised) if I turn the boat hard to the left with the primary. It is so close that I'm sure with a little adjusting, they will not touch.

I have not done any sea trials, so I do not know the rest of the story of how things will work out...especially balance! I will also switch to a synthetic for the 2-stroke, just to be more eco-friendly. If I can get the primary to not smoke with the synthetic, I'll remove the Yamaha & use it for my sailboat kicker without issue of a wasted purchase.

I'll post a picture of the set-up when I get a chance and respond with more info after some sea trials.

Thanks for all who gave me some input!!

Mas

 

[Mas]

Re: Kicker motor for 14 Lund Laker

Here's a couple of pics for my setup!

Mas

 

[Mas]

Re: Kicker motor for 14 Lund Laker

Let's try these links:

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p219/mas421/HardStarboard.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p219/mas421/HardPort.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p219/mas421/AftView.jpg

 

[Fishing Junky]

Re: Kicker motor for 14 Lund Laker

Hey Mas. Glad everything worked out for ya. Enjoy the motor and time out on the water. Junky.............

 

[ziemann]

Re: Kicker motor for 14 Lund Laker

Great job, MAS! I didn't think you would be able to pull it off with that little room on the transom. Let us know how it handles, because I am sure others along the line have wondered how a project like this would work....

BTW, you made a good choice in little OB, it will serve you well as a kicker. ANd you were smart going with an OB with that little weight....good job.

 

[Mas]

Re: Kicker motor for 14 Lund Laker

OK...here's the deal after doing some sea trials:

There was not any issue with balance to starboard/port that a little weight distribution didn't solve. The biggest shift was my portable gas tank.

I did have a difficult time getting the boat up on its feet onto a plane with the extra weight on the stern if I was the only man on the boat. I think a bit more weight forward will solve this problem...maybe getting my big butt forward (or a least leaning) will solve this problem too! Maybe a tiller extension is necessary? With my fishing buddy aboard & forward, no problem getting on a plane!

The 4 HP didn't have any problems exceeding my trolling speeds. I'm still breaking the motor in, so I didn't want to dial it down and do any trolling. The manual says that I need it run the motor at 3/4 throttle for an hour. I need to go for another 1/2 hour before I can do any trolling.

Steering while running the kicker is somewhat problematic. Turning the boat to port/left had zero issues...but to the starboard, I found the tiller handle interfered with the primary too much to be of any use. If I kept the tiller handle "straight up" and steered with the carrying handle on the front, I have pretty good turning range...but not the easiest way to maneuver!

My solution was to keep the kicker headed straight, lower & keep the primary down, and use the primary as a rudder while its prop freewheeled. (If there are any mechanical issues that may damage my primary by doing this, please respond!). This configuration works fine, although not ideal because it's not a "powered turn" and takes a bit longer to get the boat headed in the "right" direction! But for the small steering adjustments that I'm looking for to keep the boat on track, this seems to work fine. So I guess if I need to make an emergency turn because I'm not paying attention to where I'm going, it'll have to be to the left!

So far, there's a little bit of B.S., but I'm pretty happy about my purchase. No smoke, reduced noise, a great little back-up if my primary fails on the water, & can be used as my kicker for my sailboat as well.

M