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Author Topic:   Switching kicker, main motor on transom

elaelap posted 04-01-2012 11:48 AM ET (US)
Salmon season opens next Saturday out here in Northern California, and I'm considering a modification which I've thought about for several years. I primarily use the main motor on my Montauk -- a Suzuki DF70 -- to travel to and from the fishing grounds, sometimes as far as fifteen or twenty miles and other times just a mile or two from the harbor. Once I begin fishing I switch to my little 6 hp kicker, since we troll for salmon very slowly and it saves a lot of fuel and hundreds of hours per season on my expensive-to-replace main motor to use the kicker, often for five or six hours per day, two or three times per week.
Here's the problem: my kicker is located on the starboard transom, and when trolling tends to pull my boat to the right, spiralling in an ever diminishing circle. It's a pain in the rear to be constantly moving aft to correct the problem, so I've come up with the following solution --reversing the locations of the kicker and the DF70, with the kicker mounted in the center of the transom and the main motor mounted to its right. Thus when trolling with the kicker my Montauk will track straight, and when cruising with the main motor it will be easy to compensate with the helm for the boat's tendency to pull to starboard.
What do you think?
Tuco
fluke posted 04-01-2012 12:02 PM ET (US)
Post a pic when your done. Tony do you steer with your main motor or a kicker tie bar?
gusgus posted 04-01-2012 01:31 PM ET (US)
The lean angle might be problematic, unless your girth and seating position corrects that, LOL.
Tom W Clark posted 04-01-2012 01:42 PM ET (US)
No need to run aft to steer. Just install a stainless steel Panther tie bar kit between your motors and use the steering wheel. I've owned two Montauk rigged like this and never even bothered to disconnect the tie bar.
http://www.marinetechproducts.com/pages/AuxiliaryMotorSteeringStainless
gnr posted 04-01-2012 03:25 PM ET (US)
This has to be an attempt at humor.
home Aside posted 04-01-2012 04:10 PM ET (US)
Come on Tony say it!!! April Fools...
Pat
elaelap posted 04-01-2012 05:06 PM ET (US)
Well is sure ain't St Paddie's Day, Pat, though I'll celebrate it the same way this evening. My two favorite holidaze, BTW.
Tony
irishcreamer posted 04-01-2012 07:29 PM ET (US)
Good one, Tony! I got my fishing buddy this morning with a wildly insane fishing report.
Hey, maybe you should bow-mount the kicker and install a foot pedal :)
IC
andygere posted 04-02-2012 01:37 PM ET (US)
April Fool's jokes aside, Tom has the right idea. I don't know why anyone would steer their kicker with the tiller when these inexpensive tie bars work so well. When we fish, one guy runs the boat from the helm, the other tends the rods. After every hookup, we switch jobs. Helmsman nets, unless its a double hookup, then chaos ensues.
elaelap posted 04-02-2012 05:13 PM ET (US)
Yeah, unfortunately April Fool's Day is over for another year. Seriously, I used one of those tie bars on my 1988 Outrage 18 with a Yamaha F115 tied to a Johnson Seahorse kicker scavanged off an old sailboat, and it worked fine. We use the same thing on our 40-yr-old Revenge prototype, Strike3, hooking our Suzuki DF140 up to our little Nissan 6 hp four stroke kicker. But with my 1982 Montauk, I've found that if I just tighten up the mount of its Suzuki 6 hp four stroke kicker and use the main motor, a Suzuki DF70, as a rudder (shut down of course), I can turn the boat completely around almost within its length, depending upon the sea conditions. So far, in the past two years, I haven't felt the need for one of those tie bars on the Montauk, though they work very well.
Tony

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Author	Topic: Switching kicker, main motor on transom
elaelap	posted 04-01-2012 11:48 AM ET (US) Salmon season opens next Saturday out here in Northern California, and I'm considering a modification which I've thought about for several years. I primarily use the main motor on my Montauk -- a Suzuki DF70 -- to travel to and from the fishing grounds, sometimes as far as fifteen or twenty miles and other times just a mile or two from the harbor. Once I begin fishing I switch to my little 6 hp kicker, since we troll for salmon very slowly and it saves a lot of fuel and hundreds of hours per season on my expensive-to-replace main motor to use the kicker, often for five or six hours per day, two or three times per week. Here's the problem: my kicker is located on the starboard transom, and when trolling tends to pull my boat to the right, spiralling in an ever diminishing circle. It's a pain in the rear to be constantly moving aft to correct the problem, so I've come up with the following solution --reversing the locations of the kicker and the DF70, with the kicker mounted in the center of the transom and the main motor mounted to its right. Thus when trolling with the kicker my Montauk will track straight, and when cruising with the main motor it will be easy to compensate with the helm for the boat's tendency to pull to starboard. What do you think? Tuco
fluke	posted 04-01-2012 12:02 PM ET (US) Post a pic when your done. Tony do you steer with your main motor or a kicker tie bar?
gusgus	posted 04-01-2012 01:31 PM ET (US) The lean angle might be problematic, unless your girth and seating position corrects that, LOL.
Tom W Clark	posted 04-01-2012 01:42 PM ET (US) No need to run aft to steer. Just install a stainless steel Panther tie bar kit between your motors and use the steering wheel. I've owned two Montauk rigged like this and never even bothered to disconnect the tie bar. http://www.marinetechproducts.com/pages/AuxiliaryMotorSteeringStainless
gnr	posted 04-01-2012 03:25 PM ET (US) This has to be an attempt at humor.
home Aside	posted 04-01-2012 04:10 PM ET (US) Come on Tony say it!!! April Fools... Pat
elaelap	posted 04-01-2012 05:06 PM ET (US) Well is sure ain't St Paddie's Day, Pat, though I'll celebrate it the same way this evening. My two favorite holidaze, BTW. Tony
irishcreamer	posted 04-01-2012 07:29 PM ET (US) Good one, Tony! I got my fishing buddy this morning with a wildly insane fishing report. Hey, maybe you should bow-mount the kicker and install a foot pedal :) IC
andygere	posted 04-02-2012 01:37 PM ET (US) April Fool's jokes aside, Tom has the right idea. I don't know why anyone would steer their kicker with the tiller when these inexpensive tie bars work so well. When we fish, one guy runs the boat from the helm, the other tends the rods. After every hookup, we switch jobs. Helmsman nets, unless its a double hookup, then chaos ensues.
elaelap	posted 04-02-2012 05:13 PM ET (US) Yeah, unfortunately April Fool's Day is over for another year. Seriously, I used one of those tie bars on my 1988 Outrage 18 with a Yamaha F115 tied to a Johnson Seahorse kicker scavanged off an old sailboat, and it worked fine. We use the same thing on our 40-yr-old Revenge prototype, Strike3, hooking our Suzuki DF140 up to our little Nissan 6 hp four stroke kicker. But with my 1982 Montauk, I've found that if I just tighten up the mount of its Suzuki 6 hp four stroke kicker and use the main motor, a Suzuki DF70, as a rudder (shut down of course), I can turn the boat completely around almost within its length, depending upon the sea conditions. So far, in the past two years, I haven't felt the need for one of those tie bars on the Montauk, though they work very well. Tony