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Author Topic:   Mercury's new Fourstroke Kicker offering

Jeff posted 08-24-2014 10:58 PM ET (US)
This past week while I was up fishing in Frankfort Michigan, I stumbled across what looks to be some new offering from Mercury. For those who do not know Frankfort Mi, it is a great harbor just south of the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore where Salmon fishing is the main use for the majority of boats in the harbor. So you get to see all kinds of different set-ups and ways of rigging boats for trolling. Some of them can be pretty unique.
This new system from Mercury looks to be suited for larger fishing sportfishing boats and while the motor is a bit large, when installed on a boat the size of this beautifully restored 35 Bertram, it's not that out of scale I suppose : )
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/jeff_rohlfing/Mobile%20Uploads/ image_zps2f365a45.jpg
Hoosier posted 08-25-2014 08:35 AM ET (US)
Jeeze, a 115 "Kicker"?
Dave Sutton posted 08-25-2014 10:26 AM ET (US)
Trolling motor....
Not all that unusual when you have an inboard boat that you want to troll lots of rigs with for hours on end. Larger outboards get better fuel economy than inboards at low speed, and the torque of the larger HP engines at idle give you VERY quiet trolling power with good fuel economy. It's a specialized use.
On the other extreme: I saw a 9.9 high thrust kicker on a bracket on the swim platform of a 42 foot Grand Banks trawler one time. Asked why and was told that it was for use as a stern-thruster for putting the boat sideways into a short space along a face dock. Interestingly enough he told me that the 9.9 gave his boat 5 knots if he used it as a kicker (I run 8 with two 210 HP Cats on an identical hull) so maybe he wasn't really crazy.

Dave
.
george nagy posted 08-25-2014 02:57 PM ET (US)
Jeff, Actually that may be the only motor for that boat. I seem to remember hearing from someone who use to frequent this website that mercury outboards put out much more horsepower than was listed on their cowling. Now also remember that person often rigged many of his own whalers with twin mercury motor setups of which were mostly way more than the maximum rating for the hulls they were rigged on. In this case you may have stumbled on the "anti-lure" application here were the owner understood that the mercury 115 was "actually" much more power than the cowling depicted and decided that the power would be ample, of course that doesn't account for the added performance he might be realizing by using one of the far more superior and scientifically lake-x tested props mercury provides.
martyn1075 posted 08-25-2014 06:25 PM ET (US)
Why not a 50hp? 115 does seem kind of over the top for a kicker. I have seen 50 honda's used for kicker's before on very large boats. At the same time I can't see how a single 115 could run that size boat. There does seem to be a crowd who fancy the restore of these boats and covert the old inboard cruisers to now outboard bracket style fishing boats.
Martyn
Peter posted 08-25-2014 07:15 PM ET (US)
I understand that the Bertram owner believed what he read here, so when it came time to repower he removed the twin Caterpillar diesels and repowered with a single Mercury 115 4-stroke. ;)
george nagy posted 08-25-2014 08:11 PM ET (US)
yes with the right multiple blade propeller and the obvious "fact' that the motor has a much higher output than is written on the cowl it should easily reach planing speeds. I'll bet there is an article on scream and fly about his performance results.
PeteB88 posted 08-26-2014 10:36 AM ET (US)
So he turned it into a trawler.
fishinchips posted 08-26-2014 07:13 PM ET (US)
wow, I got to see that kicker bracket !
ken

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Author	Topic: Mercury's new Fourstroke Kicker offering
Jeff	posted 08-24-2014 10:58 PM ET (US) This past week while I was up fishing in Frankfort Michigan, I stumbled across what looks to be some new offering from Mercury. For those who do not know Frankfort Mi, it is a great harbor just south of the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore where Salmon fishing is the main use for the majority of boats in the harbor. So you get to see all kinds of different set-ups and ways of rigging boats for trolling. Some of them can be pretty unique. This new system from Mercury looks to be suited for larger fishing sportfishing boats and while the motor is a bit large, when installed on a boat the size of this beautifully restored 35 Bertram, it's not that out of scale I suppose : ) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v427/jeff_rohlfing/Mobile%20Uploads/ image_zps2f365a45.jpg
Hoosier	posted 08-25-2014 08:35 AM ET (US) Jeeze, a 115 "Kicker"?
Dave Sutton	posted 08-25-2014 10:26 AM ET (US) Trolling motor.... Not all that unusual when you have an inboard boat that you want to troll lots of rigs with for hours on end. Larger outboards get better fuel economy than inboards at low speed, and the torque of the larger HP engines at idle give you VERY quiet trolling power with good fuel economy. It's a specialized use. On the other extreme: I saw a 9.9 high thrust kicker on a bracket on the swim platform of a 42 foot Grand Banks trawler one time. Asked why and was told that it was for use as a stern-thruster for putting the boat sideways into a short space along a face dock. Interestingly enough he told me that the 9.9 gave his boat 5 knots if he used it as a kicker (I run 8 with two 210 HP Cats on an identical hull) so maybe he wasn't really crazy. Dave .
george nagy	posted 08-25-2014 02:57 PM ET (US) Jeff, Actually that may be the only motor for that boat. I seem to remember hearing from someone who use to frequent this website that mercury outboards put out much more horsepower than was listed on their cowling. Now also remember that person often rigged many of his own whalers with twin mercury motor setups of which were mostly way more than the maximum rating for the hulls they were rigged on. In this case you may have stumbled on the "anti-lure" application here were the owner understood that the mercury 115 was "actually" much more power than the cowling depicted and decided that the power would be ample, of course that doesn't account for the added performance he might be realizing by using one of the far more superior and scientifically lake-x tested props mercury provides.
martyn1075	posted 08-25-2014 06:25 PM ET (US) Why not a 50hp? 115 does seem kind of over the top for a kicker. I have seen 50 honda's used for kicker's before on very large boats. At the same time I can't see how a single 115 could run that size boat. There does seem to be a crowd who fancy the restore of these boats and covert the old inboard cruisers to now outboard bracket style fishing boats. Martyn
Peter	posted 08-25-2014 07:15 PM ET (US) I understand that the Bertram owner believed what he read here, so when it came time to repower he removed the twin Caterpillar diesels and repowered with a single Mercury 115 4-stroke. ;)
george nagy	posted 08-25-2014 08:11 PM ET (US) yes with the right multiple blade propeller and the obvious "fact' that the motor has a much higher output than is written on the cowl it should easily reach planing speeds. I'll bet there is an article on scream and fly about his performance results.
PeteB88	posted 08-26-2014 10:36 AM ET (US) So he turned it into a trawler.
fishinchips	posted 08-26-2014 07:13 PM ET (US) wow, I got to see that kicker bracket ! ken