Autopilot Principles

[starcrafttom]

" to save gas and noise"

I am not sure you would do either running a cdory on a kicker at almost full throttle vs a 90hp main motor at idle.

A modern 90 hp at idle is almost silent. I have a 225 hp honda on my27 cdory and I cant hear it running at idle. I can hear the water pump pissing over the engine. 4 stroke kickers are also quiet but not at 3/4 throttle which is what you have to run it at to have steering.

AS I said in the first post . What you are going to do with your boat will determine how you want to set it up. I think you are best served with a auto pilot on your main that also ties to you kicker via a bar. If slow cruising is you thing with some fishing this is the way to go. Garmin or Lowrance/simrad with auto route and keep you in the right depth, you can set minimum depth, as long as the charts are correct.

I have spent two hours or more on the kicker getting to a port after a main engine problem 3 times. yes you need to run it almost full throttle if there are any wind or current.

As far as needing a generator. most kickers 9 ph or bigger have alternators on them. My 9.9 did and my 15 does now. Look at models with power tilt and trim, they will have it. On the 22 I have used the kicker to charge the batteries while on anchor so I could start the main. Kicker should always have a pull start as well as electric start for that reason. 4 to 8 hp other do not have that feature.

[Donald Tyson]

Thomas it struck me funn, to each his own:
"the water pump pissing over the engine".

As for the rest of your post I must tell you that I state my ideas to learn. I do take advice and am thankful for your post.

I hope to set up for trolling. Thanks

Oh, What HP do you recommend then for a 22 Kicker? I Was thinking 9.9 as it would let me onto so many state and smaller lakes, thanks.

[BigSwede]

[colbysmith]

[starcrafttom]

Any kicker from 5hp, small side , to 9.9 will work fine but, always a but, not all are equal. anything below a 8 is not going to have power tilt and trim or remote throttle for the most part. EFI is great and Mercury has that on their 9.9 motor bodies ( power head) but some of them and some of the other builder 9.9 EFi is really just a down tuned 15 power head so you have to look at that. Biggest difference is a 9.9 efi on 9.9 power head is x pounds but a 9.9 efi on a 15 hp power head is xxx pounds. The manufacturers all wanted to have EFI 9.9s but instead of building on they just down tuned the 15s. Gets confusing. That is what mercury did until they redesigned the 9.9 to be EFI. Now there are both on the market.

now about the 9.9 gets you onto lakes and parks. Depending on the lake it will if its your ONLY motor. Does not matter if you don't use the main motor, the fact that its on your boat will keep you off the lake. I like to fish a local lake that is electric only so I went with a buddy that has a electric trolling motor on the bow of his jet sled. We tilted up the main motor out of the water and just used the bow mount trolling motor. Someone, I think her name was Karen, called the wdfw and the cops and we got meet at the ramp. Long story short told not to even dream about doing that again.

So check you local regs.

[Donald Tyson]

In Pennsylvania you're allowed to have your main motor in the water for steerage but not turned on. Since Covid there's been metal enforcement on that and I had a guy go by me the other day with his 225 hp in the water pushing the boat at 40 miles an hour. It sure threw my drift boat around. If you go to electric only Lakes you're still allowed to have your big motor down in the water for steerage. I've seen so many people abuse these rules and I sort of wish they would go back to one motor only according to the horsepower limit and not allow boats in the lake with oversize motors.

Well I'm sitting here and I still don't have a boat. I find it easy to talk big though. L O L.