Kicker motor

S

ssobol

Active member
A lot of C-Dory boats have kicker motors on them. It seems that these mostly get used as trolling motors when fishing. While I can see the utility of having one, especially for people who operate offshore or in remote areas, I was just wondering how many people have actually had to use the kicker motor for real to get home or out of trouble because the main motor failed.

(Using the kicker as a test case does not count.)

Thanks.
 
54 years ago, I used a 2 hp outboard, to get a 26 foot Owen's Sea Skiff home...That was a long ride at 2 knots! But it got me there--

I did have a series of transmission failures on one large inboard boat, and used the dinghy and motor to push the boat out of harm's way.

I did have the lower unit electric shifter on a 115 HP outboard go out, 40 years ago....

Since then--I have not had a failure with an outboard, I could not fix on the water.

Outboards do breakdown. But they are as reliable as a XXXXX brand car these days! I carry a low power kicker, "just in case".
 
I used the small outboard to get Journey On to a safe place. Coming into Yaculta Rapids the main Honda engine lost its propeller when it hit something. Got to a dock, changed propellers, waited until next slack and went to Desolation Sound.

The spare power is nice to have. We use a 10 Honda for both get-me-home and the dinghy. Since Honda builds the heaviest motors, I have to remind myself why we have it every tine we put it on the bracket.

Boris
 
Have only had to use an eight horse one time to limp home on after the main lost steering ability. I would never go off shore as I do with out a back up.
 
there is a poll on here titled "new poll".

54% of owners who have a kicker and responded, have used it to limp home.

115 respondents.
 
Youbetcha, I wouldn't be caught on the ocean without another motor. I can't believe the junk people go out in that should not be on the water. Maybe it's from my old rock climbing days, redundancy is the key to survival!! Back up everything!! Every nickel I spent on that little 9.9 high thrust was nothing when I found out where the rubber met the road!! Scary stuff being alone in heavy fog out in the rock pile listening to the breakers getting closer & nobody's around.
 
Yep, First trip down the Mississippi. Main motor failed due to fuel problems.

Kicker with separate tank was started and we were out of the way of an oncoming barge tow.

Could not have changed the fuel filter and re-primed the main motor in time. I an I am pretty sure the barge could not have stopped. This was on a small houseboat and I had a 8 horse Yamaha kicker with a separate 6 gallon tank.

Also came in from the Gulf of Mexico on a kicker with an overheating problem on a I/O Chris Craft offshore boat.

On my 22 Cruiser I really like my 5 HP Merc kicker that has an integral tank that I keep full and ready for service plus a traditional snap on fitting that allows me to tap into the main fuel supply if I need to run the kicker for hours. The integral tank makes it convenient for occasional use on a smaller boat without having to deal with portable tanks. Never used the kicker on the C-Dory in an emergency situation. But nice to have it. In test runs I make 4-5 MPH with it on the 22 Cruiser
 
I don't think I have had a boat where the kicker didn't get me home a time or two. I will concede new anything is pretty awesome compared to some of the stuff I have had, and do have.
 
We had an impeller failure on a Honda 90 during our Aurelia ownership and needed to use the second motor (90) in kicker capacity to get back to our home dock about 18 miles away. We then used the single motor to get the boat another 30 miles for a repair and the whole situation would have been far more stressful and expensive without the second motor, regardless of size. The ability to be SELF sufficient is very important to us.

We recently switched to a little Suzuki 2.5 as the kicker and dinghy motor for our 19 angler and after testing its abilities are very pleased. We can putt along at 3 knots for over an hour per built in tank which we can refill easily in route.

We generally aim to maintain the main outboard well enough that the kicker would be very rarely needed for backup duty. That impeller failure was due to prior lacking maintenance and I have not allowed a repeat since.

Greg
 
Lots of people seem to have been lucky without a kicker, but I wouldn't go anywhere without one (unless the boat is small enough to be rowed with oars), and have used them to get home at least twice.

Once was on my 16' arima, when my brand-new 90 hp E-tec decided to just turn itself off and not run, just as we were heading out of the marina. Used the kicker to get the short distance back to the dock, but without it we would have surely been on the rocky breakwater within a couple of minutes.

The other time was on a 21' boat with an I/O mercruiser that was perfectly maintained and in like-new condition. I had just bought the boat and we had gone out a couple of times without a kicker but that made me super uneasy. So I installed a Yamaha T9.9, and on the very first trip out with the new kicker, the main engine died (ignition coil) somewhere near Oak Harbor and we got to "break-in" the new kicker by motoring about 5 hours back to Everett. It was slow, but a nice day and so we enjoyed every minute of it.

In the second case, without a kicker, we probably could have called and gotten a tow but that would have been expensive (and embarrassing!), but the first case happened so close to shore that we would have been at risk of causing serious damage to the boat without a kicker to get us off the rocks immediately.

-Mike
 
Absolutely would not leave home without it. I've documented 3 circumstances in the past where we NEEDED the kicker but will do so again briefly.

The first time, the power trim relay went out 2/3 of the way to Bellingham, went back on the kicker for about 10 miles.

Second time, I accidentally shorted the fuse to the starter about 15 miles out. Ruined a beautiful weekend but slow and easy (5 hours) with the tie bar tying the kicker to the main.

Last time, truly an emergency situation with the main having run non-stop and hard from Princess Louisa to Bellingham for 12 hours. I allowed the gas tank to get very low and the engine must have picked up some bad stuff at the bottom of the tank and sputtered to a halt just as we entered the break wall entrance to the marina. Luckily the kicker started immediately two feet from the rocks.

Yes, I'm glad we have the kicker because although I use the kicker mainly for trolling while fishing, as you can see there were 3 times in ten years that we needed it. I suppose the first two instances were not true emergencies and we could have called SeaTow if we didn't have a kicker but the last example was truly an emergency situation and thank goodness I always make a habit of starting the kicker while at rest because we sure needed it to start instantaneously before hitting the rocks.
 
Put me down for 3 times needing the kicker. Once due to a rock being hit by the main, second due to an engine failure due to carb and fuel contamination, 3d due to Failure of the "don't start unless in neutral" switch. So, if a new to me boat has no kicker, that is my very first upgrade. I'm really happy when flying cross country to look out and see an extra engine on the other wing of the 737.
 
I haven't yet needed the kicker, although I did once need a second propulsion method: Was motoring through San Diego harbor when a propeller malfunction occurred. We raised sail and then anchored once we got to a good spot out of the channel (then fixed the problem).

One note (probably obvious, but) is that if a problem happens close to shore you can oftentimes let go the anchor and thus have some time to sort things out - for that reason I always make sure it's ready to go whenever getting underway. I do have a kicker on the 22 as well though; without sails it made me nervous not having a backup propulsion method.
 
My main use now is trolling, but we've needed to use a kicker three times in 20 years of recreational boating; twice to make optional (ie non life-threatening) crossings where the main had problems, and once emergently to avoid the jetty rocks of the entrance to Skyline marina when the main shut down (this is where I permanently swore off the I/O as a means of boat propulsion). I'm a maintainer, and 2 of the failures came immediately after having had engine maintenance done! Like Peter, I start and warm up the kicker and install the tie bar before crossing in rough weather. My Honda 8 is cold-blooded and if I need it for emergency I want it to fire up with one touch of the button. Though my main tank is plumbed to supply the kicker, I generally run it off its own portable tank for complete redundancy. It also has an alternator and is hooked to the batteries, so it could provide enough juice to start the main if the batteries were down, and it is easily pull-started, whereas the main is not. I would recommend carrying a kicker if you are able. Best, Mike.
 
In 25 years we've been saved by the kicker several times, often in remote locations where help would be hard to get, or not available in time to avoid disaster. Breakdowns happen every so often if you do as many miles as we do. We had one sterndrive failure, one when the connection between steering ram and sterndrive came loose in a crowded harbor, one when the clamp connecting turbo to exhaust elbow disintegrated.

But the majority were as simple as kelp wrapping around the sterndrive, or the CD22's lower unit, causing overheating, and making us shut down the main engine. I can think of at least three of those where we we so close to the rocks that without the kicker we would have been doomed.

Love my kicker!
 
Just once in 16 years, oil injection sensor problem shut down the main 45 miles off shore tuna fishing. 15 to 20 knot winds with a 5' swell caused us to have to continually tac towards the east (land) as we moved South. Not a fun day but it got us outside the entrance to the bar and the Coast Guard towed us across.
We did manage to catch 6 tuna while motoring in though....
stevej
 
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