Long(!) kicker bracket

Here are a few photos of the Mini Jacker on my boat, in case they might be useful. This first one shows the Honda 8D (pardon the quality, I deliberately over-lightened some of these to make the detail show up better). This was just right on the Mini Jacker as installed. When you compare it to the following photos of the Merc 5, you can see how much difference the "stoutness" of the Honda made where the leg goes past the trim tab planes. You can also get an idea of how far down the long shaft(s) sit even with the 3" rise of the Mini Jacker.

Mini_Jacker_etc.jpg

Here is the much more slender Merc 5 (2-stroke). I have it shimmed in four places. First, a hardwood cleat of about 3/4" thick on top of the Mini Jacker; second a fiberglass shim aft of the plate (the white one); third another fiberglass shim attached directly to the motor bracket with a small, tapped screw through an existing hole in the bracket (this is just aft of the white one, and is medium green); and fourth a couple of more green fiberglass shims on the inside of the Mini Jacker. These latter two replace the thick plywood panel that comes with the Mini Jacker (which I did use with the Honda, although I cut the unused lower half off). The white and green shims attached to the Mini Jacker are fastened through and to each other with one pair of machine screws/nuts - I used the holes that were already there from mounting the Honda. The inside green shims are there so that the motor screws will tighten properly. The fiberglass shims are there to move the engine aft since it is so "skinny" compared to the Honda 8D (but I shed close to 70# of kicker!)

The engine as shown is in the highest/aft-most position of the adjustment pin. It will juuuuust clear the trim planes in the next lower position.

IMG_7198.sized.jpg

IMG_7193.sized.jpg

IMG_7195.sized.jpg

IMG_7197.sized.jpg
 
I used 1/8" type 316 stainless for my TyBoo bracket. I suppose slightly thicker aluminum could be used--certainly be easier to bend and drill!
I also used marine ply for the board but made the central portion of the metal bracket wider (so it finished off as wide as the plywood)-a minor change in detail. I'm going to have to get an album so as to show projects.
 
I am getting around to improving my kicker mount described earlier in this thread. I was strongly thinking of a mini-jacker. Today I saw the following photo, posted by Retriever, which shows a simple mount by Les Lampman, apparently just using a mounting pad to raise the kicker a few inches:

SAM_8542.jpg

This got me thinking of using just the mounting pad from the $700 Tanner mfg. bracket already installed on my boat (see photo in first post of this thread). I unbolted the pad, clamped it to the starboard side of transom, and clamped on my Yamaha 6 hp:

Kicker_mount_mockujp.jpg

Kicker_base_of_transom.sized.jpg

The mockup looks pretty good to me. When kicker is raised it looks like much less potential to drag underway. When lowered, with the kicker angle pin set to the highest positive trim, the shaft is nearly vertical (few degrees positive trim) and I get over an inch of clearance behind the trim tab (my tabs are only 8" long). The kicker ventilation plate is below the level of the hull. Clearance from the main (Honda 90) looks pretty good too so long as the kicker is not steered to port while the main is steered to starboard...

The kicker weighs about 60 lbs. It is a long shaft model, with about 22.5 inches distance from the ventilation plate to where the clamp touches the top of transom. (I thought this measurement was supposed to be 20 inches in all long shaft motors but I guess not.)

From the photos do any of you see issues with this setup? Will the kicker prop be grabbing clean water? Is a little positive trim ok for strictly off-plane propulsion?

If this works it could be a good solution for 22's with the shorter trim tabs. The mounting pad could probably be bought custom cut from a plastics supplier. (don't know what kind of plastic this is but it's heavy and very tough.)
 
Looks perfect. I've done that on 2 22's. With steering cable connected there is no interference and the kicker can have simple quick connect on front of motor instead of ez steer on the back. Will work on port or starboard sides. There is no problem with"clean water" hitting prop in either forward or reverse -- long-shaft kicker, that is. This method works on most boats, c-dory or not. The only way it doesn't work is if you have a smaller hp that has to be rotated 180 degrees to reverse-- that will interfere with the tabs.
 
I wanted to use that same method (following Retriever's photo), but then I also wanted Bennett M120 trim tabs and the two wouldn't work together (the Bennetts have a longer chord and a shorter span). So I went with the Bennetts and the Mini-Jacker. The simpler mount looks slick with the trim planes that are in the opposite orientation though, like yours.
 
Back
Top