Kicker size - 8 or 9.9hp?

[tmcaul]

Planning to upgrade kicker on a 17.5 Sea Nymph. Currently have a smoky, noisy 9.9 2 stroke. Until last night I thought a 8hp four stroke would be plenty big because boat is not heavy. But at Shelburne launch last night a fisherman with a nice 2006 Starcraft rig with large Yamaha and 9.9 Yamaha kicker advised me to go for 9.9 in case I ran into rough water. I thought 8hp would be fine because I had a much heavier 1985 fiberglass 21' rig with a 7.5hhp Honda and the Honda pushed me along nicely. Also, the Sea Nymph is a little small for big water on a rough day.

Any thoughts on this?

Tom

[Reelax]

9.9 in case of rough water... and will be able to run at a slightly lower RMP. (quiet troller)

[Gecha (Gerry)]

Either one will do the job. 8 hp is lighter and has enough power to troll without having to rev rpm up with still enough power for some rough power. 9.9 hp will rev a bit slower but is heavier. There is no much difference in fuel consumption between the 2 when trolling. Try to get one with electric start and tilt if possible.

[BottomDollar]

That's a pretty light boat. I have a similar old aluminum boat and here's my experience with kickers: my old Honda 7.5 (same one you had) works fine and gets me from < 1 mph to 4.5 mph. The thing is, at higher RPM's, there's no change in boat speed. None of them will get your boat on plane, so at a certain point you just have wasted horsepower. Once your boat is at "hull speed," a 9.9 won't make any difference over an 8 HP, even in rough water.

A kicker throttle control is great to have regardless of what HP you choose.

The newer Starcraft you saw has a much wider beam than your boat, so a 9.9 probably is better on that boat.

[C-Hawk]

I think boat control will be be better with the bigger motor, the lower horsepower will push just fine but the bigger will steer better in the wind. Andy is right as I had a 20 Merc on my boat and it would cavitate at higher rpm's, but steered better than a 15 I tried. However the best motor was a long shaft Johnson 25 that made the boat handle best of all.

[Hairbone]

Any of the high thrust 8 or 9.9 4 strokes will do the trick.

[C-Hawk]

Best of all , put a Merc 115 four stroke on and you won't have to worry about the kicker.

[fishingmachine]

9.9 hi-thrust

[digitroll (ron)]

We had a customer that re-powered his 17.5 ft Sea Nymph 5 years ago and chose a 60 hp 4 stroke Mercury with Troll Control option for adjusting rpm's with his tach gauge. Worked great! On the 17.5 ft older boats you need to be careful about weight when adding a 4 stroke kicker. A tail heavy boat isn't good overall for boat performance. Check the condition of your transom if it's older than 20 years. Might be a bloomin onion growing inside. 8 and 9.9 weigh the same with Mercury (non-high thrust model).

The high thrust models weigh in about 30-35 lbs more than the Mercury light weight standard models. High thrust models are good for heavier boats 20 ft or more where thrust is important especially heavier glass boats.

[tmcaul]

Thanks to all who responded to my post. Bought a 9.9 Yamaha (not high thrust) and will start trolling with that motor tomorrow. Not much weight difference between 8 and 9.9hp motors.

Tom

[fishingmachine]

Ron is right,as usual

[vtfishin]

Thanks to all who responded to my post. Bought a 9.9 Yamaha (not high thrust) and will start trolling with that motor tomorrow. Not much weight difference between 8 and 9.9hp motors.

Tom

Great choice! You will be happy with it and kickers have been "adding wight" to transoms for years with good results. They work great!. Good luck out there!