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The dear old Super Sport Limited needs a new trolling motor / kicker.

What would you recommend horsepower-wise? She's got a Johnson-Suzuki 90 EFI 4-cycle main motor. Need something primarily for trolling & emergency get home power.
Will buy new, 4-stroke, lighter is better as the main motor is pretty porky...

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OK, let's try this a different way... As a retired airline pilot, I'm always thinking weight & balance...
The existing motor weighs 410# or so. The kicker I'm looking at weighs almost 90#.
She was sitting a bit stern low. I've relocated the fuel tanks under the rear bench seat, and the batteries under the left console.
Anyone have any comments regarding 90# of extra motor to the transom?

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Prior to buying anything, test the added weight by using bags of sand, buckets of water. etc.

I think 500lbs may be too much weight, trim wise. If you have to back down into waves, you are going to swamp the boat.

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Hey, at least it's the unsinkable legend...

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Do you really even need a kicker? Most newer FI motors are pretty reliable, and troll very economically. Maybe your money (and weight budget) will do better with a yearly Sea Tow subscription? Your main motor is pretty hefty.

Tim

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Yeah, I know... But having been towed in more than once, I dread needing it again.

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That is a heavy 90. I think you are smart to be wondering about total weight on the transom.

Would any of the Torqueedo electric outboards work for you?

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Torqueedo...
Interesting suggestion. Unfortunately, a comparable thrust Torqueedo costs $4500, and weighs about 43 lb.
Add in a couple more batteries, and we're back up to 90#, albeit not all of that on the transom.
For me, it's not cost effective, nor a significant benefit for our use.

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A kicker on a 17' with a 90hp or 100hp as a main motor is a heavy boat.

See the Yamaha 8hp here around 85 pounds.
http://www.whalercentral.com/articles...ticle_id=7

Many people like myself use a 70hp main motor around 250 pounds and then an 8hp kicker works out well.
See the Yamaha F70 here:
http://www.whalercentral.com/articles...ticle_id=5

My prior Montauk had an Evinrude 70hp about 250 pounds plus and Evinrude 8hp around 50 pounds for a total of 300 pounds.
http://users.sisqtel.net/~jkriz/Monta...ntauk.html

It's only money. BOAT

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Agreed. But it's got a very good engine on it now, and I'm not really interested in buying another, smaller motor to cut weight. Going to try a friend's new Tohatsu 6 on it this weekend as a test.

As long as I stay under the data plate's max of 100hp, what could go wrong, eh...

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If your main motor is that unreliable maybe it's best to think about a change there? Seems like you're spending a significant fraction of what a new main motor might cost on a kicker just to extend the lifespan of the dog that keeps letting you down.

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Get yourself a set of these "Kickers" - They will never let you down.

https://www.churchillfinsreview.com/s...d-to-know/

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A pair of Churchill's & a ski rope in my mouth to tow. Excellent solution!

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I trust my motor. Pretty much. I do have the BoatUS tow service, which has several locations around here.

The one time I needed them; a few years ago on our sportfisher near San Diego, it took them almost five hours to get to us. We were just a mile offshore, off La Jolla. An uncomfortable five hours for the family to sit, dead in the water.

Unfortunately, ANY engine can quit, even a brand new one. Can't just pull over to the side of the road like you can in a car.

The other factor, which is almost as important to me as safety; trolling. The 90hp simply pushes the boat too fast at idle for slow trolling. So that alone eliminates this boat from a fair amount of the fishing we do.

Our river fishing boat is a welded aluminum, Wooldridge 17 jet. It has a Suzuki 9.9 which works very well for lake trolling & river back-trolling. It has a Suzuki 70 jet outboard, two cycle for the main motor. No problem with weight on that boat.

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Maybe solicit opinions on the smallest HP kicker that will adequately push a Montauk 17?

With that data point, you might be able to consider a smaller and lighter outboard than the 90 lbs model you are considering. If you could get by with say a 4-6 HP single-cylinder kicker that only weighs 55 lbs or so, I think you would be doing your transom a favor.

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I have a 1999 Alert 17 which is now a 1999 Custom with a Tohatsu 6 hp Sail Pro model kicker. I bought this motor new and have used it for 5 seasons. The Tohatsu 6 hp Sail Pro model comes standard with an alternator and a high thrust prop which would cost you extra on most other 6 hp motors and it weighs just 59 pounds. This kicker will push a Montauk 17 hull 6 mph and you can troll as slow as you need to ( 1 mph or less ). Overall I am very pleased with this motor and would buy it again. My main motor is a Yamaha F70 so my total out board weight is just under 320 lbs. In my personal experience I agree with Joe, the lighter the weight of your motor or combination of motors on your Montauk 17 hull the better. I previously had a combination of 386 lbs of outboards on the back of my boat and here is what I found. The boat was slow to come on plane, it handled like a truck, it rode rough, and it would take waves over the transom. After I changed to the lighter outboard motor combination these are the improvements that I noticed. The boat came on plane much faster, it now handled like a sports car instead of a truck, and I no longer take waves over the transom. I know others run heavier motors and say they are fine and for them and their uses maybe they are but this is my personal experience. Sorry for the rambling on and as to your original question I think the Tohatsu Sail Pro 6 hp is a fine kicker motor for your boat.