I have a 17′ Lund, just starting to look at getting into trolling, and realizing the bow mount really isn’t the best tool. Found a 2005 Yamaha 6hp 4-stroke longshaft kicker for sale, $995. Sounds like it is in really good shape, hoping some IDO guys with more experience could tell me what they know of this motor. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I saw it, too. It would do the job as a kicker and you can get a high thrust prop for it. The owner was up front about the drawbacks: 1. No power trim/tilt and a weaker bracket for running in waves (you’ll need to find a way to tie it down so it won’t flop into the water when the motor prop arm slips), and 2. No electric start (which also may mean no charging system to recharge your starter battery while the kicker runs). I was able to live without both of these features for awhile and you may be able to also. If you can, the motor will do all you could ask of it and that is a fair price for a capable motor.
I broke one without power trim during a tournament. Not good. 
You can buy a Panther mount, but then why not buy a T-8 with all the goodies? Those brackets are really weak.
This will be a great motor for trolling. I have the same motor, you will need the high torque prop as I have a hard time controlling it in the wind. It will troll down to .45mph, great for pulling spinners or lindy rigs.
Buy it. How many tournaments are you going to fish where your racing across a lake? Yeah thats what i thought, that kicker motor will do you fine until you can afford something nicer.
Guys…. I am a beginner at this…. can you explain the:
“weaker bracket for running in waves (you’ll need to find a way to tie it down so it won’t flop into the water when the motor prop arm slips”
Are we talking about when it is propped up out of the water, that the mechanical hold isn’t very good, say I was running in rough water in Lake MI to get out for perch fishing? It shouldn’t be too hard to take it on and off when I’m not planning on using it, right? I do a lot of pan fishing, and this is sort of an item for special trips…. the reason I’m not popping for the trick T8, and good luck finding a reasonable used one.
Thanks again for all the help!
Part of the problem is the bracket that holds the motor up when running, in rough water takes a beating. Also the whole mount system is not the strongest, after time the bushings in the mount where the motor swivels, and tilts start getting loose and causes more flopping around of the motor when tilted up. Still no reason not to get the motor just things to be a where of.
Quote:
Are we talking about when it is propped up out of the water, that the mechanical hold isn’t very good, say I was running in rough water in Lake MI to get out for perch fishing?
Yes, exactly. Are you going to be running out on Lake MI in rough water? If you are, then you WILL need to tie it/strap it to secure it from flopping down because the bouncing will either allow the prop arm to work out of the locking position or, worse, break the mount from the jarring of the motor on the mounting bracket. On rough water at my local lake I continually had to set the motor back up on the motor prop arm which was annoying to me and stressful on the motor bracket. Eventually I found a way to strap the motor, prop arm and bracket so that it didn’t work loose and flop down. I’d tell you how to do that but each motor is slightly different and I had a Tohatsu kicker. I eventually added a charging system to that motor and it served me quite well.
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