Bow mounts and kickers

[Dano2]

I'm ordering a new boat and putting the money down as soon as I sell my old one.

I'm getting a Alumacraft 1750 tourney sport.
Yamaha 150 4 stroke (Dealer said this will be nw for 2004, I think)

Just wondering if I should bother with a kicker.
If I get one it'll be the Yamaha4 stroke T8.

But I will have a bow mount as well, 74# thrust I would imagine.
I have a 55 pound thrust with the 54 shaft right now on my 16 ft. bayliner peed boat, when its calm it runs forever and I have good boat control, but when theres a nice chop, like the other day, it really seemed to suck the juice.
Question is, is a kicker a good idea, would the T8 be pretty good on gas?
OR, should I say the heck with the kicker, and just use the bow mount.

I Just dont want another moter hangen off the back, and find out it sucks alot of gas ., but I feel that I may have better boat control when its abit windier out.
thanks

[Dano2]

Acouple more thoughts are:

Will a kicker spook the fish more?
Will the bigger moter idle down enough for puling cranks?
I am assuming a kicker would be much more economical for pulling cranks?
Do I really need a kicker with an 18' boat with a 74# bow mount.
I was thinking a kicker would be nice when trolling for wallys, if i pass over fish, I could easily back troll over them and then go forward agin over the same spot, instead of turning the baot around witht bow mount to make another pass. (do they make trolling moters with reverse?)

If i decide to go with the 1850(18'11") instead of the 1750 (17'11") how much does that change things as far as a kicker and or bow mount?
What about that 150 behind the 1850, will that get me booken pretty good.
Should I get a jack plate?
heh, heh
thanks

[This message has been edited by Dano2 (edited 08-17-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Dano2 (edited 08-17-2003).]

[Dano2]

WOW, gone for almost 3 days and not ONE person has any input on this?

well, this'll bump it up to the top for one more try.

thankz

[fiskyknut]

If your budget allows get the T8. I doubt your main motor will slow down enough for most trolling work. I've fished in quite a few different boats with 115, 130, and 140 4 strokes and none of these troll down to my liking, and even pull lures on the fast side. Kickers are there at your disposal if your main motor quits on you too...That is if you have one. I spent a few days with one of the PWT guys prefishing when they were up here to LOTW, this guys boat was equipped to the 9's, a neat thing we did was run the kicker in gear at idle, then varied the speed and did the steering with the bowmount. This worked way slick for pulling spinners and rigs nice and slow into the wind where his 36 volt bowmount struggled!

IMHO....fiskyknut

[Dano2]

Thanks.
I read in another thread some guy was saying that usually people only need a kicker with a 19 foot boat or bigger, but I tend not to agree with that.
I was out on Otter tail Lake yesterday fishing in some nice rollers (pretty windy).

The guy i was fishing with had a 18 ft. Pro V, 90 Hp tiller, and we were obvioulsy using that instead of his tiller troller.
So, I Guess if I bought the alumacraft 1750, which is pretty much 18 ft. anyway, I would definetly need a kicker .
Still trying to decide between the 1750 tounament sport or the 1850.
Not sure a foot difference will be that much more worth it, escpecially since I'm use to a 16 ft. speed boat, the 1750 will seem like loads of room. Now, I usually fish alone or sometimes 1 other person, but occasionaly the wife and 2 kids come with, thats were I'm wondering if the 1750 will still seem roomy enough even though I'll be pinned to the drivers seat most of the time.
thanks

[This message has been edited by Dano2 (edited 08-20-2003).]