Kicker motor - which side?

[eyepatrol]

I grew up fishing with my dad out of his boat and he had the kicker motor on the starboard side of the boat. I see soooo many rigs with the kicker motor set up on the port side of the boat. Any reason why guys put the kicker motor on this side of the boat? I reel right-handed, so for me it makes more sense to hold my rod in my left hand so that when I set the hook, I can let go of the kicker and get my hand right on the reel to work the fish.

Any particular reason for having the kicker on the port side of the boat? Does it have to do with the way you hold your rod, or does it have to do with boat balance/weight distribution?

Just wondering.

[HARPOON-OR-BUST]

WELL I HAVE SEEN IT BOTH WAYS ALSO. I WOULD PUT IT ON THE PORT SIDE FOR BALANCE. YOU WILL ADJUST AS FAR AS FISHING WITH IT A PARTICULAR WAY.

ALSO SINCE THIS IS GOING ON YOUR NEW BOAT I AM SURE THAT THEY WILL HAVE THE LINES FROM THE TANK ON THAT SIDE?? I AM NOT SURE SINCE I AM NOT A RANGER GUY BUT I KNOW THE HOOK UPS ARE LIKE THAT ON THE NEW PRO-V'S

[Ralph Wiggum]

Wouldn't the tiller interfere more with the big motor if you put the kicker on the starboard?

[eyepatrol]

On the Warrior I sold last year I had my kicker on the starboard side. I had it moved over as far away from the 150 as possible. What I had to do was turn the 150 as far left as it could go. This opened up space for the tiller handle on the kicker to be turned to it's maximum in either direction.

[HARPOON-OR-BUST]

AND THAT WOULD BE ANOTHER REASON!

[gspman]

What ever side you choose just make sure the kicker and your transducer(s) are not on the same side.

[marine_man]

I think part of the reason is what gspman said... transducers are typically mounted on the right hand side of the boat... less cable to string across the transom that way... and the kicker is often placed on the left...

The other reason is due to what basscatcher said... since the tiller arm is on the right hand side of the motor you don't get as much room to turn to the left of the boat since the handle interferes with the large motor... unless you turn the large motor... but, if you turn your large motor to one side it'll act more like a rudder, so turning the boat left will work great, but turning right will require a little extra power.

Regardless, do what works best for you... it's your boat, and you're the one who's going to fish out of it for a while, and if you don't do it the way you want you'll be kicking yourself everytime you use it...

You could have the dealer set the kicker on the side you're thinking of mounting it on and sit in the boat and see what you think... and then make your final decision...

marine_man

[PerchJerker]

I run my kickers as tiller motors and have always had them on the port side. Left hand on motor, right hand on rod, same as when I had big tiller walleye boats. And as already mentioned, then the tiller handle won't interfere with the big motor.

I read something once (a long time ago) about boats being more responsive with kickers on the port side. Had to do with the prop rotation on the kicker and the location of the lower unit on the big motor when turning the kicker. I don't know if any of that's true????

If your kicker is set up on remote controls to the console then mounting the kicker on the port side would give you the best weight distribution when fishing.

If running the kicker as a tiller, if you're using the electronics on your console then you can make a argument for putting the kicker on starboard side so you're closer to the electronics and not as likely to have people in the way.

Not sure if any of this helps, but good luck.

[JAR JAR]

One of the main reasons you put them on the port side is weight distrubtion and also the steering mech. would be in the way to mount the kicker

Jar Jar