Using main motor vs. kicker motor for fishing on R25/OB?

[Submariner]

The Yamaha has a trolling mode that permits the RPM's to go below 800. I couldn't tell you what the minimum speed is that you will get. As you know lots of factors will affect speed

I tested this out earlier this week. Using the "Troll Mode" on the Yamaha F300, I could drop the RPM's as low as 600, and the boat was moving at 2.7 knots (at slack high tide). That was the slowest I was able to move. I could then tap up on the RPM's on the Yamaha display, increasing the RPM's ever so slightly, to get a little more speed (without moving the actual throttle).

NWDiver pointed out that the newer throttles from Yamaha (which the newer RT27-OB's come with) should have the troll control feature on the throttle. This enables the Yamaha to shift into and out of gear as necessary to achieve troll speeds even slower.

Anyone else with a newer RT with the outboard played with troll mode?

I've got the 9.9 kicker, so that's my go-to for trolling. But I don't have that awesome wrap-around swim step of the RT25.

 

[baz]

...snip...
5) I new F250 ordered today will cost around $22,000 before any discounting.

Today is seems the $22,000 is now more like $30,000. Also note the entry price for the R25/OB has now been increased by $10,000 by RT, plus 5% increase on all options.

 

[Submariner]

Personally, I don't worry about hours on the Yamaha F300. I've got 400 hours on a boat that's 18 months old. That's about 260 hours a year. (I've got another 25 hours on the kicker). I use the kicker to go slower than 3 knots.

Maintenance on the T9.9 is less expensive than the F300 for sure, but doing all the routine maintenance myself so it's just the expense of parts.

 

[Nwdiver]

The c-288 just added 15K to the base price. Also my delivery date has moved out to mid June, from the initial March delivery date

 

[mikey]

In my opinion the slow trolling valve for diesel inboards doesn't give the needed maneuverability at slow speeds needed for trolling or picking up crab or prawn traps.It would never work with 200 boats fishing at the mouth of the Fraser R. I have a 25 hp Yamaha kicker on our C28 which works great being plumbed to the hydraulic steering allowing the AP to be used when trolling especially using the AP remote. Also good to have a backup motor at 5 knots.

 

[Nwdiver]

So, with two motors running troll mode and 10% (10% on -90% neutral) pattern shift we got 2MPH. I’m assuming with one engine it will be around 1 MPH. these are very rough numbers as the Columbia river is really running fast, but we did both an up river and down river pass to get the speed. Wide open we got 45 MPH going up river, not bad as the engine isn’t fully broken in yet. Not a good idea to run WOT on the river for very long as we saw several trees, complete with root ball, going down the river.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I took possession of my 2023 cutwater c-288 today 😀 😀 😀

 

[Submariner]

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I took possession of my 2023 cutwater c-288 today 😀 😀 😀

Yeah!!! Congratulations!

 

[Nwdiver]

Just an FYI after a season of fishing on the Columbia

pattern shifting works pretty well, we usually set it around 30% to get the correct action on the poles. One annoying thing is the auto pilot doesn’t work with pattern shifting. the auto pilot assumes that when it moves the motors, it will have an affect on the direction of the boat, being 30% in gear and 70% out of gear just confuses the heck out of it, so I end up driving manually.

not sure how to fix that, any ideas would be appreciated

 

[Headlee]

Main reason for a kick is to not put hours on the main. Remember 100hr service cost. If you troll 50% time then you get more fishing time its a lot cheaper to service the 9.9.


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I'm with Annie, and would add that in addition reducing hours on the main a kicker provides a backup source of propulsion. My plan is a kicker for our C28 to keep hours off the main. My thought is to add a 25 HP Yamaha (lightest in its class), fix it in position, then steer with the rudder and Garmin autopilot. I plan to do more salmon fishing in the next few years and reduce the hours on the main (currently at 586 hours). Any feedback on the kicker aft of the rudder would be helpful. In theory, I don't think it matters, but in practice, I don't know. Also, the longer the kicker shaft the better, but don't want it to drag when underway.

 

[Nwdiver]

Different boats, different problems, c28 is inboard, c288 outboards

on my c288 I don’t have a rudder or room for a kicker. the two Yamaha engines have separate fuel tanks, giving some redundancy