outboard motor

[Duckshack]

The only issue I see with a 20" leg on the kicker is backing up to spin fast to chase a fish, or maneuver in tight quarters in a marina. My boat backs up fast and easy as the prop wash with a 25" leg goes under the hull. What about running a second set of controls and steering to the cockpit or helm. If you are setting gear it is nice to drive from the cockpit. You can also add garmin autopilot to the kicker. Then you do not have to run your main engine while fishing...
Just my thoughts

[Duckshack]

The other issue with going to a 25 hp is weight on the swimstep and fuel. You are gonna want at least 12 gallons of gas for your kicker, the 9.9 sips fuel, I am not sure how much more a 25 burns but sure it adds up. For daily trips I just carry a thin 5 gallon Jerry can and a couple 3.5 gallon cans in the center fish box in the transom. It does not drain to the bilge...no gas in bilge. For longer trips north I add the 12 gallon plastic tank to the swimstep.
I am not sure if the autopilot on your Yanmar is gonna react quick enough tied to your kicker at slow speeds. My autopilot on the yanmar is sluggish at low rpm. But the Garmin TR3 and the newer version work pretty good, plus you can run it from anywhere in the boat.
No perfect solution here, you just want to be maneuverable and not that guy running other fisherman over...that happens to me all summer long...

[taowen85]

I've got two friends with 28's that have T-25hp Yamaha kickers mounted at the centerline on the swim grid. 20" leg and used for trolling, they run extremely well. I'm in the process of doing the same but I'm trying to work with a liquid tie bar to connect to the steering so the autopilot will work while setting gear.

This sounds exactly like what I'm attempting to do. Been looking at hydraulic rams and how to do the liquid tie bar. I bought mine in Alaska and shipped a T9 and PDR bracket up to make the trip back home to Puget Sound. Wanted the ability to troll on the kicker and as backup power. Before I did hydraulic steering I also wanted to see how it would steer with just the rudder, well it sucks.

Here's a few picture of my current setup with a XL 25" shaft (couple from AK with extra fuel).

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The kicker is still slightly trimmed up in the out of water pictures. I also plan to remount the kicker offset from center. The propwash is always hitting the kicker even fully tilted up and it sure bounces around a lot (almost became new lingcod structure in the middle of nowhere BC...). If I shift it by 18" or so it will fix that.

[DAB250]

So I've now completed the install of the T25 on my boat. I had a 50 liter aluminum tank fabricated and installed in the centre transom hatch. It takes up less that half of the hatch and still leaves plenty of room for lines and other storage. The liquid tie bar valve that I had installed is the Seastar one. It's not working perfectly yet, it's going in and out of sync with the rudder and I think it's because there is still air in the system. We've been bleeding it regularly over the last couple weeks. I think what I may do is replace the Seastar unit and just go with manual valves or even valves on a solenoid to engage and disengage the kicker without having to open the deck hatch. This has not been a cheep endeavor though. I tried to go a cheaper route with a Seastar kicker tie bar kit but Seastar doesn't make one long enough to go from the rudder to the kicker. Congrats on the new boat and the awesome adventure ahead.