Mounting a Kicker Motor

I did a search and I know there has to be a thread on it in here but couldn’t seem to find it. I just purchased a 9.9 Merc 4 stroke kicker to put on my Alumacraft Trophy 175 along side my merc 115 4 stroke. It is an elec start tiller arm but does not have power trim. I think I’m planning on using a quick connect set up to tie steering into that of main motor.
I need lots of help. Never did this sort of thing.
I put a rag over the transom and lightly secured the motor on the port (passsenger) side of the boat but I’m afraid it may lean when I get out on the water as I have 3 batteries and a live well on that side as well. The starboard side has one smaller livewell right in back and of course me, the driver weighing just about 200. Also the sides of the boat are quite high compared to the transom area and I find that the tiller arm hits if I try to turm very far that way with it in the down position. I haven’t tried it yet but may set it on the starboard side to see how things look there…only thing is my transducer is on that side..Hmmm probrably have to move that…also do I need to get some sort of strap to secure the motor for travel while under power of the main big motor. How does that work and where do you connect it.
Thanks..
PS..any advice on break in of a new 4 stroke or simply follow the manual?

I’ve heard some good things about the kicker brackets from Bracket Pro for securing kickers.

http://www.hnet.net/~bracketpro/

I was in the same situation and I put on a Panther electric steer. Now I can be anywhere in the boat and steer it with my foot due to a remote control. Kind of like a foot pedal for an electric motor. Not a fan of the tiller handle…not so much steering it, but having to sit or stand in an uncomfortable position to do it. Also, with the setup I’ve got, I can look forward to see my locator on the dash. Pretty slick.

Satch, our paths cross again LOL.

I literally just bolted on the control box onto my rod locker for my remote T-8 system. Basically you are just bolting the motor onto the transom, hooking up the electrical, and adding the tie bar between the big motor. No problem. I had never done it before either.

Just so you know, I have an Alumacraft Navigator Classic 165, which is the same as the 2006 Classic 165. I too have a 3 battery system all on the port side of the boat. I talked to about 3 boat shops before I put mine on (just a little nervous) and they all said you have to put it on the port side, mainly because of the transducer. Didn’t have the cable length and already had holes in the hull. I also was worried about “listing” (leaning) because of the uneven balance, but nobody at the shops really seemed to think it was a problem. We had it on the water just attached to the transom and I didn’t notice anything too bad.

The steering control arm was easier than I had thought it would be. Since your post didn’t seem to worried about it I won’t say any more. I guess since I have never had a tiller motor I can’t give too much advice there. Is the tiller arm hitting really a problem when you get the tie bar done between the big motor and the kicker??? They should track parallel

People say they like the panther units, but I found a pretty good deal on this full remote system on IDA. Can’t give any advice there.

If you want some pics of my set up and my dirty garage I could snap a few and e-mail them to you. I don’t have a transom saver yet and not sure what I will do. Boat buckle has a couple different versions in Cabela’s. One is basically a strap and the other is a strap w/bottom support. Most people I talked to just use the lock on the motor bracket since they are small motors.