Kicker motor on swim grid
prgrod01
Member Posts: 53 ✭✭
Does anyone have any suggestions or warnings regarding adding a 9.9hp kicker motor to the stock Rinker swim grid?
I have a 2001 242, swim grid seems very solid, but I would be adding 100lbs at the end of a cantilever 2-3ft out the back of the boat and makes me a bit nervous. It is very common around the BC coast for ocean fishing but more often than not they are mounted directly to the transom, however, with a full width swim grid this is impractical.
2001 Rinker 242
Comments
It is multi purpose, primarily for slow trolling for salmon fishing in the fall months, it is hard to be able to go slower than 4-5km/hr with the main engine in idle, target speed is more like 3km/hr but depends on tides etc.
Second is for getting yourself home if your main engine decides to fail for whatever reason, albeit rather slowly.
And the last reason would be to keep hours off the main engine, it isn't uncommon for us to be out trolling for salmon for 4-8 hours when fishing is hot.
Mark
2019 MTX20 Extreme
Looking at a 10-15hp, so 100lbs. It is not a rare site to see them on swim grids around here, so I don't think I'm doing anything too unrealistic, but I simply have no experience with them in the past and wondered if anyone else had feedback one way or another.
It is a bolt on, currently with no bracing.
Couple of pictures. I had a fab shop add hand rails to the swim grid for additional space for fishing (trying to make a cruiser multipurpose) and downrigger mounts to the back transom. Very happy with the swim grid and handrail as it adds 3-4 feet of useful space on a 24' boat.
Andy
2007 280 Rinker Express 6.2L B3
That's the same swim grid for sure. I had a large swim grid on my 18' wakeboard boat before I moved to the coast and said I wouldn't buy a boat without another swim grid as it is very useful and adds so much more space.
I usually have my large cooler on the boat stock step off the back and with the handrails we feel completely safe standing off the back in open water to retrieve crab traps and net fish etc