Whats the quietest 9.9 h.p kicker?

[CMarquand]

I just got a new (used) 2001 21' Bayliner capri in great shape and it came with a 2013 Mercury long shaft electric start kicker. I expected it to be much quieter than it is while trolling. When going fast it is quite loud and even kinda rattles. Its on a new adjustable kicker motor mount too. I'm thinking about selling the kicker to go for a quieter one, maybe a Honda, but I want to make sure I get the quietest one available. What is the quietest kicker? Also, on a related note, I have a hard time getting the boat to cruise at that 2 m.p.h speed for trolling for salmon. It seems like it wants to go too slow or too fast, does anyone have any advise on that topic? Do I just have too large of a kicker?

 

[JimS123]

Re: Whats the quietest 9.9 h.p kicker?

If its a 2013 it must be a 4-stroke. If that is the case your expectations for "quiet" might be unreasonable. No other will be quieter. My 9.9 2-stroke can hardly be heard and I'm only about 1/4 deaf.....LOL.

A 9.9 on a 21 footer can't use a std. prop. You need a low pitch prop. If you get a "sailboat prop" you should be able to control the speed no problem. I run my 9.9 at 1.9 mph all day long with no issues.

For 21', a 9.9 is just about right.

 

[coolbri70]

Re: Whats the quietest 9.9 h.p kicker?

my min kota pushes my 18' boat that fast, hardly makes a sound:noidea:

 

[jimmbo]

Re: Whats the quietest 9.9 h.p kicker?

Perhaps an Electric trolling motor would suit your needs

oh, someone has already mentioned Min kota

 

[Mi duckdown]

Re: Whats the quietest 9.9 h.p kicker?

Agree with JimS123

 

[acdc96]

Re: Whats the quietest 9.9 h.p kicker?

Yamaha outboards are pretty quiet in my opinion. My neighbor has a 15hp Yamaha two stroke I can hardly hear him when he goes out. My force 9.9 made by Mercury marine is loud at idle and louder at WOT.
My Nissan is not that bad either. My neighbors hate me when I go out at 5:00am.

 

[JimS123]

Re: Whats the quietest 9.9 h.p kicker?

Perhaps an Electric trolling motor would suit your needs

oh, someone has already mentioned Min kota

"Trolling Motors" (a misnomer) are for moving about the shoreline, not "Trolling". Trolling for salmon at 1.9 mph pushing a 21 footer would kill the batteries in short order. When we troll for salmon we are out for 5-6 hours and the only option is a "kicker".

 

[acdc96]

Re: Whats the quietest 9.9 h.p kicker?

I don't have much experience with four stroke outboards, never owned one. But I tuned my engines to run great at low rpm with even throttle control. I fish in a major tidal river and their no salmon in my area.
How heavy is your boat

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Whats the quietest 9.9 h.p kicker?

Like Jim said, a gas kicker is the only option.

Mercs and Honda kickers tend to have very touchy throttles, people frequently find it difficult to control the RPMs when trolling, some even put electronic controllers on them to solve the problem. Not bad motors, just hard to use at certain RPM's.

Mercs tend to vibrate right off an idle too, so if the sweet spot for trolling speed is in this vibration zone it can rattle the whole boat. Hondas may do this too, but maybe a little less. A friend of mine uses his main motor to troll right now because his 9.9 Honda vibrates too much at the speed he likes to fish.

Yamaha is the kicker of choice for the salmon trolling crowd, they probably out number all the competition combined around here by 3 to 1.

If you have a problem at a specific RPM you can change to a high thrust, or lower pitch prop to change the RPM's at the desired speed and possibly solve the vibration problem.

The Yamaha tends to be a little quieter too

 

[blackhawk180]

Re: Whats the quietest 9.9 h.p kicker?

Indeed, Yamaha would be my kicker of choice but the boat came with a 9.9 Merc Bigfoot. Motor is OK but cold blooded. Throttle is over-sensitive, even with my electronic controller. I swear the 115 hp 4 stroke main motor makes less noise at idle than the 9.9 (as a disclaimer, my hearing is getting so bad that the opposite may actually be true). The 9.9 shakes at lowest idle (seems like a carb porting issue to me) but smoothes right out above idle. I eventually went to the lowest pitch prop available for the Bigfoot which allows me to run a higher RPM at the same trolling speed. It's better but it's not a Yamaha. However, the new prop cost considerably less than a new Yamaha!

 

[Rancherlee]

Re: Whats the quietest 9.9 h.p kicker?

My yamaha 4 stroke 9.9HT is louder than my 70hp johnsuki main. I have a speed range of 1.1 to 7mph with the kicker but it takes ~2000rpm to run 2-2.5mph which is why its noticeably louder than my main with IDLES at 2.6mph. What's your trolling speed on the Main? My Grandpas 21.5' Lund Baron with a 5.7L I/O purrs like a kitten @ 2mph trolling for Salmon on Lake Michigan, his 9.9 is mainly for backup.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Whats the quietest 9.9 h.p kicker?

My yamaha 4 stroke 9.9HT is louder than my 70hp johnsuki main. I have a speed range of 1.1 to 7mph with the kicker but it takes ~2000rpm to run 2-2.5mph which is why its noticeably louder than my main with IDLES at 2.6mph. What's your trolling speed on the Main? My Grandpas 21.5' Lund Baron with a 5.7L I/O purrs like a kitten @ 2mph trolling for Salmon on Lake Michigan, his 9.9 is mainly for backup.

Not uncommon, bigger 4 strokes tend to be very quiet at an idle, if I need to troll faster I will switch the big motor at times.