Kicker for 23' seacraft walkaround

[OVERLQQK]

Am restoring a 1986 23' walkaround. 250 hp 2000 2 cyc. Yamaha on a stainless marine bracket. What would be a good choice for a kicker. Will serve for trolling and as a backup.

[cdavisdb]

Torque is much more important than horse power in a kicker. The 8 hp Yamaha 4 stroke hi thrust is designed for a large, slow turning prop that generates hi torque. A good choice and all the horse power a kicker can use. Pushes my 25 at 5 knots and will still do 4 knots against wind and chop.

[FishStretcher]

I have a 2011 6 HP Tohatsu SailPro on my 20 footer- it is about 20 lb lighter at 60 lb and $800-1000 less than the 8 HP Yamaha at about $1300. But it is a bit loud and unrefined, and you need to run it dry if you don't use it weekly so you don't gum the carb. It works well, except the steering lock loosens sometimes. It pushes hard, I think 5 knots on a 20 footer. But you want an articulating kicker mount that gets the powerhead behind the transom so you don't have to listen to it if you want to troll. I think remote controls are $300-400 for it.

[bigeasy1]

I push my 1974 23' Tsunami(aka sceptre) with a T8 8hp High thrust Yamaha kicker.It does a very good job.As mentioned the high thrust models have a different gear ratio and have a big prop.
We troll all day long for salmon,at speeds anywhere from 2 to 4 mph.Top speed is just under 7 mph.We fish the great lakes and if it gets snotty with the normal steep wave pattern,and a stiff wind,the kicker will do good with a chop up to maybe 3'.Anything over that,I'll throw out the trolling bags and use the outdrive.
I would say any high thrust in the 9.9 range would do a good job.I've always run Yamaha kickers,with zero problems,but Honda has some sweet models as well,and Honda has a 10 amp charging system compared to Yamahas 6 amp.