crazyfisherman911

Several friends & i have been hauling our boats around on Michigan Rough roads for years & never had a single problem. Even my buudy had an Islander with a rotted transom with countless miles with no issues. So with that being said I would not be afraid for a second. I have seen more than one kicker motor fall off on the lake from not being directly bolted on to mount & drug by battery cables..  OUCH !!!

I have an octopus pump for my auto pilot on my boat & after a good morning of fishing I had to put a second reserve battery in because the run in was not enough to charge it back up to fish the evening. Other wise I had to run my main engine & not at an idle either for at least a half an hour. 

How about in the past years I have dropped 3 hand held gps's 2 out of my pocket & one on the bottom of my seat. My wife said are u that stupid !  she bought me a linyard to attach it to my coat. lol  The last one was my makita rechargable flash light ! I think that a 10" hole is too big! need a 2" lol By the way I ice fish amlost every day from Dec 1st til April 1st. 

Thanks for the reponces, I think I am going to try it. If this works out I will post it on this sight. If a person was to buy a used $500 auto pilot & a $380 panther that would be a cheap system that others  could invest in. Especially if you already have an auto pilot system that you can't troll with!

The auto pilot has power wires that come out that are revesing to run a pump forward & reverse. This will run the panther unit in & out to turn the boat. I talked to a guy that has the same 22' islander & he use to use a hand tiller. he said he had no problem. But he could not tell me if he could do it in a head wind with 2-3' waves

I looked at that unit it cost around $2500. I know that hooking up the panther system to my kicker, it will opperate properly.  But by not connecting it to the lower unit on my 22' Islander I don't know if it will steer the boat not using my lower unit as a rudder. So by steering the boat with just the kicker will it be enough to the boat on course?

I am looking at putting a panther steering kit model 100 with an auto pilot on my kicker motor, but not linked into my mercruiser out drive. I want to use this for trolling only.  Do you think this would steer my boat into the waves. If I raise my lower unit I would assume it would.  I have an auto pilot without  complete hydraulics & it is only good if you are cruising..... I can buy the panther for less than $400.oo I figue this would be a cheaper investment than changing my system over to complete hydraulics. the only reason for buying the auto pilot was for trolling so I dont care if I remove it from my I/O.