How to Make Your Own Outboard Kicker Bracket

You may want the extra horsepower that an outboard kicker -- an additional outboard motor -- offers your boat. With some basic welding skills, some aluminum tubing and plate, you can build your own kicker bracket to hold the kicker motor in place. The kicker bracket is more useful for motors that do not move from side to side.

Things You'll Need

  • 3-inch square aluminum tube, 1/4-inch walls
  • 1/4-inch thick sheet aluminum
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Lay a 3-inch square aluminum tube, with 1/4-inch walls, on your chop saw. Set the radius of the chop saw for 45 degrees. Cut the aluminum tube with the chop saw so the tube is 18 inches long, with parallel 45 degree ends.

    • 2

      Cut two plates from a piece of flat 1/4-inch thick sheet aluminum, each 15 by 15 inches.

    • 3

      Center one end of the aluminum tube on one aluminum plate with a MIG welder. Weld the plate to the end of the tube so it's centered on the plate. Turn the tube over, center the tube on the second aluminum plate. Weld the tube to the center of the plate.

    • 4

      Drill four 1-inch holes in one plate, one hole in each corner. Hold the plate to the rear of the boat and mark the location of the holes in the aluminum plate onto the back of the boat with a china marker.

    • 5

      Drill the holes in the rear of the boat. Hold the kicker bracket to the rear of the boat so the tube angles downward.

    • 6

      Push 1-inch bolts through 1-inch washers and then through the plate and the back of the boat. Install 1-inch lock washers onto the end of the bolts.

    • 7

      Thread nuts onto the bolts and tighten to 55 foot-pounds with a torque wrench. Clamp the kicker motor onto the bracket with the motor's C-clamps.