Mounting my motor ??????s

charlie foulds

Well-known member
Can you guys post pics of your motors mounted on your transoms? What, if any protection did you put on the transom? Did you bolt on as well as the screw down clamps? I am installing a 25 yamaha on my BBIII and want to do it right the first time.............Thanks
 
Charlie,
From what I remember you and I did things almost the same on most of the items on our builds. If you did as I did and trippled the transom with 3/4 then your going to find out that it leaves little room to add anything to the boat to protect the transom. I ended up just putting a painted piece of 3/8 on the back of the transom to protect it and screwing down onto the glass on the front of the transom. There was no room to do anything else and still slip the motor on the transom.
Most guys recomend bolting through the transom but I have not done that as of yet since I am still running one of the 15hp mercs off the rental boats at the resort. Summer time it has to go back on the rental.

p.s. I just came in from the garage. I have my boats deck sanded down to glass and am making a few changes. Almost ready to put the paint back on. I should snap a pic and post it I guess.
 
Charlie, Just one bit of advice from me: If you can,bolt it on. Not many things are less fun than having one come off the boat. If you can't bolt then at least use a safety chain.
 
Can you guys post pics of your motors mounted on your transoms? What, if any protection did you put on the transom? Did you bolt on as well as the screw down clamps? I am installing a 25 yamaha on my BBIII and want to do it right the first time.............Thanks


No question bolt it. I don't kow what your motor mount looks like, but on a lot of smaller motors, they don't give you a slot or multiple holes to bolt, so you can't bolt it until you know they optimal height after sea trials. If this isn't the case, bolt it now, so you can go up 2 inches and down an inch with having the anti-cav plate along the bottom of the hull.

I'd protect the top edge of the transom with a scrap of taped on plywood until you get it mounted and I woudl put something under the screw down clamps for sure, you can do a lot of damage with those clamps!
 
I looked at your motor from your Valentine's day pic and see that it only has one hole for a bolt. So scratch the multiple hole and adjustment part.
 
As others have said, definitely bolt the outboard on. You'll find over time the clamps loosen up. If you can get your hands on stainless steel bolts, washers and nuts use those. I went with galv. and they just rust. I'm repowering my sneak with a 15 yamaha and plan to get stainless steel hardware.

Regards,
Jack
 
The great thing about wood/epoxy construction is that it's easy to fix things, especially cosmetic damage. I wouldn't worry about doing anything special to protect the transom--assuming you've glassed it. As Tod said, once you've got the transom height right for the motor, go ahead and drill the holes and bolt it on. You might want to put some 4200 on each end of the bolt to keep water from soaking into the wood along the bolts. That's really the only precaution you have to take.

If someday you change motors, as I did with my Bluebill, you can fill the old bolt holes with thickened epoxy, and even fair the depression from the clamp rings with epoxy and microballoons. Put a fresh coat of paint over it and it will look like a brand new transom.

Rick
 
Thanks Guys, I will bolt it on for sure. When I hang the motor on the transom the cavitation plate seem to line up perfectly with the keel using a straight edge. Does this mean it is at the right height? Has anybody used any type of metal where the clamps screw down onto the transom to protect the wood?
 
Thanks Guys, I will bolt it on for sure. When I hang the motor on the transom the cavitation plate seem to line up perfectly with the keel using a straight edge. Does this mean it is at the right height? Has anybody used any type of metal where the clamps screw down onto the transom to protect the wood?


That is the right starting height, the perfect height on a BB-type boat, if I'm not wrong, will probably be an inch or two up from there. Keep going up untill it is just below where it blows out at turns. That will give you the best performance.
 
Charlie,

You can also add a little bit of extra protection and allow you to shim the motor up without fear of the clamps being to close to the top of the transom by getting someone to fab you up an aluminum bracket. Think upside down U with the curves squared off. I put them on all of the boats I've built and am very happy with the results. You can see one in this pic where the motor ended up needing to be shimmed up about 2". Once I find the optimum height, I screw the bracket on, bolt the motor on and run a bead of caulk around the bracket to minimize water getting trapped behind it. Just pulled the original one off my first boat thats been on there 6 years, as I'm doing a complete refurbish on it and it looked like brand new under there and thats with a 21 hyperdrive tugging away at the transom.

WebDSC_0417.jpg


Brad
 
I followed Brad's advice and had one fabricated here in Baton Rouge LA. It is 3/16 thick aluminum and it cost me thirty five dollars to have an aluminum welder build it. It works great. I just looked up welder in the phone book and called around.
 
BINGO......Brad,That is what I was thinking of............Where do you get something like that???


Exactly what Mark said, just call a couple of welders in your area that work with aluminum to get a price. Shouldn't be too much.

Brad
 
Back
Top