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Adjustable Outboard Bracket


ecgossett

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Does anyone have recommendations(make/model) for adjustable outboard brackets for a CS17?

- Edward

Hi Edward,

On my Lapwing, I bought the smallest Garelick aluminum mount and it works fine. Their smallest works fine for me, but then my little 2.5 Suzuki only weighs 30 lbs. Garelick rates their mounts by motor weight and horsepower, so you should be able to find the right one for your motor. Their aluminum mount was perfect for me and it's a well-made unit.

Also, to prepare for this, I really beefed-up my transom. My transom is very thick on that corner with lots of plywood and cloth. I also have a thick aluminum backing plate on the inside. It's not going anywhere.

motor2.jpg

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I've used a similar aluminium one from an Italian maker and it works well. I only had one to choose from and the spring loading is a little more than my tiny 2hp yamaha 2 stroke needs as it only weighs 10kg (22 lbs) so I have to push the motor down a little against the springs. Comes up very easily though.

A word of warning- mine lost one of the bolts in the pivoting mechanism. Must have rattled loose from vibration while towing. I've since replaced it with a new bolt with nyloc nut and put loctite on the remaining nuts with no problem since.

Cheers

Peter HK

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post-425-0-43714700-1295648462_thumb.jpg

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.... I've since replaced it with a new bolt with nyloc nut and put loctite on the remaining nuts with no problem since.

Cheers

Peter HK

Loctite not the best choice on boats in salt water.

Loctite has a fair amount of copper in it. Copper, stainless and salt water makes for a dandy battery with galvanic corrosion.

On the plus side it sure won't wiggle loose once corrosion does set in.

Better choice is 3m 5200 on th threads as you seat it. Occludes water and electrolyte and 5200 is pretty weak in shear. When time to remove, 5200 comes undone form bolts pretty well.

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Copper, stainless and salt water makes for a dandy battery with galvanic corrosion.

Hey Ray

You forgot the aluminium in the bracket...as the least noble metal it should undergo galvanic corrosion first.

I'm just using it as a large anode.;)

Cheers

Peter HK

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Loctite not the best choice on boats in salt water. Loctite has a fair amount of copper in it. Copper, stainless and salt water makes for a dandy battery...

Ah, so now the question is: How much loctite should a person use if he wants to power an electric trolling motor from one of these brackets for four hours at cruising speed? :)

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Hey Ray

You forgot the aluminium in the bracket...as the least noble metal it should undergo galvanic corrosion first.

I'm just using it as a large anode.;)

Cheers

Peter HK

If going to use dissimilar metals to bolt best to have the bolt be the cathodic one. Relatively small surface are relative to anode means anode holds up longer and plates the cathode...

And using 5200 between the bolt and the platea again prevents electrolyte intrusion and minimizes damage...

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Ah, so now the question is: How much loctite should a person use if he wants to power an electric trolling motor from one of these brackets for four hours at cruising speed? :)

Increasing the amount of copper would simply increase the milliamp hours available before the more anodic metal would no longer be there i a primary cell such as galvanic corrosion. The metals are not far enough apart on the galvanic series to get even 1.5 volts.

Old zinc carbon batteries had a zinc casing with a carbon positive rod with a paste electrolyte. The whole shebang wrapped in cardboard to absorb the electrolyte after the zinc casing corroded through...

So Wes, you would have to have a whole bunch of these cells all in series to get anywhere near enough voltage to run a trolling motor and to get enough capacity you would need a fair amount of surface area as well.

Frankly it would be much cheaper and easier to man up and get a set of oars and learn to use them.... That or improve your sailing ability...

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get a set of oars...

So you're saying the oars, if aluminum, could be used to power the trolling motor? ;)

Sorry for the hijack, Edward. To bring myself back on topic - My motor was mounted to the transom by a removable piece of lumber that stuck up above deck level. Worked great.

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Well, Mr Potts, a removable piece of lumber sounds good to me. I viewed one pic of a $200+ commercial bracket mounted with numerous beefy bolts through, what the builder claimed, a beefed up multi-layer ply transom with an aluminum nut plate on the inside. All that for a flea weight 2 1/2 HP outboard. I give that five stars for security, but really - overkill to the max. My 115 HP 350 lb+ outboard is bolted through the 1 3/4" thick transom of my runabout with four bolts. Yep, big bolts, with big nuts and fairly large washers - no nut plate. Been there since `87 save for the couple times I yanked the outboard for repairs, and the boat, which when it had the outboard jacked, has come close to 60 mph and been ridden hard and put away wet - of course. My race boats (65-70 mph) had a thinner wood transom (about 1/ 1/4"), usually balsa cored to save weight, and the engines were held on with transom clamps. Engines even stayed on when I crashed them.

Whatever floats your boat works. Although my OB mount rig would be less beeffy, I do believe a safety cable/chain is in order. My race boats had steering cables (ala "Whaler" steering) so if the engine did get loose it wasn't going anywhere far. Yes, I would safety cable the engine because it is really annoying to be have the engine leap off the motor board and go for a swim. Been there done that, went diving for my engine . . .

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I agree with hokeyhydro's suggestion that many/most commercial brackets will be overkill (in terms of strength) for the small motors. However, there is another very important consideration: the ability to disengage the motor from the water in a manner that does not persistently foul or interfere with the mizzen sheet. One advantage of the lifting brackets others have recommended above is that some are adjustable to an ideal height at which the motor is clear of the water, but extended far enough aft (or in a convenient position) that the motor cowl and throttle arm won't regularly foul the sheets. Whatever mounting option you choose, be sure to think through how it will affect the mizzen sheet.

Any bracket could work fine if you plan to remove the motor and stow it aboard when not in use, but even in the CS20, I find this impractical (probably even less practical in a CS17). It is easier if you can just leave the motor on its mount. So choose the mount accordingly.

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On the motor subject, I have been looking at the Torqeedo Travel 801 Electric Outboard Motor, which would be perfect on a Core Sound... Especially if you added to batteries to the boat and some solar creatively.

In Planet Mechanics: Water Taxi episode a cat-ketch is converted to a solar powered taxi with a torqeedo. The sailboat is used because it is already designed to have something overhead for balance.

Planet Mechanics - Water Taxi

solar-boat.jpg

I agree with hokeyhydro's suggestion that many/most commercial brackets will be overkill (in terms of strength) for the small motors. However, there is another very important consideration: the ability to disengage the motor from the water in a manner that does not persistently foul or interfere with the mizzen sheet. One advantage of the lifting brackets others have recommended above is that some are adjustable to an ideal height at which the motor is clear of the water, but extended far enough aft (or in a convenient position) that the motor cowl and throttle arm won't regularly foul the sheets. Whatever mounting option you choose, be sure to think through how it will affect the mizzen sheet.

Any bracket could work fine if you plan to remove the motor and stow it aboard when not in use, but even in the CS20, I find this impractical (probably even less practical in a CS17). It is easier if you can just leave the motor on its mount. So choose the mount accordingly.

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