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2.5 HP Suzuki


Jknight611

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  • 3 weeks later...

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I'm growing to love my little Suzuki.  She only hydro-locked on me the first time.  I believe that clearing it adjusted the oil level to the sweet spot.  I haven't had a problem since.  

 

One thing, though.  When mounted in the "sailing auxiliary" location, off to starboard, it hits the hull when spinning her around for reverse.  What's the usual solution?  I could notch the transom, of course.  But that would ugly-up the lines a bit.  Does it make sense to buy or build a motor bracket, to hang the motor a little lower?  what do you all suggest?

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Speaking of yuking, I'd go ahead and notch the transom. Now, before you hack a chunk out of the bottom of the boat that would REALLY spoil the lines, I think it would be better to notch the TOP of the transom so the motor would sit low enough to spin all the way around.

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Since there is a slight angle to the transom's top edge, I really need to square it up if I'm going to mount it on top.  Also, I have the motor tilted full down, for use on my Zodiac.  I might gain a bit, if'/when I tilt it to compensate for transom angle.  It's killing me. I only need about 1/2" or so.

 

@Docpal -- I've seen this hardware on the Duckworks website.  Are you pleased with its performance, then?  It's tight?  Doesn't come undone easily?  Is it removable?

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Don,

 It's held up very well through a few seasons so far. And that's including some time before I had the "kick up option" working so we etched the bottom of Florida Bay with the 'Zuki a number of times, and the torque/strain never affected the bracket. Easy to install and might even become a nice 'platform' down the line for a wind vane.....

While it IS removable I plan to have someone at least tack weld it to the transom bolts as it's ONLY 'flaw' is the fact that while I could easily lock the 'Zuki to the bracket, anyone could currently just remove the cotter pin from the lowest pintle and take the entire bracket with the "locked motor" attached to it. I don't hang the motor on the bracket for long transports, but I want to have this all prepped/secure before I cross the border., because I'm currently in the process of selling my house  while  Petunia and I  slowly migrate South West this October and eventually wind up in Southern Baja, Mexico by November to Winter down there. LOTS of "field tests" coming up of some gear I'm dragging down there as well as some local techniques for remote beach landings. More to follow in later posts...

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I'm not sure how clear the picture is, since it's a clip from a larger photo, but what I'm trying to show is that I used the same DW bracket Docpal shows and was able to position it so that the motor flips up without any further modification to the transom and yet still allows reversing the engine with full clearance underneath.  It is offset to about halfway between the centerline and right edge.   I added a block to the aft side of the bracket so the engine would sit as far back as possible, and to maximize the angle I was seeking.  The bracket is very solid on the boat. No worries on that front.   I did epoxy another piece of 3/4 ply inside this half of the transom as a stiffener.  (Basically filled in the area between the top, side, bottom and mid- 1-bys.)  This is all on the CS 17.

 

Like you, after initial problems with hydro lock, I now find "Miss Q" dependable, largely due to removing crankcase oil down to the lower level allowed.  The shop had overfilled it and then some.  Also the engine is running noticeably smoother at low, idle and shifting speeds after a few hours break-in.  

 

Final note:  I tried to position the bracket so the motor in the up position would lock in place.  I can get it to lock with some tugging, but I found that it stays up nicely without locking in normal sailing conditions, so I've just been pulling it up and leaving it.  To use, give a push and down it goes, no need to tussle with the lock lever.

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Sorry for all the questions.  See, I'm a retired engineer.  When I see something like this, I am trained to mentally run it through an FMEA (Failure Mode Effects Analysis).  That's a fancy way of saying that I imagine every way it could possibly fail.  The result of this analysis was all the questions I subjected you to.  Sorry!  I'll try to be more "retired" in the future!

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From one engineer to another - I'm not sure I am understanding the problem correctly.  Here's a picture of what I'm thinking - What did I miss?  The angle change is quick and easy on my Honda, but I'm unfamiliar with Suzukis.  On the Honda it's secured by a wing-nut of sorts so there's no tool needed.

 

motor angle.jpg

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OK, I think I mis-stated the problem.  Ken was right, in part.  But the photo I used was with Chick's motor on my transom.  My motor was tilted in the full-down position, since my Zodiac has a plumb transom.  Here are some photos of my motor, before and after.  You can see that I still have a little inboard tilt.  I will probably take the belt sander to the transom, to take down the 3/16" wedge to make this surface level.  But here are the photos.  Tilting the motor to the next to the last hole was enough to get the two-finger clearance shown.

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Similar issues with my 4hp Tohatsu.  Changing the rake a little by moving the motor pin solved the "problem".  I have switched to using non-ethanol gas sold at the big box stores and have had much better reliability.  Since the CS 17 sails so well, a gallon seems be lasting about a season.  

 

 

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