BYYB Forums

Hello everyone...I am closing in on finishing my weekender and should have it ready to launch in April!  I am installing the outboard mounting board and realized that I have no idea how low in the water the weekender sits at the stern to determine how low the propellar needs to be.  I am going with a gas outboard so I don't have lots of shaft length to work with.  If some of you with finished weekenders could let me know how far up the hull the waterline will be.....I would appreciate it!  

Thanks for now!

Tracy, first let me say nice paint job. Those colours look really cheerful and boat-y.
I notice you did the hatches on the seat fronts in the cockpit according to the plans. I did too and found them really troublesome. Every time it rained, the cockpit filled up until water entered these compartments and migrated into the rest of the boat. At first I just sealed the little bulkhead under the seats so the water couldn't leak into the cabin, but I still got really tired of mopping water out of those compartments. So I ended up gluing them shut and installing round screw-out deck plates. Now it doesn't leak. Just a little detail that I found very annoying. The deck plates cost about five bucks each, and now my stuff stays dry.

Anyhow, here are some rear views of my boat sailing. In the first picture I'm sitting right aft, and in the second I'm sitting forward. You can see in the first picture the transom only sits about 2 inches deep, and in the second, I don't think it's even touching the water. I'm a pretty big guy, too, so you can see the stern doesn't sit very deep. I bet if you plan for the prop arc to be below the level of the chine right at the stern it will be submerged. Make it a couple of inches lower and you'll be perfectly safe.




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Keith,

Thanks for the great info and tips!  The boat sits much higher in the water than I thought.  Maybe with the weight of the motor at the back it will sit down a little more. 

I like where you store your oars...very clever!

Thanks Again,

Tracy, place the ventilation plate (what everyone incorrectly calls the cavitation plate) about one inch below the transom, if you'll be sitting aft at the wheel. This is the ideal location, but the prop can ventilate if you're in a rolling sea or passing wakes lift your stern. 2" is safer (below the transom) if you expect to be in a fair bit of chop, under power most of the time.

Adjustable brackets are the best way. These are those things that can lift the engine up several inches. On most boats you'll have to space the bracket off the transom a few inches so you can tilt it up completely. They're not real expensive, but you may want to check yard sales and the want ads. I've picked them up for $10 used. New they're much more.

Thanks Paul...I like the bracket idea so that I have more flexibility in tilting the motor up, and getting the prop low enough when in use.  I will look on craigs list...

The nice thing about most brackets (good ones) is that you can lower to different depths.

I remember a few years ago, I sailed a Seaward 24 from Jacksonville to Sanford, down pretty much the full length of the Saint Johns river (about 150 miles). A wonderful ride, lots of wild life, remote wilderness and beer. I had the new owner aboard and since we didn't trust the rig (we did try to sail it for about 15 minutes) we motored the whole way. We bolted a 9.9 Honda to a bracket, and noticed we had to shim it out to get it to clear in the tilted up position. A big piece of 2" thick teak was used and this worked fine.

The trip which took about 3 days, was uneventful until we got to Lake George. This is a fairly big lake, huge by most folks standards, but it's orientation places it's full length into the prevailing summer southwest winds. We got there about mid morning, knowing it would take several hours to cross it's length. A huge storm cell formed on the south end and we had two choices, hide in a cove and wait it out or carry on. Had it been any other boat in it's class, we'd have run for cover, but the Seaward is well known for it's sea keeping abilities, so we pressed on.

Within a half hour of entering the lake, winds went from 5 knots to 30, with occasional gusts over 40. It was Saturday morning and the lake was full of pontoon and fishing boats of every size. It was like a bunch of cock roaches after you turn on the kitchen light at night, everyone running full bore for shore. We had the extra heavy duty bracket, which the owner thought was necessary because of the weight of the 4 stroke Honda. It had about 5 different lowering settings. We used the second notch for the whole trip without the prop ventilating once, but as soon as this storm hit, we were pitching like a wild bronco (wind on the nose), with the prop coming out every few seconds. I lowered her down and the boat noticeably slowed a bit (extra drag) but the prop stayed buried (97% or the time). The seas were nearly dead flat when we arrived, but steep, very confused and wind broken in the middle of the lake.

It took 5 hours of short tacking, to keep the pounding on the forward quarter to get down this lake. Had we not the ability to lower the motor, it would have over revved to death and we would have been pretty much helpless.

Moral of the story, get one with adjustable lowering positions.

Do you need to do anything special to re-inforce the transom for the adjustable bracket other than what you would do for hanging a normal motor mount off the back?

A lot of people do place a piece of plywood on the transom, but frankly it's not necessary. As designed it's a fairly stiff area, well triangulated. If you're really concerned a piece of 1/2" ply on the inside, to prevent bolts from pulling through will do. Use the biggest washers you can find under the bolts, where they land on the wood.

My 2cents worth on the motor mount.  Get the spring loaded motor mount, most have about 4 or 5 settings. 1/2 ply with big washers will do. Don't leave the motor on the boat to pull up and down the road on the trailor. You raise the moter to load the boat when you go down the road every little bump makes the moter bounce putting more stress on the transum.  Better to be safe than sorry. Just my thoughts on it. Bud.

Ditto what Bud said . . . These little motors are light enough to take off and stow properly, which will save your mount and transom.