Can someone tell me whats going on with this old motor mount?

[Carl Wonderful]

This is on my 1971 C22. Just got the boat and know nothing about this motor mount. It wont budge? I put a lot of force on it and nothing... and was afraid to put more cause the vertical pole seemed like it was going to start bending. I know most have a lock but I don't see anything that resembles a lock at all? The boat sat indoors for a couple years so not sure if the springs are seized up and locked or what?

Also confused about the vertical pipe with the blue foam on top... It has a string tied to the boat and it can be lifted off the motor mount. I cant figure this out?

Wanna put in the water tomorrow but afraid wont be able to get my outboard down into the water?
Got a old mercury 40 (4hp) marine from 1973. Actually runs really well.

 

[Timm R Oday25]

It's really hard to say from here . However I will venture a guess. The plate moves backwards and down to rotate.
If it were me , I would be spraying PB Blaster everywhere ,that little red nozzle would fit .
I think the blue foam is a handle for pulling the outboard up out of the water .
The Catalina 22 is a great boat!

 

[Carl Wonderful]

It's really hard to say from here . However I will venture a guess. The plate moves backwards and down to rotate.
If it were me , I would be spraying PB Blaster everywhere ,that little red nozzle would fit .
I think the blue foam is a handle for pulling the outboard up out of the water .
The Catalina 22 is a great boat!

Whats the foam for though? Its just like chinsy foam that would come off easily. Can you explain how that would pull a outboard up? The weird thing is that the rod with the blue foam comes off and has a rope tied to it. Why would the last owner make it so you have to take that rod off and whys there foam on it, lol?

I'll try to spray it but it feels really solid where it is. I'd be surprised if it was just that stiff...but I guess its possible.

Every motor mount has to have some sort of lock on it, right? Could the rod with the blue foam be some strange way to unlock it? I'm puzzled.

 

[Will Gilmore]

That is a very good set of photographs you've posted. It seems to show everything.

I don't see a locking mechanism, except for perhapse the cord connected to the vertical handle. I would guess the foam was to keep the handle afloat in case it was dropped in the water. It also looks like the spring may be binding on the port side, but the paint over rust can't be doing it any good.

A penetrating oil wouldn't be a miss. Maybe tap the ends of the spindles, particularly the one the spring is wrapped around, with a hammer.

To get the spring installed, it looks like the anchoring spindle is settled into a slotted hole on either end, the pressure of the spring holding it down. Try putting a couple of heavy clamps on either side of that bar and the top bar to flex the spring by lifting that anchoring spindle to the top of its slot and back down.

I have absolutely no experience with movable motor mounts, but If you can't budge it, it is likely a seized spindle or spring. Be prepared for the spring to break. Old rusting spring steel, in my experience, fatigues and snaps easily.

Good luck.

-Will

 

[kloudie1]

I think Will has it. Spray a good penetrating oil on all 8 pivot points where the swing arms pivot, and on the spring. Tapping lightly with a hammer will help. I don't see a locking mechanism on the mount. I have no idea about the pipe and rope thing Good luck !

 

[jssailem]

I have been trying to understand the mechanical structure. I think you may be on to something with the pipe. The wound spring appears to be untensioned. My SWAG says pull the pipe down towards you, and the spring should be tensioned. The rope may be there to pull the pipe back to the vertical. Certainly, spraying the pivot points with penetrating oil will help.

That is a stout system. You may need the weight of the outboard on the mount to give you the mass to help put the outboard in the down position. It appears to work much like a garage door spring.

 

[Carl Wonderful]

I finally figured it out. Its real weird. Not sure I can even explain it but..... I took it all apart and accidentally figured out how to drop it down. The 2nd horizontal bar, the bottom one, of the 2 that is behind the metal plate, need to be pulled super hard, by itself at least 2 niches in order to let the upper part of the structure to (get by) it. It takes all my strength, with rope, to pull it out 2 inches!! Then I guess he just stuck that bar (with the foam) in between them so he didn't have to pull like the dickens just to get it to go down each time. Weird but glad i figured it out. Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[kloudie1]

Probably going to be easier with the motor weight on it.. Great that ya figured it out.

 

[Timm R Oday25]

Please come back and post photos with the outboard installed the mount lowered..

 

[Carl Wonderful]

Probably going to be easier with the motor weight on it.. Great that ya figured it out.

You'd think it would be.... But its actually harder because the motor weight doesn't help at all, actually makes it more awkward, to (pull) that lower bar out the 2 inches it needs in order for the top one to get by it. It required a lateral pull for the bar, where the weight of the motor is downward so it doesn't help. I'll get some photos next time I'm on the boat.

On a side note.... anyone know how I fix a Mercury 1973 outboard 40 (4hp) that jumps out of the water when its in reverse. I know there's some sort of lock that should engage when you are in reverse but I cant seem to find any info on my exact model.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

I don't see anybody recognizing this mount as a commercial product and it looks like a Rube Goldberg contraption to me, with all the home-made components. Only the spring-loaded mount looks like a commercial product to me. It's probably seized by corrosion and paint. The simple solution is to replace it with a product you can buy and install. Something new should look far more elegant than what you have now.

 

[Carl Wonderful]

It wasn't seized up and wasn't really too rusty under the paint. Here's the deal. See pic

(yellow arrow) - Have to hulk up and pull this out (2") enough to create space here (blue), then, and only then is the top able to come down with the bottom. Otherwise they are just "locked" together and going nowhere. It ain't easy to get that initial 2" with all the springs load on it, especially when I'm up on the boat... but I did get it. Then I wedge that pipe in at the (blue line) so that the 2" space is always there. Then with just a little force it goes down without too much trouble.

Does that make sense? And what do you guys think about all that?

Also curious...
Should I pull my outboard up out of the water in a freshwater lake.. or just leave it down always? I use my boat weekly.

 

[pgandw]

I've gotten cranky in my old age about stuff that doesn't work right. I've gotten tired of sorta fixing things over and over. There's always time and $$ to do it twice, but never enough time and $$ to do it right the 1st time.

So if I were in your shoes, I'd be putting a new motor mount on and be done with it. The same I way I had to dump my 5hp Honda, which had a habit of not starting the 2nd and subsequent times on any given day, and put an Epropulsion Spirit 1 on my sailboat. Or replace the boom vang with something that actually held when the wind piped up. Or the solar-powered foredeck exhaust fan (replaced with a no battery passive vent).

As for leaving the motor down in the water, I compare it to leaving the motor on the mount while trailering. Some people do it and get away with it, I would not. You have (or should have) a motor mount that allows you to pull the motor out of the water for reasons - both for the motor, and to eliminate the drag of the lower unit while under sail.

You asked for opinions, but you probably already know what you are going to do. Now you have my opinion.

Fred W
Stuart (ODay) Mariner 19 Sweet P

 

[dLj]

Also curious...
Should I pull my outboard up out of the water in a freshwater lake.. or just leave it down always? I use my boat weekly.

I would pull my motor out of the water as often as I could. I would not leave it down especially if I were not using it. Wouldn't matter if fresh water or salt water, although for sure in salt water.... But that's me.

dj

 

[dlochner]

It wasn't seized up and wasn't really too rusty under the paint. Here's the deal. See pic

(yellow arrow) - Have to hulk up and pull this out (2") enough to create space here (blue), then, and only then is the top able to come down with the bottom. Otherwise they are just "locked" together and going nowhere. It ain't easy to get that initial 2" with all the springs load on it, especially when I'm up on the boat... but I did get it. Then I wedge that pipe in at the (blue line) so that the 2" space is always there. Then with just a little force it goes down without too much trouble.

Does that make sense? And what do you guys think about all that?

Also curious...
Should I pull my outboard up out of the water in a freshwater lake.. or just leave it down always? I use my boat weekly.

The motor mount should be difficult to move when the motor is not installed. The spring is there to help lift the motor, so trying to lower the mount when it is empty should be difficult, it should be fairly easy to raise the mount when the motor is off because it is not necessary to over come the force of the spring.

If the motor isn't being used, it should be raised out of the water. Freshwater lakes do have algae growth and the motor is better off without that growth and dragging a motor while sailing will slow the boat down a lot, especially in light winds.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

You can leave it down as much as you like. If you motor around more than you sail, just leave it down.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Should I pull my outboard up out of the water in a freshwater lake.. or just leave it down always? I use my boat weekly.

You can leave it down as much as you like. If you motor around more than you sail, just leave it down.

Scott, I think you misunderstood his question.
He seemed to be asking if he should leave it down when he leaves the boat when he's not there.
As compared to your take of leaving it down during an outing when he's using the sails.
In my two outboard powered boats, from 1983 to 1998, I always raised the motor after the sails were up and being used.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

He seemed to be asking if he should leave it down when he leaves the boat when he's not there.

No, that's my take as well. I only mentioned that if he motors more than he sails, he can use his boat more like a motorboat and leave the outboard in the ready position when he leaves so it is ready to go when he arrives again. He is probably motoring out of the marina when he is sailing, so it may as well be ready when he arrives. I note that his location seems to be in a rugged area of eastern PA and Lake Arthur seems to be similar in size and scope as Lake Hopatcong (where I am familiar). I wonder how much of the summer is virtually windless. But I don't know, I can only guess. Outboards on small motorboats in freshwater lakes are routinely left with the lower unit in the water. Sometimes you see it tilted up, but usually most people just leave it down. He can leave it up or down, it makes no difference to me. I think the algae is no more a nuisance than it is for any other boater and the drag when he is sailing may not be a bother in any case.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Sometimes you see it tilted up, but usually most people just leave it down. He can leave it up or down, it makes no difference to me. I think the algae is no more a nuisance than it is for any other boater and the drag when he is sailing may not be a bother in any case.

Scott, it's STILL two separate issues. Sure, he can leave it down while he's sailing when he is ON his boat. Leaving it down, even in fresh water, when he is not there is simply not a good idea, because whatever is in the water IS going to attach itself to the motor lower end. I sailed our C22 in Clear Lake (real name, no pun) on weekends, and when we left Sunday late afternoon, we always raised the engine, as did all of the rest of the boaters there and it was up until we came back the following Saturday. Algae is more than a nuisance.
Sorry we tend to disagree on this, too, and still.

 

[Carl Wonderful]

I've gotten cranky in my old age about stuff that doesn't work right. I've gotten tired of sorta fixing things over and over. There's always time and $$ to do it twice, but never enough time and $$ to do it right the 1st time.

So if I were in your shoes, I'd be putting a new motor mount on and be done with it. The same I way I had to dump my 5hp Honda, which had a habit of not starting the 2nd and subsequent times on any given day, and put an Epropulsion Spirit 1 on my sailboat. Or replace the boom vang with something that actually held when the wind piped up. Or the solar-powered foredeck exhaust fan (replaced with a no battery passive vent).

As for leaving the motor down in the water, I compare it to leaving the motor on the mount while trailering. Some people do it and get away with it, I would not. You have (or should have) a motor mount that allows you to pull the motor out of the water for reasons - both for the motor, and to eliminate the drag of the lower unit while under sail.

You asked for opinions, but you probably already know what you are going to do. Now you have my opinion.

Fred W
Stuart (ODay) Mariner 19 Sweet P

Curious about what particular passive vent that worked well for you. I have a solar fan but don't expect it to last forever. I'm with you... I'd rather keep it simple as long as its effective.