*! - A Plate for the Wedge - ' 78 O'day 25

[Hoosier Kevin]

I am in the final planning stages of mounting my new bracket - Garelick 71090 - so that I can mount my new 4 stroke 9.9 motor - The problem has been - dealing with the wedge - it is too skinny - and looks to need more backing - - I have reviewed the attached web site - and it looks to make great sense! = Attaching a plate to the wedge - I am thinking of an aluminum or stainless steel plate - but I would add a 3/4" piece of treated plywood also = reverse the bolts on the current mount to attach the new plate - and add the same to inside of the transom for added backing - I also know that I need to consider the cavitation factor - so I need to make sure it is so far down - and I know I need to watch out for the rudder - make sure it is placed so it won't hit the rudder - = Wanted to throw this out to the forum for some needed input - so what do you think? - Thanks!

 

[Adam18929]

About the wedge

Kevin, my previous set-up was a 1/2 in. aluminum plate bolted thru the wedge into the inside of the transom. The adjustable motor bracket was then bolted to the aluminum plate. The problem with the wedge is that it is so damned narrow.... I was thinking of keeping it, but decided to not reuse it because it IS so narrow--I was looking for a wider footprint to distribute the forces to the transom; with backing board of course.... I am using some adjustable angle brackets from Garelick that bolt to the transom, then the motor mount gets bolted to this. I have reinforcing plates on both the inside and outside of the transom.

 

[Charles Jones]

wedge alternate

I am currently mounting my gartelick 71091, which has nearly twice the vertical range of the 71090, which I hope to exploit by getting adequate submersion and also be able to lift the motor high enough to tilt so that the prop is well out of the water. Instead of a wedge I am shimjming the upper bolt end of the bracket by usinge 1/2" teak strips about 3"wide: one at the base bolts to prevent edge loading at the bottom of the heavy angle mounting sides and 2 or 3 at the top, with the shims placed parallel to the water. The main rason to use the shims is not to restore the cavitation plate parallelism with the water surface, which I do not thing very important for a displacement hull that will tend to squat when under power, but to gain more distance from the tansom so that the motor can be tilted further out of the water. I will give feedback but would like to know of other owners of the same 25 and bracket, how high they installed the bracket, how far from the boat centerline (e.g,. the rudder) and whether or not they used a wedge or simply settled for the maximum adjustment of their botor clamp=bracket?

 

[Herb Parsons]

Fiberglass Plate

That's basically what I did (the web site you provided), except that I made my plate out of fiberglass. I started to just make a bigger wedge, but it was in just about perfect shape, and I decided adding a plate to it would be easier. I took a piece of wood, 1/2" thick, and added several layers of fiberglass. While I was at it, I beefed up the stern of my O'Day 25 as well.