cutting away at motor well?

[Lisa]

my 67 C-28 has a motor well which therefore leaves the the prop in the water and dragging at all times. A friend and I were talking about cutting into the hull behind the motor and glassing it, giving it enough room to pivet up out of the water, or mostly out of the water, when not in use. Of course we would probably have to change the system that holds the motor on the boat where it would pivet sinse its only so far from the tiller. Has anyone done or heard of someone doing something like this? Would it work?

 

[Tim]

A similar project

Check out the attached link. This is a project James Baldwin did on Atom, a boat he has cruised extensively on. He did not make it so he could tip the motor up but did make it so he could seal off the bottom to make the hull flush once the motor was lifted out. I would imagine you could extend the cutout back some and do something very similar.

 

[Jim]

Cutting an outboard motor well

I read the article of James Baldwin on cutting amotor well for and outboard motor. All Cal 20's were designed with an inboard motorwell already. They came with the plate shaped liked the hull bottom that you sail with attached to the bottom of the hull with Bungee chords and removed when you put the motor in.It definitly solves the problem of the motor's wieght out over the transom which causes the boat to pitch more in swells and since the motor is inboard of the transom, it doesn't come out of the water when the boat gets rocked around. One problem that Baldwin solved was also addressed when the Cal20 was new, water coming into the cockpit when the motor is in. Although very little comes in when your moving forward, a lot comes in when you back up. There was a cavatation plate originally with the Cal20's but it only fit the old 60's Evinrude motors. The other problems I find are, the motor is very noisy inside the boat because of the closeness and acustics. When you want to sail you can't tilt the motor out of the water, you have to lift it out and put it back in the locker. This takes a strong back, I have a Tahatsu 5 hp and it is awkward lifting it and trying to stuff it back in the locker when the boat is rocking around with the swells. My Tahatsu manuel states not to lay an outboard down either flat right out of the water, or definitly not with the cylinder head below the propeller because the water will run down to the hot motor and do some damage. I have rigged a support in the locker so the motor rests at an angle, head higher than the prop. I've actually been thinking about mounting a bracket on my transom, so I can just tilt the engine up, leave the bottom plate on all the time and sail. However my Cal20 goes thru large swells with no wieght over the transom much better than a lot of bigger and heavier boats I've sailed that have the motor hanging out over the transom. so I've always been undecided about this.One thing I do know, it has made me a better sailor out of laziness, I always sail in and out of my slip and very seldom put the motor in unless it's and emergency.

 

[Jim]

Cutting inboard motor well

Lisa, one of the problems you would have by tilting the motor up into the cockpit would be space. You would have to crawl over it when you tacked. The other problem I would think unless you glassed in some stringers you would be weakening the hull. And of course water coming in to the cockpit. You might consider putting a removable mount on the back of the transom, and just hang the motor there when you take it out. Or if your boat is big enough and you have a stern pulpit, put a mount on the pulpit and hang it there. As I stated in my last reply, I sail in and out of my slip and only put the motor inwhen absolutely necessary.