Motor & Bracket for O'Day 23

[BBD]

I have a 78 O'Day23 with a 2 cycle 9.9 manual start Johnson outboard motor. I sail on Grand Lake in NW Ohio. The motor is giving me fits not wanting to start. I have changed the plugs etc. I think much of my problem is that age is creeping up on me (70+ and sailing for 30+ years) as well as my motor and I am not pulling it hard enough for it to start. It is probably time to get an electric start. I am thinking about an 8 hp Tohatsu motor.
What advice can you offer as to the right motor and mount combination for my boat? I have a concern that there may be a clearance issue with the motor and the transom/rear pulpit when the motor is in its fully tilted/raised position.

 

[BruceC]

I owned a 1985 O'Day 23 and beefed up the fiberglass extrusion for the motor mount bracket to accept a stronger bracket for the weight of a Yamaha 9.9 electric start 4-stroke long shaft. My reason for doing this is a great deal I got on the outboard. However, at close to 100 lbs, I found the engine did slightly upset the trim line of boat at mooring. The bottom line is you do not need a 9.9 hp outboard for the O'Day 23, so an 8 hp Tohatsu should be just fine. I had no problem with clearance between engine and transom or rear pulpit for the 9.9 Yamaha so there should be no problem with the 8 hp Tohatsu you are considering. However, you might consider replacing the motor mount (not the firberglass as I did) with a stronger bracket. GOOD LUCK!

 

[AndyS22]

If you search on here you'll find a lot of good discussion about the tohatsu 9.8. I installed one on my 22 to replace a 8hp two stroke earlier this year with out changing the motor mount and so far have seen nothing to make me think I should. I have a gaerlik two stroke motor mount rated unto 15hp and a 115 lbs so although when I spoke to gaerlik the wouldn't recommend the mount for a 4stroke as they hadn't tested it they didn't seem concerned.
I haven't even noticed a real trim issue. All in all a very nice motor

 

[heymagic]

I am in the process of buying a 79 O'Day 23. It has a 15hp Mariner, long shaft, elec start motor. When the mounting bracket is fully down, the prop is a little higher than it should be. After reading lots of old posts here on the subject, I wonder if anyone would answer a few questions for me? Do you have any pictures of the fiberglass mounting block? Is that something the boat had originally? This boat has no block, but does have an older version of the 4 stroke mounts that are being made now. It mounts to the transom with 4 bolts and a backing plate. It's not a narrow bracket, but a wider bolt pattern. I'm thinking that while it is probably heavy enough, the overall travel might not be sufficient.
Has anyone added a fairly heavy duty mount? Did you need the fiberglass "wedge"?
Thanks
Mike

 

[adirondackbob]

Mike,

A few years ago the original motor mount on my 1983 O'Day 23 failed. (Motor ended up in the drink!) I replaced it with a Garelick 4-stroke motor mount: http://www.garelick.com/product.php?pnumber=71091. I originally asked my boatyard to rebuild the fiberglass block on the transom to accommodate the new mount (which is wider than the old one). Instead, they recommended removing the fiberglass block and replacing it with sturdy stainless steel brackets to which the new Garelick motor mount could be bolted. They put a new backing plate inside the transom, plugged the old holes, and drilled new ones. The result was much, much better than what I had before. The whole set-up is far sturdier, and the new Garelick mount has much greater torque in its spring-loaded mechanism so that it is now easy to raise the motor out of the water. (I nearly destroyed my back with the old mount!). By the way, the motor is an old Honda 7.5 hp. It weight about 70 lbs.

Bob

 

[sPk]

BBD,
I recently upgraded my motor & mount on my O'Day 25. I went with the longer version of the Garelick mount (15" travel) & Tohatsu 9.8 extra long shaft motor (25"). If you follow the Garelick instructions that come with the mount which have you mount it with the cavitation plate just under the water, it will be mounted too high and the prop will come out of the water in waves. I didn't follow the instructions and mounted it where the old wedge was which was lower but it still isn't low enough. So make sure you know where you want the motor to end up when all is mounted. Also without the wedge on the O'25, the motor can't be adjusted get quite vertical so some sort of smaller wedge is required.