Mounting an 8 HP Outboard on a Catalina 400 MKII

[William T Allen]

I have a 2001 Catalina 400 MK II(hull #233) and I am thinking about buying a Hondafour stroke 8 HP(new one weighs 77 pounds) to put on a new 10 foot dinghy justpurchased. The dinghy is inflatible and I will not use it very much. I do not want to put the engine mount on either side of the boat because I stern dock and I thinkthe engine(and Boat) make get damaged when docking if located on either side. If anyone has mounted an engine on the stern of a 400, I sure would like to hear from you. I also plan to install some type of lift close to the mount. Please do not suggest Dinghy Davits. I do not want all that on my stern for the few times I will use the engine and dinghy. Thanks for you help.

 

[Brian Davis]

Engine Lift

Garhauer Marine(.com)Makes a nice engine lift and can probably be mounted where you want.There web site is pretty good but get a catalog.They are also helpful on the phone, i had an engine lift made for my old cat.36 custome fit to my windmill pole. I now have a different boat with full davits and an engine lift.

 

[Lee Reilly]

Mounting Outboard on C-400

I have done exactly what your message refers to. I, also, did not want dinghy davits. I have a Mariner 8 HP outboard. I used the Edson Outboard Motor Mount found in the West Marine Catalog and the Garhauer Lifting Davit (LD 6-1). I mounted everything on the port side but it would work exactly the same on the starboard side. The Edson motor mount fits on the stern rail. The stainless Garhauer is very simple to install. The main post fits down onto a ball assembly. I mounted the ball assembly on the cover of the propane locker. I glassed in a piece of marine plywood on the underside of the cover just for strength (which gives us the option of using it for a man overboard wench). The lifting davit has a block and tackle which lifts the outboard easily onto the mount. The whole thing works wonderfully.Lee Reillysailbuff@yahoo.com

 

[RonD]

Engine mount

I have a C320, and have a 9'6" dinghy with a Nissan 8hp 2-stroke (about 66 lb). As with others in the posts, I didn't want all of the davits etc. cluttering up the stern. I make do with what is already there. For carrying the engine on the stern rail, I bought a standard outboard motor mount from West Marine. It's white plastic & designed with two halves that bolt together over a rail/stanchion "T" fitting. The engine then uses the two plastic halves as the clamping surface.Naturally, there was no such "T" available on my stern (Murphy Rules!), so I got some PVC pipe that fit the vertical groove and long enough to reach the lower rail. I shaped that end to match the lower rail curvature, drilled a hole through the PVC pipe just directly over that spot, and secured the pipe to the lower rail with a nylon cable tie. Made a pretty strong fitting, is cheap, won't corrode, and easily removed/replaced.For lifting the engine I have a block & tackle setup (3:1 purchase) that I keep handy for MOB recovery. I secure one end to the boom end using a webbing strap as a temporary bail, and secure the other end to a webbing lifting strap around the engine. With that I can raise & lower the engine safely between the dinghy & rail, and do it solo. (I've done it solo without that lifting assist, but don't recommend it.)If your usage is light & intermittent, you might consider going with the lighter 2-stroke 8 hp engine. If you use the dinghy a lot, then I guess the environmentally friendlier 4-stroke could be worth the extra size/weight.--Ron