O'Day 25 Motor Bracket Support

[steve]

I have a 1982 O'Day 25 fitted with an outboard motor (9.9 HP). I noticed that the port side of the transom experienced some flexing with the motor just resting on the mount and worsened when under power and developing thrust. I inspected the inside of the boat and determined that the wood which was backing the motor mount (covered the entire port side of the transom) was rotten. So, I had to remove the skin coat of fiberglass, wood, and backing foam. As a short term remedy, I tried placing just a smaller piece of wood (18" X18") behind the mount until I could get to redoing the whole shebang next season. However, it appears to have had little effect on remedying this flexing. Two questions come to mind:1) can a transom suffer deformation (in my case in the form of indentation on the port side) from the weight of an outboard? and2) How best to address this situation, ie., beef up the transom to restore original shape or significantly remedy the flexing.Thanks alot!!Steve

 

[Justin - O'day Owners' Web]

Motor mount

Steve, The outboard puts a lot of stress on that transom. It would be entirely possilbe for it to pull out in reverse if the backing is insufficient. I would take off the mount and inside skin. Sounds like you've already removed the core. Replace the core with a similar material bedded in thickened epoxy, then replace the skin. Finally, I would use nothing smaller than 1/2 inch marine ply, preferable 3/4 or HDPE board, and make a monster backing plate to spread the load.I would not run the boat without a strong transom. If you pull the glass apart you not only have a serious repair on your hands, but you have a real risk of a sinking.Good luck -Justin - O'day Owner's Web

 

[Kathryn Gordon]

Motor mount backing

I recently bought an Oday 20 that's about 28 years old. I am refurbishing the boat and replacing a lot of things, one of which is the motor mount bracket. I removed the old one, but I am having the same problem as you....trying to find a wedge shaped wood or plastic piece to put between the boat hull and the metal bracket. The old one was laminated wood. I believe that I have seen ones made from some sort of polypropalene/plastic type stuff, but can't seem to find a source for these. I know that they make such a piece for the part of the motor bracket that the motor sits on. Have you had any luck finding something like this or come up with a better solution??? Kathryn Gordon

 

[steve]

Motor Bracket

Kathryn,Give Rudy a call at D&R Marine. You can find his number on this site. He has many, many parts for O'Days

 

[Mike]

Transom spacer blocks for motor mounts

Kathyrn:I had the same issue with my O'Day 23. When I removed the motor bracket to replace it, I found that my fiberglass spacer block was seriously cracked on the hidden face side. I called Rudy at D&R, and he told me that he did not have the molds for those parts, but that he could probably repair mine for me. I didn't feel like waiting, so I removed the big chunks of fiberglass that were falling out (the outside gelcoated shell and most of the inside were ok), and then epoxied the heck out of the rest of the inside. Worked like a charm.If you have to make a new one, I would suggest using mahogony or some other hardwood. You could permanently waterproof it by coating it with epoxy. Alternately, Rudy told me that he could build a new fiberglass model from scratch, but that it would be pretty expensive. Good luck