O'day 25 outboard mount

[wnance]

Quick question-

Last season we felt like the outboard was pulling out of the water too easily if we had people on the boat and a few of them were up at the bow, or if we had bigger chop in the channel, etc. So before launch this year, we lowered the motor mount at the transom bracket down a couple of holes. Which leads to a couple of questions:

1. When the motor is down, part of the wooden mounting board is down in the water. The motors position looks good, and it's staying put better in heavy seas, but wondering if this is OK. We are sailing in fresh water on Lake Ontario.

2. Even when we had the motor mounted higher last sesaon, our prop was (and still is) in the water with the motor in the raised position. I know this probably slows us down a bit, but we're not racing, just pleasure sailing. For those of you with an O'day 25 and an outboard, is your prop in the water when you're sailing?

Thanks,

Wes Nance
Rochester, NY

 

[Joe11688]

Quick question-

Last season we felt like the outboard was pulling out of the water too easily if we had people on the boat and a few of them were up at the bow, or if we had bigger chop in the channel, etc. So before launch this year, we lowered the motor mount at the transom bracket down a couple of holes. Which leads to a couple of questions:

1. When the motor is down, part of the wooden mounting board is down in the water. The motors position looks good, and it's staying put better in heavy seas, but wondering if this is OK. We are sailing in fresh water on Lake Ontario.

2. Even when we had the motor mounted higher last sesaon, our prop was (and still is) in the water with the motor in the raised position. I know this probably slows us down a bit, but we're not racing, just pleasure sailing. For those of you with an O'day 25 and an outboard, is your prop in the water when you're sailing?

Thanks,

Wes Nance
Rochester, NY

Wes,
I have a cheap bracket that came stock on my O'Day 222 which holds a Johnson long shaft 8 hp two stroke engine. The engine bracket is mounted on a block which is designed to provide the space needed to tilt the engine up and out of the water completely when we sail. I've never had to mess with this bracket to get the engine's lower unit deeper. I guess that I've been lucky. When I tilt the engine up, I always swivel the power head over clockwise and put the handle down before I tilt it up and out of the water. It's really a tight position, but it tilts up and out of the water completely. I'm afraid that if I ever had to get another outboard, I don't think that I'd be able to do that. Chances are I would probably need to even change the bracket over to accommodate a new 4 stroke with a large powerhead cover. Try raising the bracket out of the water one notch and see if it's deep enough. If it is, try tilting your engine up the same way that I described and see if the skeg clears the water. When you have people sitting on the bow, you're probably going to need to drop the engine bracket back down one notch when you're motoring. It may work and it may not. There is more space for tilting the engine up when the engine bracket is in a mid position than all the way down.

 

[RichBone]

It can be tricky finding the right height for the outboard mounting bracket. Too high and the motor cavitates. But mounting too low can be a problem if you're motoring with following waves, you run the risk of flooding the motor. Maybe split the difference. The mounting board in the water isn't that much of a problem since it's in disturbed water and it's fresh water and it's usually not for extended periods.
The motor should be tilted up when in the raised position to get it out of the water.

Rich