out board motor mount

[teacher63]

HELP!!!!!
I am in a bind with what seems to be a no win problem. I have a 1987 Hunter 23. The motor mount, I believe it to be the original as it is fiberglass and in the shape kind of U. It mounts to the transom but fairly low. It makes it difficult to change the speed and the gears. I am having the boat hauled for a bunch of minor work. One of the things was to put a new motor mount on. I am short and short armed which makes it impossible to remove the motor for the winter. I went and bought a mount Barelick 71091. It is the same mount I had on my old boat but I was stupid to leave it on the old boat. The new one came in and it is very different instead of having several mid size springs, this thing has 2 very large springs. The old one if I remember, it said you could take out some springs to lesson the tension. This one does not. I would not touch the springs on a bet. I called Garelick and they said it would not work on a Honda 5 hp. SO I am up the creek with out a paddle or motor. The one I bought has a 15 inch range that is the reason I bought it a 9 inch will do know good as it will not be high enough on the transom.

 

[centerline]

you dont really need the springs at all.
if you remove them, (you should be able to pull one of the pivot bolts out of the opposite end to collapse the bracket and loosen the springs enough to dis-assemble it) then you can add a small tackle system to raise and lower it.... it works great and there is no need to reach back and unlock the height adjustment lever..... see the photo.

 

[Paladin27]

I have the exact same model mount on my Hunter 23. I also converted from the stock fiberglass mount. My Honda 8HP was also too light for the springs. What I did was just jam a large screwdriver behind the spring and released the lower bolt and then let the spring unwind half a turn. That was enough to allow the mount to go down with the Honda 8HP on it. Here's a photo, you can see that the tail of the spring is not in front of the lower bolt, but instead resting against the base of the Garelick arm.

 

[teacher63]

With a five I almost can take the spring totally out. I am a little chicken. My luck I would get killed. My motor weighs like 73 ponds. I had the same bracket on an old boat but like an idiot I should have taken it off and put the old one back on. ANy how the older 71091 was different in the it had many individual springs. You could remove some to compensate for the motor weight.

 

[caguy]

My old Garelick mount had an extension handle attached to it with screws. It is a 1/2" ss rod with a rubber hose sleeve for a handlel. It is about 2' long and made unlocking and lifting the motor real easy. I know it not the same mount the the same idea should work for you. Here is a picture.