Good Questions
When I bolted the new bracket into the holes used by the old bracket, the prop was only half in the water. I simply used the original lower holes as my new upper holes, and drilled new lower holes. I figured the less holes in the boat the better. I decided not to use any adhesive between the wedge and the hull. The bolts are doing all the work anyway, and this way I can easily remove it if necessary. I may bed it with 3M 5200 over the winter. The get the proper angle I held a bubble level against the transom and measured the distance from the level to the transom. I know it's crude, but this isn't rocket science anyway. The motor is pretty much vertical now. Getting the old wedge off was no problem because my boat had no wedge, just a square piece of plywood under the old bracket. The old bracket had an adjustment for trim. I can't see how moving the bracket down could negatively effect the transom. If anything, the transom is stronger closer to the edge. My boat has plywood laminated into the original fiberglass on the starboard side to reinforce it. You are smart to be paranoid about the bolts. The bolts that Garelick supplies are junk! Throw them away and get some grade 8 stainless carraige bolts. For reinforcement inside the boat I used some aluminum angle-iron that I found. Two pieces about 12" long, and I don't see any flex. The extra long shaft is hard to find, but it's the only way to go. I bought the Yamaha High Thrust 9.9 and am very satisfied with it. I originally wanted a Honda until I saw the price. Then I was going to buy a Tohatsu, but they were back-ordered until August. The Yamaha costs about $500 more than the Tohatsu, but it's well worth it. Just having the shifter on the tiller instead of the side of the motor makes maneuvering the boat so much easier.
