Transom Cutout and Motor Mount

[Richard McBrid]

Hi all. I have a '78 Catalina 27 with the transom cutout for the outboard. I don't care for this arrangement, but that is moot anyway, as my new 4-stroke 9.9 Merc will not fit it anyway. I am looking at two ways of dealing with the new motor mounting. One is to cover over the transom hole. In this plan, we would use 3/4 marine plywood as a backing bolted through the thicker part of the transom. We would then add an additional build-up where the actual hole is, thus making the stern reasonably flat across. Then we would add a mount a regular outboard motor mount on this build-up, allowing use to raise and lower the motor. The other method would be to use some form a mount using the transom cutout as the mounting frame. A company called Breeze Industries (http://www.breezeindustries.com) makes one of these specifically for the Catalina 27. My concerns with the first plan is the strength of the transom with the mount on the framed over part. My concern with the second plan is that it leaves the transom open. I am looking for comments. Thanks

 

[John Visser]

Motor choice

I'm curious - did you have the option of getting a motor that fit the existing arrangement? I looked at the breeze mount, looks nice, and expensive.jv

 

[Richard McBride]

Hi John.Unfortunately I did not have a choice in respect of the motor. I owned the motor first!!However I have found that almost all of the 9.9 motors are larger than the older ones, and all 4 strokes are larger than 2 strokes.This motor is a Merc long-shaft with a high-thrust prop specially designed for sailboats, so I want to keep it. And I really don't like that open transom design.That breeze mount is expensive, but not as expensive as re-inforcing and glassing over the transom cutout. I just don't know if the cover board will be strong enough to hold the motor mount.Thanks

 

[John Eastin]

I have a similar arrangement on my 1972

I have a similar arrangement. Called Catalina and spoke to one of the engineers who told me that the owner customization was very common and did not compromise the boat. He suggested I fill the transom as you've suggested in option one above and then use some serious backing. I have an auxilliary motor mount to port that I backed with 3/4 marine plywood. It's extremely solid. YOu should be fine either route you choose. My preference will be to close the transom on my boat. Please let us know what you decide to do.

 

[LaDonna Bubak - Catalina Owners]

How expensive?

That EZE Slider looks pretty cool! I've never seen that before but there's no price on the site. How much are they?LaDonna

 

[Richard McBride]

EZ Slide Price

Hi Donna.I am not sure what they cost, but I saw a price online somewhere of $550 US. I emailed the company, but did not get a response. This does not bode well for the product's future.