Reducing impact of motor weight
Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 9:13 am
As I walk by my Seacoaster several times a day, with the 75 Johnson hanging off the back, I think more and more about why I let that 242lb weight continually push down on the transom and against the trailer bunks. Even the motor service manual says it is best to remove the motor for the off season to avoid negative consequences. It now sits all summer on the trailer, except for maybe four afternoons, and then again in a barn all winter.
So, I just bought a 2 ton bottle jack for $13, and plan to just take some of that weight off... and I just now re-read Peter's post with his blocks under the skeg method, which he regulates using the wheel jack.
I am thinking that rather than using the skeg and raising the front, I am thinking that I will make a U shape with three pieces of 2x4, and then have a couple 6" 2x4's under the anti cavitation plate and raise that slightly with the bottle jack... the motor would be vertical and locked. It seems to me that this would be straight up. distributed unloading, without any competing pressure on the transom.
Maybe I am over engineering... does anyone think one method would be better than the other....?
John.
So, I just bought a 2 ton bottle jack for $13, and plan to just take some of that weight off... and I just now re-read Peter's post with his blocks under the skeg method, which he regulates using the wheel jack.
I am thinking that rather than using the skeg and raising the front, I am thinking that I will make a U shape with three pieces of 2x4, and then have a couple 6" 2x4's under the anti cavitation plate and raise that slightly with the bottle jack... the motor would be vertical and locked. It seems to me that this would be straight up. distributed unloading, without any competing pressure on the transom.
Maybe I am over engineering... does anyone think one method would be better than the other....?
John.