OUTBOARD MOTOR BRACKET

[thinwatersailor]

Looking for an elegant way to mount an inelegant piece of machinery on the transom. Intend to use 3-4 hp 4 stroke +/- 50 lbs. Boat is 6 ft beam at the transom w/outboard rudder. Considering Spartan Marine/Bristol Bronze bracket or one by Edson--both are bronze but different in concept. Any better ideas or recommendations for preference? Certainly want to stay away from Fulton/Garelick type but looks like choices otherwise are limited.

[thinwatersailor]

Looking for an elegant way to mount an inelegant piece of machinery on the transom. Intend to use 3-4 hp 4 stroke +/- 50 lbs. Boat is 6 ft beam at the transom w/outboard rudder. Considering Spartan Marine/Bristol Bronze bracket or one by Edson--both are bronze but different in concept. Any better ideas or recommendations for preference? Certainly want to stay away from Fulton/Garelick type but looks like choices otherwise are limited.

[thinwatersailor]

Looking for an elegant way to mount an inelegant piece of machinery on the transom. Intend to use 3-4 hp 4 stroke +/- 50 lbs. Boat is 6 ft beam at the transom w/outboard rudder. Considering Spartan Marine/Bristol Bronze bracket or one by Edson--both are bronze but different in concept. Any better ideas or recommendations for preference? Certainly want to stay away from Fulton/Garelick type but looks like choices otherwise are limited.

[Todd Bradshaw]

I ran into a similar predicament a few years ago on a little double-ender that I was rebuilding. The folding steel brackets looked awful and I couldn't bear to put one back on. I looked at the Spartan which, for what it has to do, is really nice looking but decided it was just more than I wanted to spend for that boat. I also had dreams of removing the motor while sailing as I hated what the outboard did to the lines of the boat. Though you can lift off the motor and half the Spartan bracket and stow it elsewhere, in reality, it is very impractical, bordering on dangerous, to try and do so while underway.
I ended-up cutting and carving an oak block to fit the stern which acted like a spacer to suspend a fixed, rectangular, laminated mahogany block off the stern and clamped the motor to it. The whole works was through-bolted to the hull with fairly substantial back-up inside. It did not generate the amount of motor to water clearance that the steel brackets do, but on that hull it worked within reason and it shure looked a lot better.

[Todd Bradshaw]

I ran into a similar predicament a few years ago on a little double-ender that I was rebuilding. The folding steel brackets looked awful and I couldn't bear to put one back on. I looked at the Spartan which, for what it has to do, is really nice looking but decided it was just more than I wanted to spend for that boat. I also had dreams of removing the motor while sailing as I hated what the outboard did to the lines of the boat. Though you can lift off the motor and half the Spartan bracket and stow it elsewhere, in reality, it is very impractical, bordering on dangerous, to try and do so while underway.
I ended-up cutting and carving an oak block to fit the stern which acted like a spacer to suspend a fixed, rectangular, laminated mahogany block off the stern and clamped the motor to it. The whole works was through-bolted to the hull with fairly substantial back-up inside. It did not generate the amount of motor to water clearance that the steel brackets do, but on that hull it worked within reason and it shure looked a lot better.

[Todd Bradshaw]

I ran into a similar predicament a few years ago on a little double-ender that I was rebuilding. The folding steel brackets looked awful and I couldn't bear to put one back on. I looked at the Spartan which, for what it has to do, is really nice looking but decided it was just more than I wanted to spend for that boat. I also had dreams of removing the motor while sailing as I hated what the outboard did to the lines of the boat. Though you can lift off the motor and half the Spartan bracket and stow it elsewhere, in reality, it is very impractical, bordering on dangerous, to try and do so while underway.
I ended-up cutting and carving an oak block to fit the stern which acted like a spacer to suspend a fixed, rectangular, laminated mahogany block off the stern and clamped the motor to it. The whole works was through-bolted to the hull with fairly substantial back-up inside. It did not generate the amount of motor to water clearance that the steel brackets do, but on that hull it worked within reason and it shure looked a lot better.