Just an update on this. I did get the transom reinforcements in. The
Sabre transom has a reinforcement in it for the chainplate and they stagger the width of the glass in the transom.
You can see this in the triangle shape getting smaller as you go down.
I used multiple layers of mat cut to the same shape to flatten out this area of the transom and then a larger piece of mat a little bigger than the 1'x2'x1"
fiberglass plates I was installing. Test fitting the cut mat...
The fiberglass plates in place and waiting for the
epoxy to cure.
Garelick mount with Suzuki on it..
With the mount all the way down. I ended up using it one click up. 4:1 block to make raising it easy.
Factory
remote steering setup on the Suzuki...
HDPE plate and M6 and M10 bolt locking the steering dead ahead.
Engine tilts fine with this in place.
Glassing over the prop shaft hole and strut. I also glassed in the inside of the prop shaft tube inside the
boat. That combined with the
power tilt means less drag when sailing.
Green demon exorcism...
When I get the engine bay cleaned up that will be a lot more
storage.Even more when I pull the 20 gallon tank. Perfect place to put my
inflatable dinghy.
Boat was launched today. Initial
cruise was about 16 miles back to my home port. The Suzuki ran like a top. At less than 1/2 throttle it was driving the boat to 4.5-5 knots.
GPS was saying about 4.7 and that was into a slack tide.
Video of engine here.
The
wind picked up at the end of the trip and I just had a working
jib out in roughly 15
knot wind. Boat was driven easily into the 5
knot range with the Suzuki tilted up out of the
water. Less drag is nice!
For about 2.5 hours of motoring I burned a little over a gallon of
fuel. The Suzuki is shockingly quiet at idle. Each time I throttle back to idle I thought the engine had stalled.
Obviously, just initial impressions, but I am very pleased so far.
Shawn