Porta-bote haters: what's not to like?

[hpeer]

Interesting, you must have high cabin tops compared to us. But we have relatively wide decks and outboard chainplates.

Maybe that’s the thing, storage depends upon chain plate location, if outboard the the PB goes on he stantion. If inboard then you support the OB between the chain plates and the cabin and walk outside the PB.

[JPA Cate]

For people with long cabin tops, perhaps the PB could be secured there, by installing 4 pad eyes and lashing it down between them.

I'm with Mike on this. People do tie things to stanchions, (I've seen lots of jerry jugs mounted that way), but such installations are very vulnerable to repeated large wave strikes.

Ann

[Mike OReilly]

I can’t find a good pic of our arrangement, so here’s a bad one .

I lash the boat to our stainless handrail. It’s usually snugged up a bit tighter to the cabin than this pic shows. Our side decks are wide enough so it doesn’t impeded access, although it is a bit more awkward.

Looking at this pic I think I could lash it to the stanchions, but it just feels more vulnerable out there.

[john61ct]

I can't even spot the PB in that picture, which bit is it?

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by john61ct

I can't even spot the PB in that picture, which bit is it?

It’s the white panel with lines running vertically over it. It's right against the cabin.

It is fairly unobtrusive on our boat thanks to our wide decks.

[hpeer]

Yup, wide decks and high cabin. Our cabins are much lower, if I tied like that the PB would be laying on a 45. But each boat is different.

[skipgundlach]

Here's how we stow ours; two stanchions for the bote, and our arch and railings for the gear bag.

We have a 10' Bote...

[john61ct]

Wow that really is the bees knees for stowability

[mjgill1]

We got our PB this season and are waiting to splash this spring. Another person mentioned that they got a new Alpha and their outboard didn't fit? I did a lot of homework before deciding on the PB and for our Seaward 32RK which has a LOA 34'-7", LOD 32'-4" and LWL of 30'-7" it seems like the best solution without having the expense of adding davits. Instead, we purchased the Magma SUP rack to stow it outside the stanchions. If we have to, we can always relocate to the side of the cabin top. As a proactive measure, I have painted the seats a nice off white, added grommets to the aft end for hoisting aboard to stow and am installing a drain plug recommended by PB. It's a Ronstan RF294. We bought the recommended Suzuki 6 hp outboard. I had considered buying a 9.9 2 stroke as the weight is identical but opted for the reliability, simplicity and longevity of the 4 stroke. The jaws open to ~3 1/4" so no issue mounting at all.

[hpeer]

Double check your 3-1/4” jaw measurement. I hope that is accurate. From you pic you seem to be showing the bolts have 3-1/4” of thread. Not all of that translates into jaw opening. You motor looks to be mounted on a piece of 2 by something, which is 1-1/2” thick.

Run the bolts all the way out and measure the actual jaw gap.

In your photo where you are showing the transom thickness, that is exactly the spot where my motor hung up. I would be suorised if there is that much difference in jaw gap between the two motors, but could be wrong. The Yamaha jaw gap is just 2”.

[hpeer]

Up thread someone mentioned problems with rivits letting go on a new Alpha model. I now know which ones!

The Aloha 3000 has a board that swings out from the transom to brace the transom against the rear seat. On the transom end it is attached with a SS piano hinge and 5 aluminum pop rivits through the transom.

The top 3 broke. I now see what is happening and it helps explain the failure of my Genisis transom also.

Imagine looking at the outboard mounted on the boat from a side view, with the boat bottom about eye level. With the engine running the prop pulls forward, say to the right. That is a forward vector below the bottom of the boat. The boat resists that push with vector pointing to the left centered on the motor brackets. These two forces create a torque on the transom to rotate it in a counterclockwise direction.

The result is that while the motor is pushing the boat forward it is trying to rotate the transom to backwards into the water. Thus the brace to the rear seat is in tension on the top where it connects to the seat. And that tension is enough to cause the rivits to fail. My top 3 pulled through.

As a stop gap I replaced the three rivits with #8 screws and washers. I need to think more about a better fix.

But basically this transom has issues. I understand I have a somewhat oversized engine (8hp) but I’ve only run the boat a few hours and have not hit anything or run aground.

The good news is I’ll get my new transom for my old PB back tomorrow. I’ll try to take pics. I saw it today, it’s a thing of beauty! Downside s its a bit heavy but if I don’t need that big hunk of starboard for motor then it won’t be so bad. I should get it tomorrow, then I need to paint it so I may have it back on by Sunday.

Damn heavy swell running here for a couple of days, couldn’t transfer the motor if I wanted to.

[mjgill1]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Double check your 3-1/4” jaw measurement. I hope that is accurate. From you pic you seem to be showing the bolts have 3-1/4” of thread. Not all of that translates into jaw opening. You motor looks to be mounted on a piece of 2 by something, which is 1-1/2” thick.

Run the bolts all the way out and measure the actual jaw gap.

In your photo where you are showing the transom thickness, that is exactly the spot where my motor hung up. I would be suorised if there is that much difference in jaw gap between the two motors, but could be wrong. The Yamaha jaw gap is just 2”.

My goodness, you are correct. I must have been half asleep when I measured that. The actual is 2-7/16"

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by mjgill1

My goodness, you are correct. I must have been half asleep when I measured that. The actual is 2-7/16"

Well then you should still be good I think. Perhaps the Yamaha has a small jaw gap? Seems odd that would not be a standard? But that must be the case.

[hpeer]

I just tried to look this dimension up for Yamaha. I found drawings that seem to indicate a wide range of dimensions, many variants but the minimum dimensions max/min as something like 1.2” /2.2”. But that can’t be right either because the storage bracket is under an inch thick and it clamps tight to that.

Anyway the max on a 8hp Enduro is 2”.

Elsewhere in boat building forum I’m seeing 1-1/2” up 150hp. Of course these are very different construction.

[alctel]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

It’s the white panel with lines running vertically over it. It's right against the cabin.

It is fairly unobtrusive on our boat thanks to our wide decks.

Hmmm, I normally tie mine to the front stanchions but I may give this a go.

When I'm offshore I actually stick it in the v berth as I am worried about breaking waves bending stanchions etc (though I have jerry cans lashed to the stanchions anyway, soooo)

Originally Posted by Simi 60

What's not to like?

Everything.
Totally useless for everything we use our tender for
But, f they work for you, great.

Works great for me getting to and from shore, fishing and diving from. Not sure what else you would use it for - but being on a humongous 60' power vessel you probably aren't the intended market anyway, having oodles of space