Outboard pod horizontal transom to gain water clearance

[moreton99]

Wanting to modify my outboard pods because I get some slapping in a sea currently. Will probably just go and change the pod design and maybe tuck it in closer to the hull but I cant get the following idea out of my mind and there must be a flaw as I have never seen it done.

I can't see why the outboard transom plate cant be horizontal instead of near vertical as supplied. my honda 20 hp with power trim transom plate is 400mm high with the pump and ram, horizontal it would be near 150mm

To explain my mad thoughts. Disconnect where the ram connects to the outboard.(top end of ram) The transom plate on the outboard should now rotate to a horizontal position.
Then add an extension piece onto the ram to make up for the extra distance and angle change. (I know bit of engineering there but it seems do able.) you might even sneak in a couple of extra inches of extra tilt.

A bracket for the bottom rest for the outboard needs to be built to take the weight/power when the outboard is down as this is part of the transom bracket which is now a long way away.

On the boat a new horizontal transom has to be built take the horizontal bracket and some protection provided for the bottom of the ram and pump that faces the waves.

The nice thing is I can leave the motors in their present location and still have easy access for servicing. you still have a fairly standard outboard with power trim and the mods can be undone.

Thoughts?

[44'cruisingcat]

Interesting idea. One thing that occurs to me is that the forward thrust of the motor would then need to be borne by the tilt ram, rather than being transmitted directly to the mounting plate.

You'd have to make sure there would be enough clearance for the motor to be able to tilt. Maybe some angle a bit shy of horizontal would be needed.

You can dramatically reduce the frontal profile of the outboard pods by building a recess in the sheer panel for the powerhead. You can tuck the pods in so far they're almost completely behind the chamfer panels.

An install I did last year:

[44'cruisingcat]

Outboard install on Rhythm

[44'cruisingcat]

It might also be possible to reposition the bottom of the tilt ram, rather than extending it.

[peter57]

On my Tri , the pod was hinged at the front and the whole pod levered down 450mm then braced then the motor was tilted. To service the motor you raised the pod with the motor not tilted.

[catsketcher]

I'd go a bit further.

Get rid of the transom mount altogether. I did this with my 25 Yammie to get rid of the transom bracket.

I made a composite tube to take the pivot tube and glassed the ends into the composite nacelle. It has worked really well. I have the bracket in the shed and if I ever need it I can put it back on the motor.

I would like to have a nicely faired mount hanging from the raised nacelle to take the forward thrust. This could be a section like the front of a daggerboard.

I like your idea - the motors we buy are not made for cats and the mounts are not well designed but for wide transoms. The tilt especially causes you to move the motor higher to stop slamming so I just wanted to remove the tilt (because I tilt the nacelles instead of the motors).

I would like to see you draw something. Maybe I will give it a go too - it seems like a really good idea.

cheers

Phil

[catsketcher]

Some shots

[moreton99]

44c those pods you do are very nice.

I would probably put a steel or ally mount to replace the support rest that normally takes the thrust of the outboard. Bit hard on the ram.

[moreton99]

Catsketcher, yes removing the bracket and swiveling the pod is a good solution but it is a shame to have a nice power trim unit and not use it.

what annoys me that if you buy my motors without power trim the transom bracket is half the height(but of course you cant get ultralongs without power trim.)
So my logic is the longer bracket is only there to mount the ram and pump so you can move it.

I will try and draw it up and maybe get the honda dealer reaction seeing no-one has pointed out some flaw in my logic.(yet)

[catsketcher]

Gday,

I am not advocating you use pivoting nacelles like mine, I included the photos so you can see that you can remove the alloy mount altogether and still have a nice strong composite mount instead. Probably it is easiest to see in the interior shot. I installed vertical cedar pieces, covered with double bias) to accept the composite pivot tube holders. I then slid the 19mm pivot tube through the left composite mount tube, the motor and then the starboard composite mount tube. If you look really carefully at the nacelle down pic, you can see where I had to drill a 25mm hole to slide the pivot tube through the port nacelle side.

On the 25 Yammie, the ram is removable from the transom mount. My thought is that you could make a low drag composite mount and then install the ram as well. On the Yammie the ram is positioned on the motor about 70mm down from the pivot. I thought hard about using the ram myself, somewhat like you want to, but I couldn't get the geometry right and went for a rope led to a winch which works fine. But you could easily use the ram.

Can you slide off the ram from your mount? I can draw the idea if you like, but it would be good to know if the ram could be easily used.