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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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New Motor Mount Installed

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lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts

Initially Posted - 01/23/2005 : 11:33:19

Installation of the new motor mount is 90% complete. The 10% that's left to be done next weekend is re-connecting the three electrical circuits inside the boat that I had to disconnect to install the new mount. These are the GPS antenna cable, depth sounder cable, and engine power cable.

The mount itself is the new Garhauer/Catalina Direct 4-spring heavy duty mount. It is actually pretty much the same as the original Garhauer OB125 mount, only with 4 springs instead of two. This is somewhat of a disappointment as I had been told that the mounting board would be larger, like that on the Garelick 71091 Offshore mount, to accomodate the larger brackets on the new Honda and Yamaha High-Thrust motors. Well, it's not larger; it's exactly the same size as the OB125 mount board, and as you can tell from the photo, the engine bracket overhangs the bottom of the mount board by a couple of inches, so that the lower mounting holes are below the bottom of the mount board and can't be used for through-bolting

.
At least the 4-spring suspension works as advertised - there is almost enough spring tension to evenly balance the weight of my Yamaha T8 engine. If the engine wasn't a Power Tilt model, it would be 10 pounds lighter and then the 4 springs would be just right. The 2-spring OB125 mount that came with the boat was grossly undersprung for this engine and I could not lift it without using a "helper" line from the motor handle to the stern pulpit.

Looking at the photo, some of you are probably wondering why the mount is offset on a spacer block and isn't bolted directly to the transom.
This is because the extra-long tiller handle on the Yamaha motor hits the riser tube on the stern pulpit and can't be turned to the left (a problem I didn't anticipate when I ordered the motor

). In fact, it was this problem more than the inadequate springing that started me on the path to replacing the OB125 mount with a heavy duty one. I knew I was going to have to remove and reinstall the motor mount with at least a 6" spacer block, so I thought I might as well go with the heavy duty mount since I was going to have to do all that work anyway.
The spacer block consists of a pair of 1/4" wall x 4" x 6" aluminum tubes, 16" long, epoxied and bolted together, with the 6" axis fore-and-aft to give the outboard a 6" offset. Turns out this is STILL not enough offset, and the motor handle still hits the pulpit riser tube by about 1"

. Maybe I can slice off that last inch of the handle, I think it's just rubber. The spacer block is bolted to the transom with the same 4 bolts as the original mount, using the original holes, plus two additional lag screws up near the top. I had to use lag screws as there is no access for nuts and washers up there; the inside of the transom is blocked on the inside by that shallow storage tray on the starboard cockpit seat. I drilled 3 sets of holes in the back of the spacer block to match the new mount, which gives a 5" vertical range of adjustment if needed. This is an XLS (25" shaft) outboard, and there is a possibility that the mount will have to be raised a little if I ever move the boat to a salt water marina slip, to keep the bottom tip of the skeg and prop clear of the water when the boat is moored.
Lastly, I decided to go with the Garhauer/CD mount instead of the Garelick because of a posting from Frank Hopper, saying that his Garelick 71091 mount has a lot of upward lift, but has only a little drop below horizontal. The Garhauer has equal lift both above and below horizontal, which sounds like it is better suited to the high transom on the Catalina 25.

Larry Charlot
Catalina 25WK/TR Mk. IV #5857 "Quiet Time"
Folsom Lake, CA

"You might get there faster in a powerboat, but in a sailboat, you're already there"

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 01/23/2005 : 18:18:19

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by lcharlot
 ...the extra-long tiller handle on the Yamaha motor hits the riser tube on the stern pulpit and can't be turned to the left...Turns out this is STILL not enough offset, and the motor handle still hits the pulpit riser tube by about 1"

. Maybe I can slice off that last inch of the handle, I think it's just rubber...<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

The tiller handle doesn't rotate up high enough?...That stinks!

Edited by - dlucier on 01/23/2005 18:18:54

sweetcraft
Admiral

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USA
816 Posts

Response Posted - 01/25/2005 : 00:40:40

The photo tells it all. I hope to share my project of CD bracket with the Honda. The ideas of installation came from the forum and they worked great. I reused the remote from the first engine and the engine can be started and shifted from the cockpit with the handle removed during sail (no parts to catch lines) Still have to hook up wiring but no testing as snow is about 2 feet deep around the storage and its supposed to snow tomorrow. Pictures later. Jim Sweet