How to Bracket the Motor Lift on an Outboard Sailboat
- 1). Remove the nuts and lock-washers from the motor bracket's mounting board with a socket wrench. Pop out the safety lock with your fingers and twist it counterclockwise to unlock it. Remove the lock-nut and long pivot bolt.
- 2). Examine the transom of your sailboat. A positive angled transom will have a upward slope; a negative angled transom will have a downward slope. Measure the angle or pitch of the slope with the calipers and take note of it on the scrap paper with a pencil.
- 3). Find the motor bracket's adjustment hole angle degree increments in the motor bracket's packaging instructions. The adjustment holes are located on the motor bracket's top flange. Find the adjustment hole that coincides with the degree of the transom angle and insert the pivot bolt into it.
- 4). Reassemble the mounting bracket. Reinstall the spacer, lock-washers and nuts. Reinstall the bracket onto the mounting board and secure it in place with the washers and nuts. If you have a positive angled transom, once you remove the long pivot bolt, flip the top bracket flanges over, so that the left bracket is now on the right side and the right bracket is on the left.
- 5). Measure the vertical length of space between the cavitation plate of your outboard motor and the upper inner edge of the mounting clamp. Subtract two inches from the vertical length and add the total travel distance -- or length of the outboard motor -- to that number to find the new measurement. Transfer the new measurement to a long 2-inch by 2-inch board. Mark the distance with a pencil and cut the board with a reciprocating saw.
- 6). Affix the board to the motor bracket's mounting board with masking tape. Position it so that the top edge of the wood lines up with the top end of the mounting board. Decide on which side of the transom you wish to mount the bracket; making sure that you are not going to mount it where it will interfere with the sailboat rudder.
- 7). Set the mounting flanges of the motor bracket onto the transom. Position the motor bracket so that the bottom end of the taped on board is even with the sailboat's actual water line. Insert a pencil into each the four outside holes of the mounting bracket and make a mark. Drill a 3/8-inch hole on each of the marks while holding the drill at a right angle to the transom.
- 8). Apply marine adhesive or sealant compound to the inside surfaces of the mounting flanges and the bolt holes on both the exterior and interior of the transom.
- 9). Hold the motor bracket up to the transom. Line up the bolt holes with the holes that you have just drilled. Insert the provided bolts through the bolt holes. On the other side of the holes in the boat, insert the provided lock-washers and hex nuts. Tighten the hex nuts with the socket wrench to secure the motor bracket.
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