Aux engine bracket advice!

[Nordburg2001]

We plan on making a trip to the IOM in a few weeks, as of date I don't have an aux engine fitted to my 5.8m Northcraft Rib. I can get my hands on an engine handy enough but I'm looking for suggestions/ideas on mounting it to the boat. There is limited space on the transom and was wondering is there a specific make of bracket that may be better than others to help keep the engine up and out of the road of the main engine under normal operation?

Cheers, Tim.

[spartacus]

Avoid an adjustable auxilliary bracket at all costs. It'll rattle like a Vauxhall diesel on a frosty morning.

What are you putting on, and more importantly will it fit on the transom?

[Nordburg2001]

It's a 4 stroke 4hp Yamaha I believe, very tight for space, I've not had the engine near the boat yet, I'll know better tomorrow, gonna pick it up and see what I have to play with, I don't expect it will fit without some way of either raising it out of the road or storing it off the transom to use when needed! ( not ideal I know ) but better than not carrying one?
If I get it tomorrow I'll post a few pics.

[spartacus]

If your boat has a jockey seat then it may be possible to fit a storage bracket on the back of the seat with the outboard skeg resting on the deck (use a rubber pad or similar). I've seen something similar but in front of the console. Not pretty.

The transom is the best place for an auxilliary, so check out available space. It's possible to mount an auxilliary and with limited steering still able to navigate with the main engine as a rudder so to speak. Not tried it, but suspect it would work in the right conditions.

If I was fitting a bracket, then a fixed bracket would be the way to go. The more robust the better. Fit a stainless steel U bolt or similar on the transom knee or deck so the outboard can be ratcheted in the up position. The saddles on these smaller outboards just aren't up to the vibration you experience on even a moderate sea.

[Nordburg2001]

Food for thought, I have a single jockey seat at the helm and fitting 2 more doubles behind me,side by side this weekend, It's gonna be tight for space no matter what I do, had thought about fabricating a stainless tube bracket to run parallel with the A frame and transom, to allow full use of steering on main engine and then slide the aux down into place if needed. Probably not a great idea though, weight would be very high on the frame and extra stresses on both A frame and transom not good! I'll get the deck fitted out this weekend and pick up the engine and post a few pics, it's very hard to come up with a solution without seeing anything. I appreciate your time, cheers, Tim.

[breezeblock]

I had the same problem and ended up doing a bracket out of nylon as I couldn't find anything on the market that was suitable I had one of the lift up bracket and it wasn't the best

[Nordburg2001]

Looks like you have just about as much room as I have! Just left the boat up this morning to get fibreglass work done to raise my seat height, hope to get it back later and fit the 2 new jockey seats and somewhere in between I'll pick up the engine and see what room I have to play with. How's the nylon holding up for you? Looks a decent neat job...

[breezeblock]

Originally Posted by Nordburg2001

Looks like you have just about as much room as I have! Just left the boat up this morning to get fibreglass work done to raise my seat height, hope to get it back later and fit the 2 new jockey seats and somewhere in between I'll pick up the engine and see what room I have to play with. How's the nylon holding up for you? Looks a decent neat job...

it was a tight squeeze its not fell off yet there was a fair bit of work in making it I think there was 3 bin bags of swarf came off the milling machine

[Nordburg2001]

[Nordburg2001]

Got the seats fitted but didn't get time to get the engine, as you can see it's very tight for space, hopefully get the engine tonight and see what I have to work with after that!

[SteveHall]

I looked into this, and in the end I have given up due to all the comments about the brackets breaking, and the mind field in buying one - they seem to range from under £100 to over £200 for the same thing.

[Nordburg2001]

We use one of the adjustable ones on my father in laws small cabin cruiser (14' CJR) I'm forever lifting the engine back up out of the water, it constantly drags when it drops and to be fair it's a real pain in the #%^*!
I'll post pics of what I come up with, I've some scrap 316 stainless and plenty of filler rods, any excuse to practice with the tig!!

[Nordburg2001]

Breezeblock, do you have steering with the aux engine or does the A frame get in the way?

[Nordburg2001]

[breezeblock]

Originally Posted by Nordburg2001

Breezeblock, do you have steering with the aux engine or does the A frame get in the way?

yep it steers it is tight in there

[breezeblock]

can you mount your aux on the right hand side of your main it might be better

[Nordburg2001]

Cheers, I'll try and modify the frame to suit, might not be pretty but as long as it's functional for the TT!!!

[Nordburg2001]

Will look at that tomorrow, with a bracket similar to yours I may be able to do that as the main engine steering may get in the way if just mounted straight to the transom. Just got a call out!!! Off to work again......