More engine troubles...

[brackish]

sorry in advance for the continued thread drift.

Shawn that is very interesting and could be a great way to repower an older boat larger than the trailer sailor class for a lot less money, both initially and ongoing.  You have power tilt, did that come with the motor, not associated with the lift mount in any way?  No power lift, just tilt?   Do I  see a remote steering bracket, is it hooked up to your wheel/tiller?

Wondering if a mini jack plate (6" lift) in combination with the power tilt would eliminate all over the transom weak back issues and still get the motor out of the water for sailing and in the slip?  Of course the jack plate would get the installed cost to about $4000 for a 9.9, extra long shaft but that is maybe about half a diesel repower?

Just thinking out loud about the next boat.  Since I can't buy a brand spanking new Universal Atomic Four.....

As you get some experience please come back and do a review.

[Shawn]

Power tilt came with the motor as did electric start, fuel injection, remote controls  and a 12a charging system. I will even have instruments when I hook the Suzuki's nmea2000 to my chartplotter.  It does have remote steering but right now I just have that fixed dead ahead. Independent steering for the outboard would make the boat much more manuverable compared to the inboard. I will look into that as well as exploring hooking it into the wheel steering.

I don't even need to lift the engine to get it completely out of the water. Just press a button and the power tilt does that for me. Same thing to put it back in the water. If I want to lift it I have a 4:1 pulley setup to make lifting it easier. Lowering it is very easy. Since I got it in the water I haven't touched the mount though, power tilt is all I need.

$4k is probably closer to a 1/3 the cost as a diesel repower. A beta alone (with accessories) is about $10k and there will be additional costs in getting that in and hooked up. And the maintenance requirements of the diesel are still there along with the drag while sailing.

I can tell you already I have more steering in reverse as now I have prop wash over the rudder in reverse. I can no longer blast the bow to starboard using prop wash but hooking up steering to the outboard would give me that back. My kids *love* the outboard, they hated how loud the diesel was when they were down below. No heat or stink from the diesel down below too and the dramatic increase in storage, and dramatic decrease in maintenance needs are another big plus in my book.

The outboard is a little unconventional but I have talked to a few others in similar sized boats that made the swap and they were very pleased. Initial impressions are all positive this far.

Shawn