V-10 motor help

[bdg]

My V-10 is finished and works great! I just bought a 2hp motor for it and am having a couple of problems. The Motor mount is digging into the wood on the back of the transom. Could I bold a small piece of sheet metal there to protect it? Also, with the motor, the boat seem awful stern heavy. The bow comes up out of the water. Is this normal?

Thanks
Brian

[fishingdan]

You can fabricate one yourself (a piece of aluminum plate works well - not sheet metal) or purchase a protective pad at west marine, boaters world or someplace like that. They are not expensive and do a good job.

[Evan_Gatehouse]

Re: stern heavy. Are you sitting in the back of the boat beside the motor when alone? If so, you need to sit on the middle seat and use a tiller extension for proper trim. There was a thread about making a PVC pipe one during the past week.

[slitvamo]

Buy one of those plastic cutting boards. They cost about $5 to $10. Lay it up against the transom and trace the transom curve on to it. Trace the shape you want for the bottom edge. Cut it with whatever you have as it cuts very easy. Sand the edges. Drill mounting holes and counter sink them. Screw it on. Looks sharp and is very cheap. Anyway, that's what I did to my V12.

Have fun.
Tom

[bdg]

Good Idea. Much cheaper than the $26 West Marine wants for a transom pad. Last weekend I tried it with a small piece of indoor-outdoor carpeting laid over the transom. It seemed to work fine. I have gotten advice from this board before not to screw anything into the wood as it leaves a path for water to get in. Have you had any problems?
Thanks
Brian

[LarryA]

I have gotten advice from this board before not to screw anything into the wood as it leaves a path for water to get in.

There are some things that must be screwed in - chainplates, cleats etc. The trick is to make sure the seal the ply so water cant get in. There are a couple was to go about this.

First, you can significantly overbore the hole, fill it with putty and then screw into the putty. That is the most secure way to attach without a backing plate as the epoxy soaks into the wood and you are screwing into epoxy.

Or you can slightly overbore, seal and run the screws into a backing plate (oversized washer or whatever).

No matter what method you use, make sure to bed it with proper marine caulk (3m 4200 for example - 5200 is not caulk, it is adhesive so only use it if you never want to take the thing off - literally) to prevent water intrusion.