Thoughts on building a bracket for a 23

[TMala]

I bought another Seacraft. A wonderful 1978 23 Sceptre I/O. Truth be told I was pretty set on converting it to a CC but the Sceptre layout is growing on me so it's staying. I am still keeping my 69 20SF until this project is further along.

To make a long story short my 23 is an i/o i'm converting to outboard. I have been searching around for used brackets, none that would really fit my need well. A new bracket from most manufacturers seems to go around 5k give or take, not sure if i'm ready for that.

In my searching around, I noticed a few here on the forum have built their own. I'm considering a one off MDF approach in two parts the tub and the cap. I would probably go polyvinyl and marine ply or epoxy and marine ply, not sure composite would be overkill here although the weight savings would be nice. The nice part about building myself I can design it to fit the boat well. Anyone have some thoughts? Plans? Anyone build anything and learn something along the way? Curious to here a bit about this!

I also have not thrown out the idea of building a notched transom with a small clean notch like what dirtwheels did with squidlips. I have never been on a boat with a bracket. After some research it seems the pro's outweigh the cons but right now everything is fair game.

[No grave but the Seacraft]

What is the condition of the transom? If it needs replacing as well you might consider incorporating the stringers into the bracket. It's a bit more work overall but no hardware to go bad later.

[strick]

Originally Posted by TMala

I'm considering a one off MDF approach in two parts the tub and the cap. I would probably go polyvinyl and marine ply or epoxy and marine ply, not sure composite would be overkill here although the weight savings would be nice.

I also have not thrown out the idea of building a notched transom with a small clean notch like what dirtwheels did with squidlips. I have never been on a boat with a bracket. After some research it seems the pro's outweigh the cons but right now everything is fair game.

Use melamine board for the mold it will be more forgiving should you screw up and not prep the mold properly. There are some posts here about the process...personally for me the plus side of enclosing the transom and adding a bracket was for safety purposes...as far as ride goes that is individual preference...for a 23 the bracket is not as big of a change as it is for the 20. Weight shifting effects the 20 dramatically more so then the 23...

strick

[TMala]

The transom seems ok, but I will know better with outdrive off, i'm not sure if it would be a total rebuild yet. Either was I planned on adding a few knees to the inside of the transom to get some more strength for a mounted outboard although the stringer idea you posted looks pretty good, I will see if I can incorporate that.

Strick- will give the melamine board a try. And i agree the enclosed transom would add to safety it's most likely the way I will be going.