Bottoms Up 23 Build

[Kraken]

Swapping trailers to a new Owens and Sons. Anyone need a trailer for a 23? It needs some work. I will be selling it soon.

The boat floats! It sits way high. The chines were out of the water. I hope she settles into the water when the Suzuki and fuel go in.

[HeadHunter]

No worries, when you add motor, fuel and everything else, she'll sit just fine..

[Kraken]

Tomorrow she heads south to see Brian at International Marine to get the motor hung. I think she’s ready. Electrical with switch, Simrad and fuel tanks networked, fuel fill vent filter, drain plug, finally steering is in and blead. I even got a few hatches installed. Hopefully everything goes smoothly. Can’t wait!

[Kraken]

Originally Posted by HeadHunter

No worries, when you add motor, fuel and everything else, she'll sit just fine..

Thanks for the confidence and flipping the picture

[Kraken]

I’m a little concerned. Brian at International Marine was worried I have a 25” shaft and he thinks it needs a 30”. He just had a SC that had 2’ cut off it with a problem. He wants to vet that issue first before hanging mine.

I have a 32” bracket it should be perfect for the 25” shaft? Everything I read was that it may be a little high?

Any thoughts

[flyingfrizzle]

Originally Posted by Kraken

I’m a little concerned. Brian at International Marine was worried I have a 25” shaft and he thinks it needs a 30”. He just had a SC that had 2’ cut off it with a problem. He wants to vet that issue first before hanging mine.

I have a 32” bracket it should be perfect for the 25” shaft? Everything I read was that it may be a little high?

Any thoughts

Most people run 30" leg outboards on bracketed 23's but that don't mean its what you need on your particular bracket. You really need to do some good measurements to verify where your AV plate will land. If you go up to a 30" and need a 25 you will likely have to add a jackplate to raise it up. Personally I would rather have the 30 due to it keeps the power head further out of the water but more importantly is having the right mounting depth. I would measure the distance from the outboard mounting clamp to the AV plate on what ever outboard you are getting (they are close but all not the same). Measure how much length you have at full adjustment up if you use the bottom holes on the outboard clamp and fully down with the clamp touching the bracket ear. Then get a long stright edge and see how high up the bracket mounting ear is above the bottom of the hull. A little math will tell you where the AV plate will land on each length and with the outboard up or down in its mounting adjustment. You don't wont to end up with a 25" that is all the way down with an AV plate super high above the hull bottom stright edge due to you can only go so low before it hits the outboards clamp hooks. If too high it will blow out in turns or loose grip do poorly in ruff conditions. The 30" leg may max out in the mounting holes in the outboard adjustment clamps high as it can go and still be too deep. This will cause performance to suffer due to the AV plate will be too far below the hull bottom causing extra drag. If it is to far down you can always add a jackplate to raise the outboard higher where as with the 25 you cant go no lower once you are in the upper mounting holes. I would find a long stright edge to run down the hull bottom and get a plumb bob and figure out where the av plate lands on both length outboards then take in account for the max adjustment down on the 25 and the max adjustment up on the 30 and see where your AV plate will end up at with either outboard and go from there. If it is possible to go with the 30" leg I would lean that way unless your bracket mounting ear is just way too low causing the outboard to be way to low unless you would like to add an jackplate. There are a lot of SeaCrafts out there running around with outboards adjusted all the way up in their adjustment that have the AV plate too low in the water. But even too low they still run well and do ok you just loose some performance. Very few are too high and blow out. Most installers lean to mount outboards lower as they have less issues with the set up as most people don't notice the lesser performance from being mounted too low but they do notice when the boat prop blows out when they turn if the outboard is too high though. One thing you have going for you is international marine. He has a lot of experience so you are in good hands there and I know he has done a lot of SeaCrafts. That said I would still want to mock up the heights and know for myself where Im at and try to maximize the performance of the outboard.

[Kraken]

Originally Posted by flyingfrizzle

Most people run 30" leg outboards on bracketed 23's but that don't mean its what you need on your particular bracket. You really need to do some good measurements to verify where your AV plate will land. If you go up to a 30" and need a 25 you will likely have to add a jackplate to raise it up. Personally I would rather have the 30 due to it keeps the power head further out of the water but more importantly is having the right mounting depth. I would measure the distance from the outboard mounting clamp to the AV plate on what ever outboard you are getting (they are close but all not the same). Measure how much length you have at full adjustment up if you use the bottom holes on the outboard clamp and fully down with the clamp touching the bracket ear. Then get a long stright edge and see how high up the bracket mounting ear is above the bottom of the hull. A little math will tell you where the AV plate will land on each length and with the outboard up or down in its mounting adjustment. You don't wont to end up with a 25" that is all the way down with an AV plate super high above the hull bottom stright edge due to you can only go so low before it hits the outboards clamp hooks. If too high it will blow out in turns or loose grip do poorly in ruff conditions. The 30" leg may max out in the mounting holes in the outboard adjustment clamps high as it can go and still be too deep. This will cause performance to suffer due to the AV plate will be too far below the hull bottom causing extra drag. If it is to far down you can always add a jackplate to raise the outboard higher where as with the 25 you cant go no lower once you are in the upper mounting holes. I would find a long stright edge to run down the hull bottom and get a plumb bob and figure out where the av plate lands on both length outboards then take in account for the max adjustment down on the 25 and the max adjustment up on the 30 and see where your AV plate will end up at with either outboard and go from there. If it is possible to go with the 30" leg I would lean that way unless your bracket mounting ear is just way too low causing the outboard to be way to low unless you would like to add an jackplate. There are a lot of SeaCrafts out there running around with outboards adjusted all the way up in their adjustment that have the AV plate too low in the water. But even too low they still run well and do ok you just loose some performance. Very few are too high and blow out. Most installers lean to mount outboards lower as they have less issues with the set up as most people don't notice the lesser performance from being mounted too low but they do notice when the boat prop blows out when they turn if the outboard is too high though. One thing you have going for you is international marine. He has a lot of experience so you are in good hands there and I know he has done a lot of SeaCrafts. That said I would still want to mock up the heights and know for myself where Im at and try to maximize the performance of the outboard.

Thank you. I’ll take you advice and double check the math. I order the bracket designed for a 25” shaft and mounted it as directed. I have not checked the final math for av plate height. I do not want a 30” if I can help it. I wanted the bracket as close to the water for divers. I definitely don’t want blow out, but don’t want a long because an installer wants a slam dunk.

[flyingfrizzle]

Originally Posted by Kraken

Thank you. I’ll take you advice and double check the math. I order the bracket designed for a 25” shaft and mounted it as directed. I have not checked the final math for av plate height. I do not want a 30” if I can help it. I wanted the bracket as close to the water for divers. I definitely don’t want blow out, but don’t want a long because an installer wants a slam dunk.

You will also get the same thought process by the bracket builders as well. Most installed heights from the manufacture will place the AV plate below the hull bottom. If it was designed for a 25" outboard there should be enough adjustment to make it work but most likely you will end up moving the outboard up a few holes in the clamp adjustment to get at the best mounting position. That is if you want to get the AV plate even or above the hull bottom for max performance. It all depends on how the bracket was designed though. The tape measure will tell you what you want to know...

[Oldboat]

If I had to guess mike does want it right the first time because if u have to do some prop swapping to get it dialed in it’s not like you are 5 minutes away.
Even if u plan on another kind of prop you should get the most out of what u paid for. My family are divers and it is nice having the bracket were they can slip on and off because we are always drift diving as a note we are free divers. Sounds like it’s going to be a sweet ride good luck with it.

[wattaway2]

25” etec 300 on stainless marine bracket just raised it all the way up will check it out again this weekend