1999 23' Center Console - Bracket ? ?

[Mudhen]

Any advice on installing a bracket to a 23' Center Console SeaCraft, having issues at the dock with the original scupper design as they sit almost fully submerged in the water . . . and boat rides a little low in the water at the stern

[manitunc]

looks fine in the pic. A bracket isnt going to change that, as any flotation will be offset by the engines hanging farther away. If your sole concern is how low the stern is, a bracket is not the solution.

[Mudhen]

The boat sunk at the dock 2 days ago due to a combination of failed pumps and water coming in through the scuppers, I will was able to get it up quickly, the engines and electronics are fine. . . . .. but certainly do not want to go through that again. The solutions I have heard are replacing the butterfly valve/scuppers with plugs and letting the rain water drain into the bilge or closing the stern and putting in a bracket

[RoomToMove]

"specproj" is very knowledgeable with the scupper system in your boat. He repaired a mysterious leak around those scuppers.

[afterhours]

Hi Mudhen,

There is a sticky on brackets that you should read. Although I have a bracket on a 23 sf, I have mixed feelings regarding the benefits. It creates extra room inside the boat and gives you a great swim platform, but will shift your CG back. Hard to see what size motors you have, but you would be moving up to 1,000 lbs 30" back, creating about 2,500 ft-lbs of extra moment, shifting your center of gravity back about 0.5 ft. It may lead to porpoising, handling issues and a higher minimum planing speed. You will probably have to shift some weight forward to compensate. Moving 200 lbs of batteries from the stern to under the console would only give you about half of what you need. You will likely need trim tabs if you don't already have them.

The previous owner of my sf had a pair of 200 hp ox66's on the bracket (I think it is a Stainless Marine). Even with batteries under the console and the installation of k-plane 280 trim tabs, they ended up using water ballast in the forward fish locker to alleviate the imbalance. The boat actually sunk at the dock under similar circumstances to yours. I believe that the scuppers were the culprits because when I got the boat (minus engines and electronics) the thru hulls were glassed in and the scupper drains just routed to the bilge where there are two large pumps. I personally like this arrangement as there too many situations when there is too much weight in the back, leading to back-flow into the boat. As well, the hose or tubing may fail and water will flow into the boat if the thru-hulls are submerged. If I were to lead my scuppers to thru-hulls, I would definitely have ball valves on the thru-hulls, and close them when I am not on the boat or experiencing back-flow.

The current arrangement I have is a single ox66 250hp and a 9.9 kicker mounted on the twin bracket. While the weight balance is not as bad, I still think the boat is ass heavy. I use my trim tabs most of the time, especially when it is rough, because no-one wants to sit in the front as ballast. While the motor is at the perfect height at regular cruising speed (cav plate is 4.5" above keel), the stern tends to squat at minimal planing speeds even with the tabs down. Having the motor 30" from the transom means that the water has a lot further to travel before it hits the prop. I think a rises more than if you have the motors mounted on the transom, leading to more situations where the prop is too low in the water with the cavitation plate submerged, which creates more drag. I can trim the motor up and the tabs down, but this is less than ideal.

[SeaSick]

I have the same year hull as you and it also had twin 150 Mercs on when I bought it. With two people standing in the stern while fishing it would take on enough water to cover the bilge access hatch. Some of this water would seep into the bilge through the hatch. I replaced the seal around the hatch with a much larger one and that kept almost all of the water from entering the bilge. These Armstrong hatches warp some over time and I have it on my short list to replace the whole hatch with a new one. The scuppers also need to be checked as some have been known to leak between the inner liner and the transom and may need to be resealed at that point. Mine were not leaking.
My permanent solution (and also the most expensive one) was to ditch the Mercs and install a 300 4.2l Yamaha single on a 6" hydraulic jack plate. I had two batteries in the aft section of the console and added another but moved all three to under the front seat of the console. To do so I just cut out the small, worthless un-insulated cooler insert that was there.
Huge difference in the way she sits now. At one point there were three of us in one corner of the stern while offshore snapper fishing in 2 to 3's this past weekend and only had enough water come in to get my toes wet. That was the only time all day.
Another thing that helps is I now carry way less fuel. I only half fill the 150 gallon tank unless I plan on going out 50 miles and then it is only filled 3/4. My typical fishing trip is only $100 at the pump and after two or three the next one is free because I have to run some fuel out of the tank. Was always double that with the twins.
My point to all this is that it sits in the water and also handles like a completely different boat with the single. It took a little while to get used to it but I would never go back to twins unless someone came out with a 300lb 150hp.

[natecert]

Spot on. Been there done that.