Bracket Buying

[Bygracealone]

Hey guys, can you tell me where to get a bracket for the best price? Is D&D a reputable company? I found their brackets to be the least expensive so far.

http://www.dadmarine.com/pictures__info1.htm

I know some of you are using Armstrong, Gil, and Stainless. Is one better than the other? Does one stand out above the rest or are they all comparable?

I looked in the links page, but didn't find any links for brackets...

[willy]

those three are the best known companies and from what I have seen all make a great product, the first one I have never seen

[Skools Out]

most all are alike just as long as it fits the curve of your transom, never heard of these but they look as good as others and same specs as others so i'd say get ya one.

[kamikaze]

Bygracealone:

I can recommend one of the vendors. I have a D&D bracket installed on my 74 CC ( pics in gallery). I have been very happy with it so far. I choose to purchased it unpainted so I could inspect it upon arrival and was quite impressed with the welding and overall fit and finish.

Kamikaze

[Bygracealone]

Kamikaze,

Thanks for the helpful words. One thing I noticed about the brackets from D&D is that they are closed up on the side that butts up to the transom. I suppose that would make them better sealed against water intrusion ???

I also noticed that their brackets don't come predrilled. Did you have them predrill yours or did you drill it yourself? If you had them predrill can you pass along the instructions you sent to them? Did you have to make your own template for drilling the holes on the transom? The other companies seem to predrill and also provide a template of some sort...

Lastly, can you tell me which model you purchased? I believe the angle on our transoms would be the same, wouldn't they? Did you have to provide them with measurements of your transom or did the stock bracket simply fit?

Sorry about all the questions. I figure I had better learn as much as I can before doing this. It's really nice to know somebody who has "been there done that." ;)

[Bygracealone]

Hey Fishmaster, I sent a PM to you earlier to see if you're interested in parting with the bracket you mentioned you had in your possession.

[kamikaze]

Bygracelaone:

I purchased the R0 model. My transom had been reworked prior to my purchasing the boat and I found it to be built at a 13 degree angle (When talking with D&D that seems to be a common transom angle). My transom also had a slight bend from port to starboard, and I was worried that I would have to have the bracket built to accommodate this curve. D&D advised me not to worry about it because when you tighten up the mounting bolts it straightens out any slight curve that might have been there prior and they were right!

A word of caution on mounting the bracket though. I followed D&D recommend motor elevation for a 26” setback bracket ( 2.5 -3 above the keel“) and found my motor cavitated way too much when on plane. I ended up lowering the bracket so that the engine cavitation plate was only about 1 inch higher than the keel line and this seems to work well for my configuration. Don't forget I have an old 235 that is quite heavy and that maybe why I had an issue with the settings they recommended initially, so keep that in mind. Also recommend you only to mount a 25 inch motor. My motor was initially a 20 shaft, but the backwash from the boats wake came to close to swamping the engine when I came off plane that I ended up buying a 5 inch lower unit extension to raise the motor to a point I now feel comfortable.

Suggest you mount the motor to the bracket so that is evaluated by one hole in the engine transom clamp (top of motor clamp will not rest on top of the bracket) just in case you need to lower the motor later. This way you have some adjust in motor position that won’t require you to cavitates to much.

Hope this helps. If you need any pictures to help explain what I referring to let me know.

[reelapeelin]

Kamikaze...great stuff above...the voice of experience...well explained... ;)...