Another Jack Plate Question

[THEFERMANATOR]

The 2 engines should have the same bolt pattern requiring no modifications. Have you checked to see if it is actually different?

[tecoon]

Yeah I checked. The Yamaha bolt pattern looks standard, but the Merc looks like it might be the older pattern...I heard there was a period from late 70's to sometime in the 80's that the bolt pattern was different. Maybe the lower unit is older than I was told?

The bolt patterns look like this (roughly):
o = yamaha
o = merc

oo-------oo


-o-------o-
-o-------o-

Thanks,

David

[tecoon]

I went ahead and filled the old holes and drilled the new set of holes. I went with the 3/4" hole, fill will epoxy and redrill 1/2" hole method.

I have a new problem though. The tilt/trim motor goes inside the boat and the trim hoses connect to the lower mounting bolts (which are hollow) to pass the hydraulic fluid to the outside of the transom. The problem is that the bolts were bent when the motor was taken off the last boat, so now they are pretty much useless. I looked into ordering some but apparently it could take a few weeks and I don't want to have to wait that long. Should I just get some standard stainless steel mounting bolts and some longer trim hoses and just run the hoses up and over the top of the transom? Or is that a bad idea.

Thanks,

David

[bradford]

I'm no expert, but I feel the less holes in the transom the better. On the bolt issue, as long as they mate with the engine mounting plate properly, I don't see any big deal with running regular stainless steel bolts instead of paying out the wazoo for some from mercury.