Bracket mock up

[cterrebonne]

Looks like you will have a lot of flotation. How close to the bottom of the boat will the bottom of the bracket be?

[jasoncooperpcola]

Should be 5". Badnews. We just got a rain storm and my bracket fell apart, i guess i need more duck tape.

[macojoe]

being that i converted my v to a bracket, i would shorten the set back to just what you need to tilt motor. You really don't need to lift motor up all the way up. further back adds more leverage on transom and changes the center of gravity quite a bit. I always wished i went shorter with mine, but i bought a used Armstrong and beggars can't be to picky! But are building so you can do what you want. but looks good from here!!

[spareparts]

I'd agree with MJ, make it shorter. I'd also make it taller, the biggest mistake in converting a boat to a bracket is mounting the motor too low. You also need to make sure you have a clean break(step) with the hull bottom. If you don't it acts like extending the hull length, which will add a lot of drag

[RidgeRunner]

The "clean break" area on my Stainless Marine bracket and the swoop are the precise areas where Hermco fills the gap.(Big Shrimpin's brackets too) By closing in a little more of that void on the underside of the bracket, they add floatation.
I don't think they go so far as to hurt the performance. Water rises as it leaves the rear of the hull but I watch where the water hits the lower and I know there is more room to add some additional floatation below the waterline. I was thinking of starting at 1.5" from the bottom at the transom with a swoop that winds up approx 2 to 3" higher than where I have noted the water hitting the lower unit. (Now there is 6" to 7" from the bottom of the bracket at the rear to the waterline on the lower) If it was 4'wide that would be a couple extra square feet of floatation at rest and yet completely out of the water on plane AND being 4' wide the boat would certainly be more resistant to transom sinkage when there are four people standing at the transom. LOL.. It would need to be light enough to reap the benefits yet strong enough to withstand the beating of a barely used 300XS Merc. Umm , did I stray?

[cterrebonne]

I thought that the bracket being longer than mounting the engine on the transom helped the boat ride better in seas?

[RidgeRunner]

Originally Posted by cterrebonne

I thought that the bracket being longer than mounting the engine on the transom helped the boat ride better in seas?

I have heard the opposite. I can't tell any detriment but I never rode in it before the bracket was installed.

[randlemanboater]

Originally Posted by cterrebonne

I thought that the bracket being longer than mounting the engine on the transom helped the boat ride better in seas?

I believe that is true, but it is proportional to the hull length. A 30 foot boat can take more setback than a 20 footer.

If you study the "go fast" guys, they seem to like around 24" of setback on a 20' boat...and they have tried everything to get 1 more mph out of their boats.