my project wellcraft 180 fisherman

[smokeonthewater]

It COULD be done but IMHO it would be a bad choice.... If you can't afford a 25" motor right now you may be stuck with temporarily patching up the seadrive until you can source the parts to convert the 20" to a 25"...

Otherwise, you might want to just wait till you can source everything needed to hang a bracketed 25"er on there

[Kracker Jack]

Manny I'm following your thread and you seem to be all over the place bud. First things first Rome was not built in a day. Second thing is I see in one comment that you ordered a bracket and in a nother comment you want to use a jack plate. You don't have enough backset to use a jack plate because you have a solid transom,just remember you have to tilt and trim the motor. You have a perfect setup to do a bracket conversion ideally with a 25" inch motor and have a really nice rig. If you order the bracket and put the 20" motor on it then you gotta do what ya gotta do, just remember you are gonna want to bring it up to a 25 " at some point. I'm building my boat to a 20" inch transom mount setup but I have already set in my mind that it will be converted to a solid transom with a 25" and a bracket within 2 years, I'm just dealing with what I have for the time being. I wish you all the luck on your build we are here to help which ever way you go with it.

[smokeonthewater]

pretty sure he was asking if he could use the jackplate WITH the bracket to keep the motor from swamping

[mannydvk11]

Originally Posted by smokeonthewater

pretty sure he was asking if he could use the jackplate WITH the bracket to keep the motor from swamping

yes smokeonthewater that is what i was asking i also show different types of bracket to see witch one can work better with out me cutting the transom and had to make a wash area i like my close transom also i am trying to save as much as i can from the old omc with out using the power head but i have no choice to discard that idea i have no experience when it comes to boats that's why i have a bit difficulty explaining and trying to get a solution to my problems witch they are simple i see now i have to get a 25" motor and a bracket witch it comes to my other question how far back dose the bracket needs to be for the motor

thanks guys for all the help and trying to figure out this problems

[spareparts]

I seen a guy here locally that kept the bracket part of the seadrive and rigged up a plate to mount his engine to it. He left the sea drive in the down position and just used the trim on the outboard. I thought about doing that on my old proline, but after feeling just how heavy that seadrive bracket is after I took it off(got like $60 for it as scrap). I would recommend pulling it off and finding a regular bracket. On my proline, it was easy to cut the transom down and make a regular transom out of it, it had a filler panel that was held in place with two screws and some silicone, after I pulled it out, I cut the transom down and reglassed over the fresh wood. The liner for the boat was the same liner used for either set up. If your boat has a nice molded liner dedicated for use on teh seadrive, I'd keep looking for a bracket. I've seen nice ones on line for $500

[spareparts]

after going back and looking at all the pics, i would NOT recommend cutting the transom down. Next, whats wrong with the seadrive? is the bracket and trim still working? If the power head is bad, it may be easier to swap power heads.

Look around at local marina's to see what a used one goes for, you don't need the swim platform part, just the basic bracket. Do you know anyone that can weld aluminum? I've seen plenty home made brackets that look good. Worse comes to worse, check with your local tech school, see if they have night time welding classes, usually the welding teacher is a retired professional welder and does a little side work making things

[phatdaddy]

mj had a good thread when he converted his i/o to a bracket. maybe he will post a link to it. it had a lot of pics and great info about set back and engine height. i think you would need a 20-24 inch setback

[mannydvk11]

Originally Posted by spareparts

I seen a guy here locally that kept the bracket part of the seadrive and rigged up a plate to mount his engine to it. He left the sea drive in the down position and just used the trim on the outboard. I thought about doing that on my old proline, but after feeling just how heavy that seadrive bracket is after I took it off(got like $60 for it as scrap). I would recommend pulling it off and finding a regular bracket. On my proline, it was easy to cut the transom down and make a regular transom out of it, it had a filler panel that was held in place with two screws and some silicone, after I pulled it out, I cut the transom down and reglassed over the fresh wood. The liner for the boat was the same liner used for either set up. If your boat has a nice molded liner dedicated for use on teh seadrive, I'd keep looking for a bracket. I've seen nice ones on line for $500

I like my full transom is in good condition I will get a bracket because I don't like the cea drive bracket at all and I also was going to buy a swim platform with the bracket but I stop for a bit the reason why I stop is because I was rushing in to it with out know what's going on now I know there is difrent brackets out there

[mannydvk11]

Originally Posted by phatdaddy

mj had a good thread when he converted his i/o to a bracket. maybe he will post a link to it. it had a lot of pics and great info about set back and engine height. i think you would need a 20-24 inch setback

There is a bracket for sale and is around 26" I think that probably can work

[spareparts]

I'll get some pics of my buddies sea vee, he used a regular bracket then welded two pieces of tubing to the bracket that bent around, He inlaid the area with teak and it turned into a nice swim platform