Hi Ted,
The welds on each of my two brackets eventually broke and I had them beefed-up
and re-welded with a very tiny different mounting angle such that the latch no
longer simply drops down but must be pushed down slightly with a friction fit.
I did this primarily to get rid of the rattle. Memorable installation of the
second one on a December midnight in British Columbia when the tide went out
and I was standing ankle-deep in an icy stream (having broken through the ice)
being a contortionist getting the bolts back in :-)
Once outside the harbor and motoring, I ALWAYS lift the latch and use a
ball-bungie to hold the cord up which enables the motor to swing backwards if
it should whap something (better snag the prop than break the mount). The trick
is to remember to re-latch it before going back into the marina.
Hope this helps,
Joe
--- tedcookjr@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
From: Ted Cook <tedcookjr@xxxxxxxxx>
To: scoaa <scoaa-members@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Scoaa-members] Motor lock down
Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:33:17 -0700 (PDT)
Am I the only one who has wasted a few props and several black prop thrusters
when the manual lifting rope gets caught in the prop?
The lifting ropes have very little slack in them, when the motors are fully
down, and the locking mechanism works properly when I am able to gently shift
and slowly accelerate into reverse,,, most of the time. I have tightened the
bracket bolts and the motor stays locked down when I try to tilt it up by hand.
And then there are the times when I need reverse "right now" to deal with an
unexpectedly strong current or to deal with a powerboat wake as I'm coming up
to a fuel dock. The motor kicks up backwards, grabs the rope around one of the
prop blades, and twists it up so tight that I occasionally have to cut the
rope. That's the easy part, compared to the immediate issue of stopping or
reversing the boat at a time when I most need it.
Has anyone found a way to truly secure the motors in the locked down position?
Ted
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