Loose motor/tranny mount wood stringer '80 Ski Supreme

jonce · Newbie Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 14

What a great treat to find in the Spring when I'm all excited for wakeboarding. I was doing my general maintenance oil change and overall inspection and I noticed the motor and tranny mount on the drivers side was loose. The motor/tranny mount to the engine/tranny was tight but the actual mount to the wood stringer is loose. I tried tightening it with a ratchet/socket but as you can guess, it is still loose. I do remember feeling a little vibration from it last year when pulling boarders out of the water. I should've seen this last year but for whatever reason I overlooked it. Anyways, has anyone encountered this and how did you go about rectifying it? Unfortunately, I don't have enough money to upgrade this year to a newer boat so I am stuck with what I have for another year. Does anyone know if I have to cut out the floor next to the stringer to fix this? Should I run a metal piece or wood piece along the existing stringer to firm up the engine/tranny mount? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Adam

bmartin · Addict Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 794

I had a similar thing on an I/O and do not know why it wouldn't work for your boat. I will try to explain what I did but wish I had picture to make it more clear.

Basically I had the area where the motor mount rests on beefed up with 1/4 inch steel and that steel mounted to some good wood in the stringer and the motor mounted to the steel. If your stringers are shot the whole way through I do not know what to tell you. The steel was about 3 feet long and bent in 'L' shape that fit the angle of the bilge wall and the deck/floor. There was 3 inches of steel on the the deck and about 3 inches on the bilge wall. This was done on both sides of the motor. This was the brain child of an excellent mechanic I use who happens to have a metal shop. This kept the motor mounted for about another 6 years until the boat died of other unrelated causes.

jonce · Newbie Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 14

That's a good idea bmartin. I will have to look at it this week sometime to see if I can do that. I think that might work. I'm just trying to figure out how to make sure the motor mounts will secure to the L brackets. I suppose a guy could always have a welding shop do some work on that area...

wesgardner · Posted: May 17, 2004 12:34 pm Post subject:

Hey jonce,
Asbmartin, says, you may get lucky and be able to use the angle iron trick, you can have studs welded onto the top of the angle to which the mounts will be secured and bolt thru the existing stringers from the sides, hopefully sandwhiching in some good wood in there. However, the rot inside the stringer will continue to grow unless it's dug out. Rememeber that you'll need to realign the motor/trans with the shaft so don't raise things too much.

OR

Cut the tops off the fiberglass stringers, dig out rotten wood, replace with new wood and re-glass obviously requiring the motor to be pulled...I've done this before and it looks like a huge deal but in reality, hauling out the motor's probably the biggest pain, the glass work, etc. is just messy/itchy/hateful

Good luck

Wes

BIZ · Outlaw Joined: 19 Jan 2004 Posts: 184 City: Dallas

Depending on where you live... i have some angle aluminium that is about 3/8" thick and the angles are 3" each way, the length is aprox 6 feet. This is heavy duty and may give you enough support for what you are trying to do. I would tear out the old rot and refiberglass the area and/or there is some stuff that will stiffen up rotted fiberglass, it is some kind of chemical... i am not real familiar with it i am sure there are others that know more about it.

Nor*Cal · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 9479 City: Sac

Or you could use Git Rot as a temporary fix for this season. Do a google search to find more info.

BIZ · Outlaw Joined: 19 Jan 2004 Posts: 184 City: Dallas

That is the stuff i was thinking of!

wesgardner · Posted: May 18, 2004 4:40 am Post subject:

I believe you'll find that Git Rot is thin epoxy....you can always just , well....thin epoxy (or thicken it at will) it will NOT however "cure" the rot issue but will buy you some time....
RAKA Marine, for all your epoxy needs...sound like a salesman, don't I. They have great customer support, and I've bought many a gallon from 'em...

Wes