1974 Holiday 16 foot The Beginning

[kevingr]

So that brings up a question I have. I have all the holes drilled for the various mounting bolts and hardware like the hooks on the end. I drilled all of those when I dry fitted the transom so they could be sealed with spar as well. I did not drill out any mounting bolts for the motor as I don't intend to put the original motor back on the boat, I'll be getting a new/newer motor. Do all motors have the same mounting holes regardless of make, model and year? Or should I leave that alone until I get the motor and drill them out then?

 

[BWR1953]

So that brings up a question I have. I have all the holes drilled for the various mounting bolts and hardware like the hooks on the end. I drilled all of those when I dry fitted the transom so they could be sealed with spar as well. I did not drill out any mounting bolts for the motor as I don't intend to put the original motor back on the boat, I'll be getting a new/newer motor. Do all motors have the same mounting holes regardless of make, model and year? Or should I leave that alone until I get the motor and drill them out then?

I think this is the standard pattern nowadays, at least for a 50hp outboard. Dunno when it first appeared though so it may not apply for older motors. Someone else can chime in and give more info I'm sure.

You could always install a jack plate to the transom and then whatever motor you use would fit on that, which is what I'm going to do.

 

[g0nef1sshn]

I have my transom in already but have not done any motor holes yet due to the fact I dont have a motor yet. lol So I figured Id wait to see what I end up with before drilling.

 

[Watermann]

The pattern BWR posted above is the actual BIA standard used by every manufacturer of large outboards today and is based on the pattern used by OMC for their then new V-4 outboard introduced in the early 1960s. I believe Mercury adopted this pattern in the late 1970s.

 

[kevingr]

The holes in my transom count 6, not 4. There's 4 holes at the top that are about 13" apart (because of where the boat is hard to measure exactly). The top 2 are 2" down from the top and the other 2 are 4" down from the top. The lower bolts are narrower and 8" below the top 2 holes. So basically it looks like the pattern above but there's an extra set of holes 2" below the top 2. I'm thinking I'll JB weld those shut and just have the shop that installs my motor drill new holes. I don't intend to mount the motor myself.