Hi,
My first post! (have been a passive reader for a while though)
Just bought a Chris Craft Scorpion 186. Former owner has taken it completly apart and replaced stringers, deck and transom. The boat is also resprayed in white (brown/beige originally).
It was originally fitted with a Mercruiser 4,3 + Alpha one, but the engine is corroded beyond repair, and the out drive is missing.
My plan is to put it back together and mount an outboard on the back (inboards are expensive here in Sweden). The boat will be used almost exclusively for wakeboarding, future equipment will include a wakeboard tower and possibly some ballast tanks.
Now to the BIG question: What is the best way to mount an outboard on my boat? as I see it, there are three possibilities:
1. Notching the transom, hanging the outboard directly on the transom and building a splash well.
Pros: center of gravity stays in the right place, Cheap fix (with alot of work),
Cons: Ugly, splashwell takes up space in the boat
2: Mounting the engine on a Jack plate with as much setback as possible, still need to notch the transom to be able to tilt, but not as much.
Pros: Better control on engine hight, better looking
Cons: center of gravity is shifted backwards, expensive but still alot of work.
3. Buying/Building a transom bracket with inbuilt flotation.
Pros: can include a swim platform
Cons: Center of gravity is waaaay of on such a small boat, expensive if bought and labour intensive if self built.
The transom is 37" tall (so the cutout will be 17" deep with a standard rig)
I?m also considering how much smaller outboard I can get away with. I only need it to do about 30mph, but it has to be able to pull a wakeboarder with a loaded boat. I might also add that I have done this type of stuff before, so I?m not a compleate novis.
Please point me in the right direction regarding ways to mount the engine, and engine size!
My first post! (have been a passive reader for a while though)
Just bought a Chris Craft Scorpion 186. Former owner has taken it completly apart and replaced stringers, deck and transom. The boat is also resprayed in white (brown/beige originally).
It was originally fitted with a Mercruiser 4,3 + Alpha one, but the engine is corroded beyond repair, and the out drive is missing.
My plan is to put it back together and mount an outboard on the back (inboards are expensive here in Sweden). The boat will be used almost exclusively for wakeboarding, future equipment will include a wakeboard tower and possibly some ballast tanks.
Now to the BIG question: What is the best way to mount an outboard on my boat? as I see it, there are three possibilities:
1. Notching the transom, hanging the outboard directly on the transom and building a splash well.
Pros: center of gravity stays in the right place, Cheap fix (with alot of work),
Cons: Ugly, splashwell takes up space in the boat
2: Mounting the engine on a Jack plate with as much setback as possible, still need to notch the transom to be able to tilt, but not as much.
Pros: Better control on engine hight, better looking
Cons: center of gravity is shifted backwards, expensive but still alot of work.
3. Buying/Building a transom bracket with inbuilt flotation.
Pros: can include a swim platform
Cons: Center of gravity is waaaay of on such a small boat, expensive if bought and labour intensive if self built.
The transom is 37" tall (so the cutout will be 17" deep with a standard rig)
I?m also considering how much smaller outboard I can get away with. I only need it to do about 30mph, but it has to be able to pull a wakeboarder with a loaded boat. I might also add that I have done this type of stuff before, so I?m not a compleate novis.
Please point me in the right direction regarding ways to mount the engine, and engine size!
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