Ok, I finally got my transom beefed up and that thing is solid now. Put 3/4" plywood, filled behind it with thickened epoxy to componsate for the curve in the transom, and then epoxied it into the corners. Came out good. As far as the bracket I have, every dealer I showed it to said it should handle 80 pounds with no problem, if I strap the motor to a cleat on the boat to keep it from bouncing. Now all I have to do is buy the motor! I am really leaning toward a 4 stroke now after reading the posts and the dealers I talked to due to the fact that it will be at idle most of the time for trolling. (That will idle slow enough to barely push the 2000 pound boat right?) So once again, the Nissan 9.8 is about $1600 shipped. At the local dealers, that would come to close to $2000 after tax. Seems like the best deal here, just kinda makes me wonder why not too many people have them. Could even get the electric start one for $1800 shipped (don't really need that though). The Yamaha and Johnson 4 stroke 8HP are also about $2000 locally after tax, with a Honda slightly more. Possibly could get the Yamaha or Johnson 8 for $1850 total after shipping from a place on the web. Then there are still the 2 strokes in those models are around $1600 total. I don't mind spending a couple hundred dollars more if I am really getting something better, but if I am not with those others, I am losing a couple of HP besides. Ok well, I know you have given me opinions before, but now I am actually ready to buy one this week so I thought I'd post one last time. Thanks again for all your help guys.
