Re: new project! anyone know what it is?
Re: new project! anyone know what it is?
That's some creative engineering on the part of the PO. You do have a TM Fiesta, but can't pinpoint the year. Not familiar with the original transom configuration on Fiestas, but my 15-foot TM Impala has only one aluminum skin across the stern. How you proceed depends on what kind of motor you are going to put on it, short-shaft or long-shaft. The PO must have cut it down to take a short shaft...looks the the plate they cut and moved down is offset from the main transom/stern skin? Odd.
I've seen folks use aluminum plate on the outside stern skin to reinforce the stern/transom after they brought the transom back up to original height. Might consider that once you figure out which outboard you will use. You want the anti-ventilation plate on the outboard, the plate just above the prop/gearcase, to be even with the bottom/keel of your boat...give or take an inch. Measure straight down (not on an angle) from the top of the transom clamp on the outboard, the inside top of the clamp, to the anti-ventilation plate...that will tell you what transom depth it is designed for. My TM transom is 20 inches, so I run long-shaft OMC's on it...tried short-shaft and the props would cavitate and slip. The attached pix shows the stern of my TM...camera perspective makes the outboards look longer than they really are. My anti-ventilation plates are 2 inches lower than the keel, so I'm actually considering shimming the motors up a little, about one inch, by putting shims across the top of the transom. Might try that this summer.
Nice find, keep us updated with pix as you go along. I was looking for a Fiesta, but couldn't find one, when the Impala turned up and it was too good a deal to pass up...wish I could figure a magic way to stretch it out to 17 feet...ha!
