I have a Zodiac Pro II 470. The motor is a Yamaha 40 4-stroke with a long shaft. As I have mentioned before the boat is designed for a short shaft engine and I am considering raising the engine up a bit. The pictures show the current installation. As you can see, the engine is already mounted up about 2.5" above the transom. But based on the bolt pattern it cannot really go any higher without extending the transom. The other pictures show the lower unit in relation to the bottom of the hull. In order to get the anti-cavitation plate up to the bottom of the hull where the engine manual says it should be, the engine needs to be raised about 3.5 more inches.
Searching forums online I find that there are two potential alternatives in mounting the engine up higher. One use CMC extension plates http://cook-mfg.net/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10_13&products_id=13. With these I would actually have to cut them down a little and probably mount them on the inside of the transom using some hardwood to extend the thickness of the transom up to hold the engine. The width of the engine cutout is just wide enough for the existing engine mount, the extra width of the extension plates would be too wide to mount them on the outside.
The other choice is to use one of these: http://www.iboats.com/Transom-Elevators/dm/view_id.40157
The transom elevator will provide the correct lift and is the correct width to fit the transom of my boat. But compared to the 1/2 thick extension plates, it is only 3/16 aluminum and it seems that it may not be strong enough to last.
That all being said, the boat works fine and goes fast enough. The only problem is that water sprays up on the rear of the tubes. If the engine is not trimmed just so, some of the water ends up running into the boat. Raising the engine will help with this and probably improve the fuel mileage a little bit.
The issue is if raising the engine is really worth the trouble involved. Any comments or advise are appreciated.
Searching forums online I find that there are two potential alternatives in mounting the engine up higher. One use CMC extension plates http://cook-mfg.net/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10_13&products_id=13. With these I would actually have to cut them down a little and probably mount them on the inside of the transom using some hardwood to extend the thickness of the transom up to hold the engine. The width of the engine cutout is just wide enough for the existing engine mount, the extra width of the extension plates would be too wide to mount them on the outside.
The other choice is to use one of these: http://www.iboats.com/Transom-Elevators/dm/view_id.40157
The transom elevator will provide the correct lift and is the correct width to fit the transom of my boat. But compared to the 1/2 thick extension plates, it is only 3/16 aluminum and it seems that it may not be strong enough to last.
That all being said, the boat works fine and goes fast enough. The only problem is that water sprays up on the rear of the tubes. If the engine is not trimmed just so, some of the water ends up running into the boat. Raising the engine will help with this and probably improve the fuel mileage a little bit.
The issue is if raising the engine is really worth the trouble involved. Any comments or advise are appreciated.
