Tilt / Trim Installed

I found a local welder.  He charged me $35 to weld the bracket for the CMC Tilt/Trim, which I thought was quite reasonable.

Brackets Installed

CMC attached.  OK. I immediately see a problem I didn't think about.

Even though the previous sleds hung below the stern, they were hinged, so any swells could push up on the sleds/outboard if needed.  As installed, the CMC is static so I have two choices.  Rethink the bracket with a hinged design or fabricate a deflector forward of the bracket to deflect swells.

Here is a picture of the previous setup for comparison of the exposed area.










Now that I think about it, I am leaning toward leaving the bracket and then attaching the CMC to 2 pieces of "C" channel  to create a hinge.  I will go with a thicker profile channel, so there is less chance of shear.   Heck maybe I will also fabricate a deflector so the swell does not have a flat surface to run into!

Yeah...that's the ticket!

Update 9/9/12

I decided to mock up the outboard bracket that will straddle the CMC Tilt/Trim out of wood.  I will then build it out of 1.5" square tubing as well, therefore there will be less surface area for a swell to hit.

Here is a close up of the corner.  I will likely reuse 2 of the sled hinges from the previous install.  1.5" square tube fits just right (the piece there is just shown for reference)

While I was waiting for the "backing plates" for the brackets (which I fiber glassed in place) to cure, I decided to cut out the window at the helm.

This picture is with the glass installed.  Since it is a sun roof for a car, it only opens about 3 inches.  However it is really easy to remove it at the 2 hinge points.

Looking through the glass up close.  Even though you can see through it pretty well, I will likely remove the glass while underway.

The rest of the windows are supposed to be shipped out at the end of the month.  Can't wait!