Friday, September 28, 2012

Outboard Bracket Complete?

I am now substantially done with the outboard bracket.  Here are a few progress photos.



In my last post, I realized that the Tilt/Trim would be subject to swell action, so I decided to mount the unit on a "hinge".  I couldn't find any "c" channel in the remnant section, so I bought 2 pieces of "L" shape and had them welded together.
















Here is the bracket I had welded.  In this picture, it is bolted to the CMC Tilt/Trim so I can position the "hanging" brackets

The "hanging" brackets are installed and the whole unit pivots pretty well.  I had to carefully extend the pivot point of the CMC Tilt/Trim to each of the brackets, so that there is only one rotating axis.



Here is a picture with the outboards loaded.  Really the only thing left to do is add mounting plate for each of the outboards.  I will likely make it out of starboard.


I was considering, rigging the outboards to turn with the rudders, but the outboard arm is hitting the hanging brackets and will not likely be able to rotate the 35 degrees I am considering for the rudders.  Oops.  Had I thought about it, I would have moved the inner hanging brackets more toward the center and would have had enough room.  I will live with it the way it is!













....and in the up position.  They can actually tilt 90 degrees, but I will only tilt them enough to get them out of the water.  I will likely fabricate an angled "swell" shield to help protect the Tilt/Trim and the outboards from the water.

BTW... I tried to manually tilt the whole bracket system to replicate a swell hitting it and to test the "hinges".  I had to lay down on my back and use my lets to barely budge it, so the "hinges" I installed are probably going to just be a last defense against the whole unit being ripped away.

Now I am going to turn my attention to fabricating the extension of the stern that will cover the outboards.  I am also likely to relocate the gas tank from the port/aft storage to in between the 2 out boards, thereby moving the weight slightly forward.

No comments:

Post a Comment