Hey All, There seems to be some pretty good advice here between all you folks... lots of years of experience between you all. Well, I have project which I'm trying to weigh the best way to tackle. I've researched it a bit online by going through past forum discussions, but havn't quite found the answer.
I've got a 1976 Catalina-27 which I recently aquired which has been through a hard life, at least in recent years. The Atomic 4 is frozen, and although I've had it out sailing several times (sails great) its rather embarrassing leaving the dock with no auxilary power. I can sail into my upwind slip fine with only the jib, but you probalby know there is alot of lateral movement before before speed and steerage occurs while leaving the dock.... embarrassing in my close quartered marina. So, I weighed the options of fixing the A4 or getting an outboard. I chose the outboard route to get me sailing. I chose the Tohatsu 9.9 with 25" shaft and got a heavy duty bracket. Now I'm contemplating mounting it with a sturdy backing plate. The only problem is in the rear compartment which is a separate mold and leaves about a 1/2" space between the inside surface of the transom and the compartment molding. If I bolt the backing plate inside the compartment it would squeeze the two figerglass surfaces together with who knows what results. My options as I see it are the following: 1) Idealy I want to slide a nice piece of wood between the compartment liner and the transom then mount hte backing plate insoide the aft compartment, but I can't get back inside with the A4 still there and really don't know if I could slide some wood in if I can get back there. I know I should pull the A4 first then proceed. But I'm impatient and besides, I'm going to have a yard pull the engine and it would be easier if I could power my way to the yard. 2) Put the backing plate inside the aft compartment, tighten the bolts and see what happens. I can't imagine that would make a firm instalation and would probably crack something. 3) Cut a big hole in the aft compartment and mount the backing plate directly to the transom. I don't think I have the right saw for that.... can't seem to visualize what I would need. 4) The method I am leaning toward is to drill a few holes in the aft compartment liner and squirt in a bunch of that construction foam and let that dry and then mount the backing plate inside the compartment. I'm not sure if the foam would be hard enough to withstand the compression or if it would hold up over time, but it seems that would beef up the whole transom mounting area. Does anyone have any experience with mounting an outboard bracket under these circumstances? And how did you do it? Am I even considering the right things or is there something I'm missing? Thanks for your help, gang. And sorry for the wordy message. Brad
