off shore bracket pros and cons

[O Tshawytcha]

Hey!!
My buddy is toatally rebuilding and beefing up a 17' western. He is getting a 90hp honda and has to rebuild the transom. He was wondering what the advantages are to an offshore bracket and wether or not it will work.

Thank!
:cheers:
GRIFF

[Chrome Bumper]

90 hp Honda sound kinda heavy for a 17 footer. Might settle pretty low aft with a bracket.

[O Tshawytcha]

You're right. Good thing itsa 17'er!!
:jester:
GRIFF

[crabbait]

Take a look under my offshore bracket: See the blue part right in front of the engine? That is a reinforcing brace for the bracket that also provides several cubic feet of additional floatation. A 90 Honda is a heavy motor.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/1064back.jpg

I suggest that you determine the max engine hp/weight that the boat is rated for and mathmatically determine how much additional floatation would be required to float the boat upright with a 90hp Honda on it. Don't forget to figure the weight of the construction material as well.

There is no free lunch.

[Beefcake]

There has been some lengthy discussion about offshore brackets in the last year, but I don't remember if it was on the Community board or the Salty Dogs. A quick search should find you lots of opinions.

[Sometimeslucky]

I recently put an off-shore bracket on my 19ft Glasply. I have a 200 mercury hanging on it. WOW is all I can say. If you need further info e-mail me and I will send you pictures and information on the fabricator, etc. :dance:

[Gr8waves]

Don't forget the trailer, moving a heavy object 2' farther aft will change the way the boat is balanced on the trailer.

[Angus]

Its been a few years since I've run boats with offshore brackets and my overall impression was I didn't care for them much. The resort I work at had 22' Olympics and Glasply's with 200hp. Johnsons and Mercs, some had brackets and some were attached directly to the transom (splash-wells), the boats with the brackets were definitely less popular, they didn't manuever around the harbor or in other tight spaces as well, they seemed to porpoise more when running at cruising speed and when fishing you had to trim the main all the way up to get the boat to turn even then they didn't manuever as well as the splash-well type boats which we never had to raise the mains while fishing. Given the choice, I wouldn't want one.