Long Shaft Motor, Shallow boat? what to do?

I have a 14 footer, it is a fairly shallow boat. My motor is a little bit too long, and i was wondering if there was any way i could get it a couple inches higher. Ill see if i have a few pictures, but its winter up in MN and my boat is flipped and motorless, so i wont be able to take more pics if i dont have any. When the boat is on the trailer, hooked up to my jeep (which is pretty low, so the trailer sits nice and level) the motor is just a few inches off the ground and it gets sketchy going over bumps, loading/unloading my boat, etc. Anyone have this same problem, or a solution to this problem? Thanks.

homemade jackplate with aluminum angle iron. google it

Perfect, i work at a metal shop, and my dad is an engineer there. I'll have him engineer me something up soon. This is one of the few things that i can get done in the winter.. I noticed they all go back a few inches, anyone know if i could just make it go back a couple of inches, 1.5 or 2, and up about 4 or 5 inches?

I've seen johnboats where they build up a 'tombstone' in the middle of the transom. Build it from at least 1/8 thick aluminum plate, and use internal bracing like 2x2x1/8 square aluminum tube. Form over-sized on the front lip, so it will overlap the inside of the transom for welding or bolting.


Picture a basic shape like this, except, the dotted line at the top would be even with the tops of the angled sides:

/---\
----------

The dotted line at the bottom being the existing transom. Sorry for the lack of a drawing, but hopefully this illustrates what I'm trying to describe.

What does the transom Measure from top edge to bottem of boat...take a look...https://www.onlineoutboards.com/Help.html?Question=Shaft-Length Maybe thi will help...cva34

Jack plate.mine is aluminum 2x2's sandwiched by 1/4" plate. Big bolts and marine sealant. Got cheaper than I could have bought the materials. Came from someone on here. Solved lots of issues I was having.

I used this pic to make one for my brothers boat. I believe I used 3 inch aluminum. Make sure you get the 6061 structural aluminum and not the 6063.

I think im going to take the "tombstone" route, like the above two pictures. My only issue with that is: Im going to have to re-do my transom first, so i can measure how thick it is so the aluminum will sandwich it properly. I suppose if it lines up properly, i could use 2x2s (or whatever is appropriate) to go in between them. Having to wait to redo my transom sucks because i cant get any work done with this stupid dang "winter" thing going on. Its supposed to get pretty close to being above zero soon! I'll have to bust out my T's and cargo shorts!!

Lovedr79 and tusker, thanks for posting those pics, that's exactly what I'm referring to!

Much better than the crude drawing I made with some buttons on my keyboard...LOL

I had the same problem and build an adjustable jack plate. Also when your transporting the boat you can use a motor toter that keeps the weight of the outboard off the transom and puts the lower unit a little higher off the ground.

Definetly use a transom saver.

If you are going to rebuilt the transom, this will be easy. You can just have the wood come up 5 inches or so on your transom when you cut the new wood. Get a piece of 1/4 alum. plate to bolt on the outside of the transom and you are set. Google some pics of jon boats. You will seee some where the transom is higher than the sides.

So to make this easy, i am going to just get a plate of aluminum (probably 1/4 or 3/8 thick) angled on the ends (for support) and mount it right on the back of my transom. I figure this will be the easiest way to approach it, and it should be plenty sturdy. Thinking it'll stick up like 5 inches, but I'll have to measure my motor just to be sure. Anyone see any potential issues with this?

Mr. Fahrenheit said:

So to make this easy, i am going to just get a plate of aluminum (probably 1/4 or 3/8 thick) angled on the ends (for support) and mount it right on the back of my transom. I figure this will be the easiest way to approach it, and it should be plenty sturdy. Thinking it'll stick up like 5 inches, but I'll have to measure my motor just to be sure. Anyone see any potential issues with this?

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That may be a bit overkill you could also do it out of 1/4 angle and plywood. If you just did the aluminum I would add some able and make sure you have some bracing running down the transom

SO: here is my solution. Today at work i whipped this up. It's like .17something stainless steel. The aluminum we use at my place of business (misery..!) is very soft, so i decided to go with steel. It was 16x18 to start, put 2" bends on the sides of it for support. I know it would have been fine without any bends or what, but i decided to put some more support on there in case i run into a log or something. I drilled 5/16 holes in there for the bolts, going to put some large washers in there... So Paul Bunyan himself could try to rip this thing off, but i highly doubt he could do it.. It seems to be pretty solid.
For anyone looking for info on this: My transom depth (from top to bottom) is 16", it's a fairly shallow boat. The plate i made will be sticking up 4.5" . I have a Long shaft motor, it is 22" from the (clamps??) to the cavitation plate. Plate is 12" wide. Origionally 16" but i put 2" bends on each side for support. So it is 12" across, it will not effect the turns of my outboard. If you have questions, do not hesitate to ask, i have plenty as well.

How you attaching it to the transom?

The long/tall flat part of it is going against my transom, with the two bends running vertical, facing out towards the back. I will put a picture up tomorow of me holding it by hand. I plan on doing some grinding on my trailer and possibly my boat tomorrow. The purpose of this plate is only to raise my motor 4.5". I am going to use 7 5/16" bolts going through my transom (wood>aluminum>wood>steel jack plate) (from inside boat to out) I will use 5200 to make sure they are sealed waterproof.

Ideally a return lip would have worked really well, whenever you have a gap between a bolting surface you risk loosening of the bolt, as the metal bends flexes etc. i would add a piece of wood or something to keep it from squishing.

Bugpac said:

Ideally a return lip would have worked really well, whenever you have a gap between a bolting surface you risk loosening of the bolt, as the metal bends flexes etc. i would add a piece of wood or something to keep it from squishing.

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I may be mistaken but I think you have the metal 180° from the way he intends to mount it. If I understand him correctly, the large flat surface is going to be against the outside of the transom with the lips formed by the 2 bends will be sticking out to the rear so there will be no gap to squish. My only concern with this would be that the motors clamp may slip during turns because of the hardness of the stainless and the clamp can't grip it tight enough. You might want to consider adding some wood to one side of the plate where the motor clamps on.

Yeah there will be a piece of wood attached to the steel plate for the motor to clamp on to. Also i will have wood between the plate and the aluminum on the back of my boat.