DaySailer.org Forum

After a beautiful first sail(third outing, but the other times not enough wind to sail), I ran into another DSII owner at the boat ramp of my local lake. Of course we had a nice talk and compared boats and stuff on the ramp, until I noticed we were getting the stink eye from the stink boats. I have a 5 hp Nissan motor, it came with the boat and is way more than enough to move the DSII. I transport my motor in the car, I don't want the weight of the motor hanging off the transom going down the road. The other guy carried his motor, a four hp, on the transom. But he turned it around so that the prop was inside the boat. This would keep some of the weight from hanging off the transom, but would still be on the transom. And if any gas did leak from my motor, it has an attached gas tank, it wouldn't leak into the car. Both methods require removing the motor after use, so that's a wash. But I still don't like the idea of it being on the transom while traveling.
What do you think of this method, and how do you transport your motor.
Fair winds.

BTW, after talking to the guy a while, he also wanted to buy the boat I had from a Gaigs list add, I got to it first. Small world.

That's an awesome story. How was the sailing that day?

I would never transport a motor on the transom. I have not proof, but I feel the bouncing would probably cause cracking in the gel coat. I only have a 2.2 hp, and both times I travelled, I put it in the cockpit with the motor end towards the cuddy. Then, I slung a towstrap through the motor handle and tightened it down to the trailer as part of securing the boat. This keeps the motor from sliding around. Probably, this makes a little wear on the cockpit deck, though. Once I get the motor fixed so that it won't leak anymore, I'll probably just put it in the back of the car.

If the distance to the ramp was less than 10 miles or so, I would transport the motor on the transom. For long distances the motor was transported inside my SUV. This was always stinky, sometimes messy. I now also sail a Precision and it has very light tongue weight on the trailer. The winch post/mast support post on the trailer had two holes predrilled and I bolted a short piece of 2 x 6 to the post. I clamp the motor there during transport putting more weight on the tongue.

I had an adjustable transom extension from another boat laying around so I mounted it on my DS and keep a 2.5, 4 stroke on it. I trailer it that way. It's 90 miles to my favorite sailing lake and 8 miles to the river. No problems. The stink boats do it. I would take the motor off but when it's laid down the wrong way all the oil leaks out of the crankcase. Also when sailing I raise the transom, not the motor, this way I don't have to close the fuel tank vent.

Need to sail more.

Carl

carl10579 wrote:Need to sail more.

Don't we all?

I saw this on another sailing site as a solution for transporting the motor. A 3/8 in piece of plywood can be attached as the motor mount to a spare tire bracket. Mount the bracket on the trailer winch upright post and you now have a place to store the small outboard.
https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Max-EMST ... tire+mount