Hunter Sonata Outboard Bracket

[Swanrad2]

Morning,

I was helping a friend sort out his Sonata on wednesday, it was all going great until his engine failed to start. Looking at it, the problem was beyond his onboard toolkit (£2.99 B&Q). We agreed to take the engine off-lifted it and the sliding bracket it attaches to fell out of the top of it's 'track' (which is kind of ratcheted at the top to allow locking of the engine out of the water) and in it went!

So to the questions:
1. Is this a standard Sonata bracket?
2. Can I still buy him one?
3. The hull appears to be double skinned with no way of bolting a replacement to the transom, are the tracks generally screwed in???
4. Any suggestions?

My friend knows nowt about sailing, so this is absolutely and completely my cock up!

Cheers,

Tony

 

[ianat182]

Have a look on this Reader to Reader thread further down, there are some pictures that may show the bracket you describe;certainly one member mentioned the sliding grooves which needed some stop button to prevent them coming off. Hope you sorted the outboard ,Vic S is the main fountain of knowledge on here for those!!

ianat182

 

[Pye_End]

I did almost exactly the same thing, except I managed to hang on to it. Really hard to recover.

Don't think that it is a special bracket - you can buy similar. All the Sonatas seem to have them. Having said that I can't immediately find a similar one. If you get stuck try the association and I am sure they will point you in the right direction.

Drill and pin the top of the slides. I used cotter pins. Takes 5 minutes, but saves a lot of grief!

Don't recall how to get to that part of the hull. Can you not get to it from under the cockpit floor?

Came close at the time to doing what Vic suggests on the other thread, but in the end learnt to live with it.

 

[aquaplane]

These folk have them:
http://www.marinescene.co.uk/product/3865/plastimo-standard-motor-bracket
A snip at £179.

I think I'll fit a bolt in the top of mine to ensure I keep hold of it.

 

[Lakesailor]

Whilst on the subject, and noting the horrific prices of these brackets, I have a more rudimentary one for sale in the For Sale forum

I don't know what power or weight it will take, but' its very sturdy.

 

[Swanrad2]

£179.99!!!!

I sense a snorkel and wetsuit in my future!!!

Cheers,

Tony

 

[William_H]

Overboard

It is not clear from the op just how much was lost overboard. Was it the motor with bracket attached. Motors should always be attached by an additional rope in case of loss overboard. Sorry a bit late to point that out.
Or was it just the bracket itself ie the motor clamp had been loosened.
From the post it sounds like the bracket has gone. If you were at a jetty or pontoon then this should be recoverable by diving but if you were at sea, then forget it location will not be very exact and it is hard to search a large area. "The ultimate fix for a cranky engine is to drop it overboard."

Regarding motor brackets the type Lakesailor has to sell are OK. However on a lightweight trailer sailer you will find you need to be able to adjust the motor height a lot. On a similar boat (21ft trailer sailer) I have 3 positions on my o/b bracket ranging over about 12 inches of leg height and I use all 3 positions.(with a long shaft motor) You need the lowest for big seas to stop motor lifting out of the water in the waves. You also need the lowest position for when you have a person on the bow anchoring or picking up a mooring etc. Mid position is for normal cruising with 2 or 3 in the cockpit while high position is for more people in the cockpit working on the motor or for sailing. (along with tilting the motor).

The type of bracket I have might be described as swivel down. The wooden mount is attached by 4 metal angles all pivoted so that mid position has bracket supports are horizontal but they pivot up for high down for low. In the mid position it does tend to hang the motor out a long way from transom so creating a large leverage strain on the transom mount.In the up position it comes close to the transom so convenient for starting. This type does not suffer from friction but of course you still have to lift the weight of the motor.

The type you had is a slide up and down on tracks. This is good but tends to suffer friction in the tracks.
You will find both types sold for lots of money. Mine was home made out of aluminium angle about 6mm by 40mm all bolted together with nylon washers. It does need a locking device as engine thrust can tend to lift the bracket. good luck olewill