WAY OT--How To Remove OB Motor From Boat?

[Ulysses]

Probably more OT than "sex moves" and I could not find an active boat group
and Google found nothing and there seems to be some experienced boaters in
this group, so here goes...

I have an 18' fiberglas runabout with a rotten transom. The motor is a
Mercury 1150 (115 HP). Anyone have any suggestion on how to remove the
motor? It looks like the housing is designed to attach four hooks or
whatever so it can be hoisted up off the boat but my Seloc manual seems to
say nothing about "installation" so I figure I'd better ask so I don't end
up with a broken transom AND a broken motor.

BTW the transom looks like it may have been designed to be repaired, at
least there are removable aluminum strips along the transom and it was not
fiberglassed over like the rest of the boat. Anyone have any tips on
transom repair? This boat is a Fletcher made in England in about 1974.
Yes, I even checked the UK boat groups.

Thanks.

 

[Bruce in alaska]

Probably more OT than "sex moves" and I could not find an active boat group
and Google found nothing and there seems to be some experienced boaters in
this group, so here goes...

I have an 18' fiberglas runabout with a rotten transom. The motor is a
Mercury 1150 (115 HP). Anyone have any suggestion on how to remove the
motor? It looks like the housing is designed to attach four hooks or
whatever so it can be hoisted up off the boat but my Seloc manual seems to
say nothing about "installation" so I figure I'd better ask so I don't end
up with a broken transom AND a broken motor.

BTW the transom looks like it may have been designed to be repaired, at
least there are removable aluminum strips along the transom and it was not
fiberglassed over like the rest of the boat. Anyone have any tips on
transom repair? This boat is a Fletcher made in England in about 1974.
Yes, I even checked the UK boat groups.

Thanks.

We use a Forklift with 2X4's on the forks, and just lift them off
after undoing the Mounting Bolts.

 

[Ulysses]

how about parking under a tree and hooking a com-a-long or two to it and
winching it up and out?

My nearest tree is 500' from my house. I was thinking I could use a
block-and-tackle or something and suspend it from the garage joists but they
don't look strong enough. I could not find the weight of my motor but I
might guess a few hundred pounds. Plus I'm still not sure if the holes
around the motor case are intended for lifting it. I can see how the fork
lift would work but then I may as well take it to someone but first I want
to see if I can do it myself. I think I could probably use my garage if I
add some temporary supports. In any case it may be left hanging there for a
few weeks so it's going to have to be very secure.

 

[Vaughn Simon]

In any case it may be left hanging there for a
few weeks so it's going to have to be very secure.

Not really, because you can lower it to the ground until you are ready to
reinstall it.

The last time I needed to hoist something that heavy (it was a generator), I
purchased three big wooden beams. I postholed two of them in the ground just
under 8 feet apart and fastened the other one across the top. I used a plain
'ole cable hoist to do the heavy lifting. (In your case, two of them might be a
better idea. Fasten each of them about 18" out from the center of your
crossbeam.)
[/QUOTE][/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
Nothing personal, but if you are posting through Google Groups I may not receive
your message. Google refuses to control the flood of spam messages originating
in their system, so on any given day I may or may not have Google blocked. Try
a real NNTP server & news reader program and you will never go back. All you
need is access to an NNTP server (AKA "news server") and a news reader program.
You probably already have a news reader program in your computer (Hint: Outlook
Express). Assuming that your Usenet needs are modest, use
http://news.aioe.org/ for free and/or http://www.teranews.com/ for a one-time
$3.95 setup fee.
Will poofread for food.

 

[Martin Riddle]

| Probably more OT than "sex moves" and I could not find an active boat group
| and Google found nothing and there seems to be some experienced boaters in
| this group, so here goes...
|
| I have an 18' fiberglas runabout with a rotten transom. The motor is a
| Mercury 1150 (115 HP). Anyone have any suggestion on how to remove the
| motor? It looks like the housing is designed to attach four hooks or
| whatever so it can be hoisted up off the boat but my Seloc manual seems to
| say nothing about "installation" so I figure I'd better ask so I don't end
| up with a broken transom AND a broken motor.
|
| BTW the transom looks like it may have been designed to be repaired, at
| least there are removable aluminum strips along the transom and it was not
| fiberglassed over like the rest of the boat. Anyone have any tips on
| transom repair? This boat is a Fletcher made in England in about 1974.
| Yes, I even checked the UK boat groups.
|
| Thanks.
|
|

I've taken an Iron Duke out of a Renkin, Fashioned a Wooden horse out of 2x10's with a block and tackle.
Boat was on a trailer, just made it over the transom with the tires flat.Dunno how heavy it was, guessing 200 lb or
something.

Cheers

 

[Ulysses]

Got a pickup truck? Can you back the tailgate under (or near enough) to
the engine and then block it and jack it up? Then it could just hang out
in your truck

It would also help me get through the really deep mud!

I'm gonna have to think about that one for a while. Somehow the picture is
not yet clear in my mind....

 

[Ulysses]

| Probably more OT than "sex moves" and I could not find an active boat group
| and Google found nothing and there seems to be some experienced boaters in
| this group, so here goes...
|
| I have an 18' fiberglas runabout with a rotten transom. The motor is a
| Mercury 1150 (115 HP). Anyone have any suggestion on how to remove the
| motor? It looks like the housing is designed to attach four hooks or
| whatever so it can be hoisted up off the boat but my Seloc manual seems to
| say nothing about "installation" so I figure I'd better ask so I don't end
| up with a broken transom AND a broken motor.
|
| BTW the transom looks like it may have been designed to be repaired, at
| least there are removable aluminum strips along the transom and it was not
| fiberglassed over like the rest of the boat. Anyone have any tips on
| transom repair? This boat is a Fletcher made in England in about 1974.
| Yes, I even checked the UK boat groups.
|
| Thanks.
|
|

I've taken an Iron Duke out of a Renkin, Fashioned a Wooden horse out of

2x10's with a block and tackle.

Boat was on a trailer, just made it over the transom with the tires

flat.Dunno how heavy it was, guessing 200 lb or

something.

Cheers

Thanks for all the suggestions. The overall consensus seems to be to build
a structure to support it and to hoist it up. Since nobody addressed the
issue of where to put the load on the engine housing while lifting then it
must be as obvious as it looks.

When I installed my inverters (two OB 3600 watters plus AC and DC panels and
autotransformer and misc hardware--shipping weight 500 pounds though that
was an exaggeration) I installed two big eyebolts in the joists (?) that go
on top of the studs, tested some poly line (one held me easily) for
strength, attached the inverter assembly to the ropes, ran them through the
eyebolts, and attached the ropes to my trailer ball on my Explorer. It was
easy to get it right where I wanted it on my wall. I might be able to do
something similar with the outboard. No doubt those eyebolts said "Not For
Overhead Lifting" but well, you know....

 

[Ulysses]

Be careful there. I know someone who pulled down a goodly chunk of his garage
ceiling while lifting a car engine using a come-a-long attached to an eye bolt
and joist. The joist broke and down came everything. It didn't do his car
much good either.

I know someone (me) who broke several floor joists with a water bed too, but
that's a different story

If you're going to lift like that, get yourself a goodly sized timber - a 6X6,
6 or 8 ft long or a log of equivalent size, take it up in the attic over the
garage and lay it across the joists. Then run your eyebolt into that. Even
better, loop some chain over the timber and let it hang down through a hole in
the ceiling sheet rock.

I was thinking of something along those lines plus a couple of 4X4s or
bigger for some additional support.

I was absolutely certain that my lifting technique would work (well, 99.9%
anyway) with my inverters as the assembly cost me over $6000. I'm not sure
how much a 30 year old outboard motor is worth but I've seen entire boats
with trailer and similar motors supposedly in usable condition selling for
under $2000.

I've swapped many an engine using that method. Frankly, I like it better than
I do an engine crane. Engine cranes are so clumsy and the legs seem to always
want to be exactly where the wheels or jack stands are

Someone suggested one of those and even gave me a nice link to one at Harbor
Freight so it's a consideration plus I may be getting a "free" Mitsubishi
4X4 pickup today and I might need to pull the engine out of it so I'll just
have to see if it'll be worth spending the $200 on the crane. Trying to
rent tools where I live gets very complicated.

 

[Ulysses]

I have one of each, shop crane + pickup bed crane + tripod + shear
legs + lift tables, etc, to make up for a bad back. They were mostly
bought second hand and repaired, or cobbled together. The shop crane
is best on pavement where tripod legs can slide, and the easiest to
move when you install the engine. If you weld you can use it as a
positioner and always weld flat. I used mine to lift heavy hand-hewn
oak beams for the frames of outbuildings. My pickup would have rusted
out years ago if I didn't remove the bed with the crane every few
years to patch it.

The tripod was made from the cheapest new material, three 2" chain
link fence posts, and it's the only one I can carry any distance
through the bush. I use it for cutting firewood, to lift the tree
trunks waist high rather than bend over.

That's definately something I could use too. I don't actually cut down any
trees here but often some really big branches fall and they are too much to
pick up to get them into position for cutting.

The shear legs are the best low-cost heavy lifter but they need a
solid anchor on both sides and are difficult to erect. If you caught
the do-it-yourself Egyptian obelisk show on PBS, they were misusing
shear legs to set it up. Shear legs are two pipes or timbers bolted
together at the top, which is much easier than joining three at angles
for a tripod. They will pick up a load on one side and swing it to the
other smoothly no matter how rough or soft the ground is. I use them
to load logs onto my sawmill. They take the most rigging skill to
operate.

Good ol' old technology. Maybe I could build a pyramid with all of the huge
granite boulders I have... I'm going to have to look that one up cause I am
not getting a clear picture in my head but I think I get the general
concept--pivots and levers.

If you put larger wheels and a hitch on the crane you can use it as a
self-loading trailer and drive it anywhere the ground will support it.
I added larger steel wheels on fixed axles at the hook end and a
trailer tongue jack with outrigger wheels at the mast. Mine is a
Hoosier which isn't made like the imports so I can't tell you exactly
how to modify them.

If I worked indoors I'd put in an overhead beam like John suggested,
with floor posts on the ends and two more temporary ones near the
load.

Jim Wilkins

Thanks for the very detailed and thorough tips!