TI outboard mount

https://youtu.be/B4yj2jpDBXM
Hopefully this link will work, Here’s mine. mcoop571 on YouTube.

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'09 Adventure Island (SOLD)
2017 Tandem Island

The track is just 3/4 t-track from amazon. Just bent a piece of HDPE, mounted with 2 1/4" ss screws, and a couple of holes routed in so the existing luggage bungees hold it in place. The tail end is also angle outward to help direct water away. I had since found a heavy duty marine track in the city. If I like the setup, I may replace it with the marine stuff and re-purpose the existing. To mitigate the splashing, I just built a splash guard in pics below. Hopefully it works. Might have to follow Stringy's advice and block the mount too (I bet he is right). Thinking I might have to put more angle on the mount also. Hopefully out for a test tomorrow.

Was out sailing yesterday and today. Motored yesterday, and found the splash guard did a pretty good job of keeping water out, even in very rough water. Also sailing in good wind today (got 10 knots out of boat), and with wind coming on my starboard - beam reach, the transom does not drag in water so I am happy with that. Only mod I want to do is give the transom a bit more angle.

Hi mcoop57,
Have been sizing your mount up too. I see you have the mount up a bit higher than mine like Stringy recommended. I was figuring if I keep the prop deeper in the water, there may be less splashing, but haven't experimented to see if that 'holds water', so to speak. My mount is much farther ahead than yours as I didn't want to loose that luggage space. However that meant I had to imitate Stretch Armstrong to get the backing plate and nuts in there (younger readers might not know the toy Stretch Armstrong lol). My back is not as young as it used to be, or even should be, so having the motor closer to the rear seat makes it easy for me to turn around and start it plus I have the throttle in a comfortable position. My biggest disappointment is the discontinued manufacturing to the 2 stroke. That 2.5 Yamaha is as big as a 4hp 2 stroke, and it is still polluting (not sure its any better that a 2 stroke), and does not seem much quieter.

Hello Mr. Yakallday. My first attempt at a motor mount was in the same position as yours,(I was so happy that it worked). I have finally settled on my present position by my third rebuild. As I remember it, I wasn’t happy with the noise or splashing with the motor being that close to me, and the first mount was kinda flimsy. Also, it is great fun to make a throttle extension and pilot the boat from the front seat. With the motor on the starboard side, you can steer the boat with your left hand and control the speed with your right.
I’m pretty sure there is less “splashing” and much more forward efficiency with the motor up off the gunwale as high as possible, (somewhere close to 8.5”), and here’s something else for you to have a look at, mount your motor and go stand about ten feet straight behind your kayak. Try to envision the motor force, as it relates to the water flow coming around your hull. Now, in your mind, move the motor way back to where Stringy and I have ours mounted (possible ah-ha moment). Hopefully, you will notice that the “force” generated by the prop can be moved much closer to the centerline of the boat, which just has to be a more efficient position. So just to throw out some numbers here, from a birds eye position, your prop now is probably about 18” from the centerline of the boat. If you moved it as far aft as practical, you could cut that down to about 12”. If you want to “quiet” the thing down you will just have to add some beef somewhere (unfortunately). Having said all that, your mount looks Very Good and will likely work fine for you for years to come. Thanks for the comment.

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'09 Adventure Island (SOLD)
2017 Tandem Island

Thought about moving it back when I was building it. But, I tend to not use it at all except for a few port entry cases (tide moving in a narrow entrance). Where its located now means I can start it without twisting too much. I just putter along, just over 1/4 throttle is fine. Used it today coming into port against tide and waves, still never went much more than 1/4 throttle. It just slides through the water.

Yep, those little 4 stroke outboards are pretty dependable.

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The RIGID RAIL Accessory Mounting System is coming to a Hobie near you soon.

Variable Speed Electra Drive System Designed by: Phil Krug.https://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=62295&p=298578#p298578

Stringy said earlier that when motoring, the TI goes a little faster with your wieght in the front seat vs the back seat. Well.. I needed to run the Suziki 2.5 since it had not been started since last April so went out yesterday and duplicated that same test.

And.. the TI is a little faster from the front seat but by only a slight amount. What I did was to set the throttle to about 1/2 which is cruising at sort of the higher end speed wise of what I normally run at. I have a GPS/fishfinder mounted on the boat and I know the speed reading will jump around so for both the front and back speed measurements, I took a bunch of readings and then averaged them. I made a attempt to keep everything constant except the front to back seat and also took care to accurately measure speed. I think it was a good test.

Results.. TI is a 2015 and I weigh around 205 pnds
Rear seat 5.83 knots
Front seat 6.18 knots
Delta is .35 knots - faster from the front seat.

The front seat is faster by about 6 percent! Im not going to start sitting in the front seat now to motor as that is not really much and I could have just clicked up the throttle if that little bit of speed were important. Plus the hassle of moving back and forth.

What is more interesting about that is that in light wind, and for in the range of my weight, the 2015 hull may be a little less drag when sailed from the front seat - and the boat would be faster. However, I think the TI has a lot better control (and a lot dryer) when sailed from the back seat when the wind picks up so Im not changing anything. But. it is interesting.

I haven't moved my motor mount since the first post in this thread - its just behind me. That spot is a little better weight wise and the closer access to the motor was nice since it took a few pulls to get the outboard started after sitting for likely four months. But simply getting the outboard away from your head even a few feet makes a difference for noise level as can be easily noticed by just leaning forward. Anyhow.. happy with that location.

Took some pictures from yesterday. With the motor forward, you need a splash guard and you can see mine doing a perfect job of keeping water off the rear round hatch. My hull was bone dry after the sailing and motoring day.

And a couple more pictures from yesterday (South Park Colorado)

Good to get that confirmation Walt.
I get a bit better improvement of around 1/2 knot on the Speedpuck when motoring solo and moving to the front seat. I weigh 175lbs, my TI is a 2010 and my motor sits further back.

I get the best speeds sailing when hiked out on my haka.
Two up -sitting just aft of the front seat.
Solo -sitting further back, opposite the rear footwell, which is why I cantilevered the end of my V3 haka.

I am pretty much on board with Walt. Top speed not so much a priority, as long as I get back. I find there is a lot of splashing (I have to make splash guards for the bow this week) when motoring directly into the wind with big waves. Sitting in back helps a bit. It may be ok on a dead calm day like the pics he submitted, but then I am happy taking my time relaxing lol. Splash guard, I agree, really helps.

Well, I have been learneded goodly again . Stringy was right in an earlier post about my transom height. While it was no issue sailing alone or even two people before now, 2 days this weekend I found out the wet way that it does need to be raised. It was only certain conditions, but true. Easy mod to make, but that's what happens when I ask for advice and ignore it (sorry Stringy). Had a great weekend of 3 days sailing non the less .

I kind of dismissed the .35 knot difference I get when running the outboard and moving from the rear seat to the front.

But.. if you had that much difference between boats sailing... its very significant.

With a conventional monohull sailboat, you dont want to put weight on the transom. I know some racing boats like the J24 are required to carry an outboard by the fleet rules but the outboard is stored inside the cabin while sailing because they dont want that weight on the transom.

So.. Stringy and I are a little different in weight but the Suziki outboard is 30 pnds and I think most of these AL motor mounts come in around 7 pounds. So the total of the outboard and bracket plus some gas might be just under 40 pounds.

My outboard is approximately 15 inches forward of where Stringy has his. Assuming our cruising speeds are similar, I saw .35 knts difference moving back to front seat. Stringy saw .5 knts doing the same thing, constant outboard throttle and moving from the back to front seat.

I think this imply's that having the combined pilot plus outboard weight on the boat a little better centered front to back has less hull drag. This would be hard to actually verify but does the data just described mean that putting the outboard weight so far back would make the boat sail a little slower during times when the outboard is raised? Ie, placing the outboard more forward and just behind the rear seat would result in a faster sailing boat especially if you sail from the back seat. Similar to trailerable mono hull sailboats.. you want to keep the transom light weight??

???

Another variable I notice from your pics Walt is that you have the drive in whilst sailing, whereas I never have the drive in. Actually since adding the motor I only carry one drive ...and it’s dismantled so it fits in the forward hatch as emergency backup only.

Sorry to hear that YYaD and no need to apologise. I had hoped because your mount sat further forward that it might have been a bit less exposed to wave action.
Like yours, our lower mount was OK most of the time but it only took one trip in the wrong conditions to realise it needed to be lifted. That trip the Suzuki motor got splashed so much I wondered whether it would stall, but it never missed a beat!