Saving Old Seagulls

can anyone help. ihave 11ft 6in fibreglass boat 4ft 6ins beam. ave wieght my problem is i have a silver century with clutch long shaft. the transom is 14in high could i add another 5in to hight. would it make the boat unstable. i relise the motor is a bit big for the boat but thats all i got i have not used this boat & motor yet. any advice would be very helpfull cheers. tractor boy53

I've seen one on a 11 footer with a 15 inch transom. The owner had loosened the pivot collar at the base of the crankcase and lifted the motor several inches higher than usual, without adding any height to the transom.
Looked a little odd because of the engine head higher than usual, but seemed to work without affecting handling.
I have a standard Silver Century on my boat on a 15 inch transom, and even if I raised the engine on its pivot bushing a few inches, the head would still be of normal height. Of course having a standard Gull, I wouldn't have to do this (just imagining if I had to).
Here in Canada you often see 11 footers pushed by 9.9hp and 15 hp outboards, so I don't think your 4-5hp Silver would be over-powering the boat. Myself I wouldn't modify the boat transom at all. Another advantage too of having a higher motor head would be to help avoid water splashing and shorting the spark plug.

Here's one where the owner just used an extension collar on the motor shaft under the crankcase...so that the engine doesn't slip back down after loosening the steering pressure bushing... http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... iVW78&NR=1

Buy yourself a stainless steel hose clamp and wrap it around the drive shaft tube and adjust your engine height to suit.

http://youtu.be/dPtbXb0CZl8

1650bullet wrote:Buy yourself a stainless steel hose clamp and wrap it around the drive shaft tube and adjust your engine height to suit.

http://youtu.be/dPtbXb0CZl8

You'd think it would capsize the boat, but no it works quite well...just looks a little weird

Yes as you posted B4 you think it would. But its only a british seagull so what power it has would not make any effect. Keeps the motor high and dry as well.

Why don't you sell yours and get a correct size one or if your handy you can cut it down shorter
wont look right too high up .... imo

Correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't the Century +, have the thicker diameter drive shaft tube that reduces where the clamp fits at the top, so it will be very difficult if not impossible to raise the height of the motor by the methods suggested, leaving the questioner having to build up the transom, a simple job that will have little effect on the stability of his boat.

Opps Forgot about that stepdown

thanks to everyone for replys.
but as i have boat out of the water doing some minor repairs and a paint job i think i will raise transom about 4in.
and hope the boat will be stable. i will only be pike & perch fishing in the margins of loch conn, water not to deep there hence the reason for keeping the prop up as much as possible.