1987 222 project (She is beat up)

[MikeHall]

I've seen a few threads here saying the transom felt solid but once they dug into it they found it was soaked so planning to replace it is probably a safe bet.

That bracket looks great. It's always nice to have access to nice toys.

I agree, It sure seems rock solid but its better to know than to hope so.

I have access to all kinds of fabrication toys and I myself have plenty to play with but nothing like a water jet or high powered laser. I am going to check with the guy that laser cuts as it may be faster and with better results than the water jet. The laser is a 5 Kilowatt fiber laser so it slices most all metals with ease and with a very nice finish. The biggest issue I will have is welding all this aluminum. I can weld aluminum decent with my tig welder but I will just find someone that knows exactly what they are doing to welding up the very thing that holds my motor on the boat. 

[Capt. Bob]

I am going to eventually install trim tabs so I left plenty of room for them to be mounted.

You may wish to mount the platform flush with the original cut out. Would also add a little extra mounting height adjustment to the motor as well as tab actuator space though I believe they make shorter ones for a tight fit.

[MikeHall]

 

You may wish to mount the platform flush with the original cut out. Would also add a little extra mounting height adjustment to the motor as well as tab actuator space though I believe they make shorter ones for a tight fit.

I was thinking about making the platform a little higher but then thought It would be nice if it was not too far above the water line to make boarding the boat potentially easier. I really drew this platform up to see how much material would be needed and honestly now I can see why they cost so much as they require a lot of aluminum to build. I am going to play around with a few ideas and maybe try to gain some additional buoyancy.

[Capt. Bob]

Boarding (I'm guessing after a swim/dive) is best handled with a ladder. My B Bracket platform had a folding ladder that stowed away under the platform on the port side. Because of the angle that it folded down to in the water, it was (and still is) the easiest boarding ladder I've ever used. To deploy the ladder you reached under the platform and released a catch, let the ladder slide out parallel to the platform and then unfolded. The angle formed was like a stair rather than perpendicular to the platform. I miss that ladder (and the bracket).

Good luck.

[MikeHall]

Boarding (I'm guessing after a swim/dive) is best handled with a ladder. My B Bracket platform had a folding ladder that stowed away under the platform on the port side. Because of the angle that it folded down to in the water, it was (and still is) the easiest boarding ladder I've ever used. To deploy the ladder you reached under the platform and released a catch, let the ladder slide out parallel to the platform and then unfolded. The angle formed was like a stair rather than perpendicular to the platform. I miss that ladder (and the bracket).

Good luck.

I was considering designing some kind of pull out ladder for the bracket. I was wanting to make it an actual part of the bracket that like you said pulled straight out then would hang while in use. It will not be too complicated to design something up and make it an integrated part of the platform. The only thing would be making sure locking mechanism is always secure with no chance or rattling open while under way but that shouldn't be too difficult to come up with.

Just to be sure, I had read that for every 12" offset you move the motor up 1" correct? I have a 24" offset so I move the motor mounting holes up 2". It may not be that important for my project as I will be using a jack plate as well but if the bracket turns out nice others may want one as well and I want the design to work for use with a jack plate or without.

[MikeHall]

Well nothing new on the actual boat but, I did go buy a 2013 suzuki DF175. The problem is I bought it in boxes as it had a valve break and damaged a piston and the head. The cylinder walls look fine. I bought it so cheap that I figured that if I could not get it fixed I would just part it out. Motor only had 960hrs and was very well maintained. I have not been able to find a good used head so I may start searching for someone to weld up and rework this one. Only one valve seat was damaged so it may not be too serious of a repair job for a pro. If anyone here is a suzuki mechanic or knows one I would love to pick someones brain on this motor as I would want to make sure it is freshened up and put back together correctly.

[MikeHall]

After unloading the motor from my truck and doing some more inspecting It looks like the cylinder wall does have some light scoring from chewing on the broke valve. the scoring my be galled aluminum which may clean off but if not I think I am going to go ahead and punch out all the cylinders to the oversize piston suzuki offers and rebuild this motor right. I have talked to a few different machine shops and the cylinder head can be repaired and I am guessing being labor alone is $400 I would end up with about $800 or so with parts needed to get it back to good condition. I am going to make a choice on who does the head first of the week and get that part of the engine back ready to bolt on. 

[RickK]

I'm no motorhead but that doesn't look good.....

[MikeHall]

Oh its not good but very repairable. The key is to find out why the valve broke in the first place. I think possibly the "scaring" in the cylinder is actually aluminum which can be cleaned off and a light hone will have the cylinder in good shape. I have yet to confirm that the "scaring" is not int he cast iron sleeve but I think it is as you can see cross hatch under the "scaring" still. I am hoping it is just some galled aluminum on the cylinder wall. Whatever the case, I will expect to have less than $4000 in the motor and the good thing is I will know exactly what I have when buying used you can not be so sure.

[MikeHall]

I pulled the console and fuel tank today. I think this hull is going to be in need of a rebuild right now. I am putting up a 18x30 temporary shelter over the boat then I am going to start cutting the floor and transom out. No point in trying to patch it up just to have to totally tear it back down later. The fuel tank is massive. I didn't recall that these boats had 80 gallon tanks but I guess they did. There is some corrosion where the straps were but I think it will be fine if I clean them and treat those areas with someone to keep the corrosion from continuing. I may even cut the tank down to about 60 gallons so it inst almost 8ft long anymore. 

I should have a good used head and piston/rod on the big brown truck today. I am going to lightly hone the cylinder and double check my specs which are right now are well within suzuki's allowable range. I honestly have about 2 thousands to play with so even a good through hone job should still keep me well within the specs. I will update on this as this portion of the project progresses as well.

[MikeHall]

With the onset of a full on rebuild I have a question about outboard brackets. First off being a complete transom rebuild is in order I was thinking about just building the transom bracket as part of the hull and tying into the stringer system. Would there be any reason to not run a transom bracket other than possible needing the boat as compact as possible? Would a correctly built in bracket devalue the boat or not really effect it at all? I think having an incorporated transom bracket would not only look nice but also be stronger and even more durable over time with the lack of possible entrapment of water between hardware and the bracket itself. My reasoning is if I am going to rebuild the transom I might as well rebuild it with the bracket incorporated into it and just be sure to tie the whole system into the stringer system. Honestly unless there is some reason this is a horrible idea I am going to go about it this route. Please give me your feedback... It will be a few weeks before I start hacking on things to get the floor and transom out so I am giving you plenty of time to talk me out of it. 

[mshugg]

A well designed and constructed integral bracket should not be a problem in terms of the value and function of the boat.  It's probably best to put value aside.  Rebuilds rarely sell for what we spend building them.  Just build what you want, and will be happy with into the foreseeable future.  Only downsides I see are: your design construction and engineering need to be up to the task, and your trading time for money.

[MikeHall]

Design and engineering are my favorite things and this bracket will be easy breezy compared to previous projects. Of course something of this nature that is not ultra weight sensitive I would tend to way over engineer/build. I was going to build an aluminum bracket before I discoverer that the transom does have some rot even though it seems extremely solid.  I think now with a complete rebuild in order I will build a nice mold for the bracket and kill two birds with one stone and honestly have a better outcome in the long run. I have not found any integrated brackets on these boats and i figured mostly because a lot of people go with this way over priced prota brackets. Anyone have any links to building an integrated bracket?

[mshugg]

I think there are a couple of Bertrams over on Bateau2 and a Seacract stretch on The Hull Truth.  There’s at least one on this site, a 222 CCP,I think.  I don’t think that one was finished though.

[Tampa Bay Mike]

I definitely don't think it's a horrible idea. I thought about doing it myself but ended up changing my mind because; first, there is a lot more to it on the engineering and structural side than I originally thought and I honestly just don't have that expertise. Second, I had already sealed up the transom before I thought about doing it and didn't want to cut it back open to tie it all together. And third, I knew that by the time I purchased enough extra glass, epoxy, and core that I would need to overbuild it enough to be comfortable with it, I would have almost as much into it as a comparably built bracket.

All that being said. If things were just a little different, I would be crazy enough to do it.