Association Forum - How To: Motor Off/On Boat

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

How To: Motor Off/On Boat

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

KD4AO
Navigator

Member Avatar

USA
202 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/11/2007 : 09:47:15

If this has already been discussed then I apologize for being inept with search.
With a Honda 9.9 Electric Start hanging on the back of my C250 and wanting to get an annual service which requires removing the motor from the boat and realizing that it weighs 110-120 lbs., the question is "how to get it off and back on" without it going swimming. The boat is at my dock and a marina is not very close. I would like to take the motor to a Honda shop. Any (good) ideas? Thanks. Bob

Bob Townsend

Past C250 Chief Measurer
Past owner of:
C250WK #704
Honda 9.9

Punta Gorda, Fl.

Have a Great Sail!

Edited by - on

Sloop Smitten
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1181 Posts

Response Posted - 10/11/2007 : 10:00:12

Bob,
Back the boat up to the dock and secure it.
Attach a safety line to the motor.
Standing on the dock, lift the motor off and set it on the dock.
Detach the safety line.
Utilizing another set of hands will make it much easier and safe.

Edited by - on

Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 10/11/2007 : 10:04:34

As with most things it depends on your situation. My slip is a bow in slip with a V at the front, I simply back my boat in the slip and am able to lift it straight off while standing on the dock. I have a cheap two wheel dolly/hand truck from Harbor Freight which has a 2x4 mounted up high enough that I can swing the motor off the boat and onto the hand truck and simply roll it to my car. I have used this dolly and water muffs to run my motor on the hard as well, the dolly is a good investment. You don't really need to take the motor off the dolly at the vehicle either, jut tip the dolly handle back into the bed and lift and shove. Assuming you have an SUV or truck or van or something like most of we sailors drive.
My hand truck looks like this.

Edited by - on

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3429 Posts

Response Posted - 10/11/2007 : 11:13:43

Some of the things you can do with the motor on the boat if you are careful. I changed the oil filter, oil and gas filter with the motor on the boat. I purchased one of those vacuum pumps and pumped the oil out. Actually, the mechanic at the marina where I purchased my Honda recommended that. The lower unit is another thing. Inorder to change that oil, motor has to be off the boat ...well not always. I had my boat in the maintenance yard for a week getting the bottom painted and so I changed the lower unit oil with the motor on the boat but boat out of the water. I did not change the pump impeller or the spark plugs. The notor is now 1 1/2 yrs old and so I will probably change the spark plugs this or next month. I am going to wait on the pump impeller till next year this time. my feeling is that the motor gets a lot less use on a sailboat versus a motorboat and so the impeller has had less hours on it and probably is okay.

If taking the motor off, may want to see if there is a helper or marina assistant that can help you lift it off the bracket after you have set the boat with the dock lines so the motor is real close to the dock. Then you can, if careful, possibly use one of the rolling carts that many marinas have for people to bring there stuff to the boat...place it on that ensuring it does not slip off and the motor end stays higher than the lower end. Also, the Honda motor has flats on one side of the casing. that is the side that you lay down. If you lay the motor down on the other side, it supposedly can allow the engine oil to seep out of the reservoir and cause troube for your motor.

Edited by - on

Renzo
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
621 Posts

Response Posted - 10/11/2007 : 12:02:37

What I do is similar to what Sloop Smitten and Frank do; but after backing the boat in to the well, if I don't have any help, I tie a rope around the head of the motor to make a connection point for my boom vang. Then, I attach the other end of the vang to the backstay above the inverted "V" of the backstay tension adjuster and use the vang to lift the motor until the head of the motor (the heaviest part) is above the dock. Then, I use one hand to control the vang and the other to wrestle the motor onto the dock while I lower it with the vang. I know that this seems a little complicated but if the water is low and the dock is high and you don't have help it gets the job done without wrenching your back out. I also have a hand cart that I use for transpot and storage.

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 10/11/2007 : 12:09:36

Garhauer lifting davit

Edited by - on

bear
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
909 Posts

Response Posted - 10/11/2007 : 12:39:20

Bob, Last year a sailboater furthur down the docks from mine decided he needed to take his motor off for service [mid-season]. He came up and asked me if I would give him a hand. Not comfortable with 20
feet of water underneath we pulled the boat into shore turned it around and lfted the motor off in knee deep water. Then pulled the boat back out to its dock. Wasn't around to help put it back on. JMTCW...

Edited by - on

Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 10/11/2007 : 13:15:16

My goal is to never remove the Honda 9.9 we have. You can do all of the stuff that the shop does unless there is an actual mechanical breakdown.

With our C22 we did remove a motor once - to sell it. We did the back-up-to-the-dock thing like everyone else. In our case we could tilt the OB and it actually extended over the dock making things even easier.

Don, that picture you posted has an old Evinrude 2hp outboard in it. I just bought one on ebay (1982, 22 lbs).

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 10/11/2007 : 13:16:14

Bob,
I've successfully used the "back in and secure to the dock" method a couple of times as suggested by Sloop Smitten. Be sure to use a safety line on the engine just in case you slip or whatever, better to be able to just let go if something goes awry than trying to hold onto 120# of something you don't want anymore. I think if I were doing it with an engine that heavy I'd want to either have some extra hands around, or use mechanical advantage like what Renzo suggests. Mine is a 2 stroke so it doesn't weigh as much, fairly easy to manhandle by myself.

Edited by - on

dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 10/11/2007 : 14:07:40

Don't know about the C250, but with the mount in the up position and my C25 backed in to my slip, the motor was high enough (waist high) that when I lifted it off the mount, the cavitation plate was right at the edge of the dock. It was easy to rest the motor there momentarily while I adjusted my grip, caught my breath, etc, before laying it down on the dock to untie the safety line.

Edited by - on

piseas
Former Treasurer

Members Avatar

USA
2017 Posts

Response Posted - 10/11/2007 : 18:05:05

Bob, all good answers. I am facing the same situation with that time of year. My dealer will come to my slip, remove the engine, take back to shop for work and return motor. He charges $40 for removal and return-shop work extra of course. To me, that is worth it.

Edited by - on

KD4AO
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
202 Posts

Response Posted - 10/12/2007 : 12:26:17

Thanks all for the good ideas. I wasn't sure about supporting the engine weight from the backstay or end of the boom, but it should hold OK. I can't really back into my slip because the water is too shallow up next to the sea wall but I could back up to the end of the finger dock and secure the stearn cleats to the dock. I have decided to wait until next spring when I stop sailing for the summer to have the lower unit oil changed. The motor is an 04 and the hours are low. The Honda shop is going to do an oil and filter change at the dock next week, then I'm back sailing. Finally got a day below 90, time to go sailing in beautiful Charlotte Harbor.

Edited by - on

jerlim
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1484 Posts

Response Posted - 10/12/2007 : 12:47:57

I put a rolling hitch onto the piling at the end of the finger slip, tied a sling around the motor housing and used the boom vang as a block and fall (w/ it's locking cams) between the rolling hitch and sling, to take the weight, lift and then land onto a hand truck. Same thing for reinstalling. Was able to single hand the whole operation.

Edited by - on

bbriner
Captain

Members Avatar

349 Posts

Response Posted - 10/12/2007 : 20:01:23

Sorry if this is self-evident but just a reminder: If you lay the engine down (in the back of your truck or whatever) be sure to lay the engine on the correct side (if you're not sure check your manual to confirm which side to lay it on). Laying it on the wrong side could turn a routine maintenance project into something more.

Edited by - on

Oscar
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
2030 Posts

Response Posted - 10/15/2007 : 18:58:27

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">You can do all of the stuff that the shop does unless there is an actual mechanical breakdown.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

(in the water) With the exception of changing the oil in the lower drive.

Edited by - Oscar on 10/15/2007 18:59:05

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.