Let's see your outboard hoist...

[a1fa]

I have a hard time lifting my engine to start it and to lower it in the water. Someone has told me that you can tie it off on a pulley and hoist it with ease.

Do you have such a setup? Please share with us what you did and how you did it, and remember -- pictures or it did not happen.

[Gladrags1]

Yes, you can do that, quite easily. It depends upon where you are storing your outboard and what lifting points you have available. Since you most likely will want to keep your motor on an aft rail, you don't have a lot of options. You need to be able to have a rigid point above your head to lift from, which generally can be a problem. I have rigid davits off my boat's transom but the pulleys were too far aft to allow me to swing the motor onto the rail. In my boat's set-up, due to a fixed bimini, I don't have a lot of room to stand, reach out and grapple the motor in. Plus the friction on the pulley in doing so made that a bad solution.

I ended up buying a used Forespar Motormate lifting davit that attaches to the stern rail and is easily removed. The motor mate has a lifting capacity of 100# which is more than enough for our 4 horsepower motor! This has been a godsend and has made it very easy and safe to raise and lower the outboard. It has a horizontal arm that can be raised or lowered depending upon your needs. It is easy to raise it up and swing it over to the rail and lower on it's mount.

New ones are pretty expensive so look for them used. Try Bacon's in Annapolis if local. Garhauer makes good quality lifting davits that are less expensive than Forespar's. I would have gone with them had I not found a used motormate at a good price.

If you want pictures, you will need to wait some time as we are not set up for cruising yet for the season.

Tod

[FSMike]

I don't understand what you mean by " -- lifting my engine to start it --".
Perhaps pictures would help?

[tommays]

sounds kind of hard on the water pump ?







Turning the motor 90 deg will generaly let you pull the starter rope

[a1fa]

The angle is very bad on the outboard. At first we started it in the water. this creates a lot of tension on the rope against the case and frays the pull rope.

[a1fa]

I really need that EZ button.

[a1fa]

The engine is mounted port side. What picture does not show is how low the outboard mount is. What is even awkward is starting the engine by wrapping a rope around the flywheel. The boom and mast stays are also in the way. I hate them :P

[sailingdog]

How big an outboard are we talking??

[a1fa]

6hp - longshaft :P

[sailingdog]

Is this a dinghy motor or the big boat's motor? What boat do you have??