Hi Mark,
Sorry about the vagueness, I know this sort of comment isn't much help without some detail. It wasn't my boat and also not one that stuck in my head, but it's near me in the yard so I will try to get that info, as well as the model of diesel the SolidNav replaced.
I agree with you, if there were too much material, trimming is easy. In this owner's case, there was not enough material -- that is, the distance between his stringers was wider than the widest stance of the Solidnav "feet". You could have one "foot" down on one stringer, but the other "foot" would miss the opposite stringer.
Our first thought was to bridge the gap with plywood, g10, or aluminum. But you can't bridge it completely, because in his installation he needed the SolidNav to lower between its "feet" to meet up with his existing shaft. So he has to thicken his stringers inboard somehow, but leave a gap wide enough for the SolidNav to take its little elevator down a floor or two.
I suggested cutting G10 to fit the silhouette of his stringer and glassing them in longitudinally, clamped to the stringer, until the distance had been eaten up. When I left him he was thinking of lag-bolting a plate to the top of the stringer, a plate that didn't go all the way across, but just came into the space enough to support the SolidNav "feet". I didn't like that idea, because it looks to me like a first-class lever attempting to pull lag bolts out of original (i.e. condition unknown) material. But I'm not an engineer and he is, so maybe it'll work great. Our other idea was to through-bolt aluminum angle bars to the stringers, but the outboard face of the stringers was inaccessible.
Anyway, it's not a huge job, but he is probably going to have to break out some epoxy and glass, and in terms of complexity and cost of materials, I think it's on the same order as doing the fabrication from scratch with known-new materials and no constraints that arise from committing to old architecture. I'm not saying just as much work, just on the same order. Seems to me that part of what he was paying for was the belief that he could install onto his existing stringers (maybe he should have downloaded the drawings?)
I'll try to get the boat type and engine next time I am at the yard.
Paul
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "acsarfkram" <acsarfkram@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Paul,
>
> You said you had trouble installing a SolidNav motor. What was the trouble? What was the boat?
>
> On my Ericson 27 I had to trim about 1/4" off of the port side of the engine mounting block. Took maybe 15 minutes to do it.
>
> Mark
> Santa Cruz
>
> --- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "tartan27hull157" <tartan27hull157@> wrote:
> >
> > Doug -- thanks much! This is very similar to what I am thinking of putting in my T27, the pictures are a great help!
> >
> > I can't quite see, is there reduction? From the angle of the motor it looks like it is bolted directly to what looks like a sort of bellhousing integrated with the pillow block...so, is it direct-drive? Or perhaps there are gears or a belt I can't see.
> >
> > I have a longer shaft alley, so my plan was to put the motor aft of the forward end of the prop shaft (above the prop shaft). The prop shaft and drive shaft would penetrate a plate which supports both the thrust bearing (below) and the motor (above), with a toothed belt running about 2:1 between them. Like you, I was going to mount this whole "sled" on rubber engine mounts, though I wasn't sure how much need there would be for dampening. My A4 didn't seem to vibrate much, and I have the shaft out to get it checked by a prop shop...I may replace it, as well as the prop (obviously, I am out of the water...if memory serves, you did your conversion in the water?).
> >
> > Anyway, thanks again for the detailed info and appreciate any thoughts you have on the design of the mounts. I looked into "drop-in" replacements and even helped another guy in the yard "drop in" his SolidNav Explorer...it didn't exactly "drop in," so I am still pretty interested in fabricating a solution specific to the space available.
> >
> > Take care and happy sailing, Paul
> >
> > --- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "Doug" <dj2210@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Thanks and yes I have 4 rubber mounts which you should be able to see under my photos. I didn't spend too much time in the alignment stages just made it connect to the coupler. My atomic four also had a vibration (although not as bad) so I'm wondering if the prop shaft is bent or not balanced.
> > >
> > > --- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, tartan27hull157@ wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Doug-congrats on your first e-sail! Curious about your vibration issue. Do you have any dampening installed? I am looking at the same motor/controller combo and am trying to figure out best way to mount it.
> > > > Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: "Doug" <dj2210@>
> > > > Sender: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
> > > > Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2010 02:17:24
> > > > To: <electricboats@yahoogroups.com>
> > > > Reply-To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
> > > > Subject: [Electric Boats] Catalina Conversion First Try
> > > >
> > > > Installed the Cycle Analyst this afternoon and since the wind was up decided I needed to sail. This is the first time that I've had a chance to try out what I spent time and money on. This is what I observed with my iPhone gps 5.4mph(4.6knts) @70amps. 50amps produced 4.5 mph. Battery consumption for the time the motor was on used 22ah.
> > > > The controller (Kelly) temperature was slightly warm and the motor (Mars PMAC) was very warm. I didn't have a temp gauge but I could put my hand on the motor for a few seconds until I needed to let go.
> > > > I do have some issues with vibration which I'll have to correct and it is louder than I expected producing a loud whine.
> > > > Whats nice is just flipping a switch to run it- no water, fuel or smell.
> > > > Doug
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > > Yahoo! Groups Links
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
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