Bracket & Enclosing Transom Value Destructive?
 

I have a 1998 23 Silver King hull and am beginning the process of re-powering from the original pair of Merc 150 EFI Offshores. I'll hopefully end up with a set of Yamaha F150s and, given the added weight, put them on a bracket (Hermco?) and enclose the transom. My question here arises from a conversation with the local Yamaha dealer (he's also a Grady dealer), who was avidly of the opinion that in these boats, every time you make significant modifications to these hulls, you devalue them in the resale markets. Thus, he was strongly advising me not to take that route.

There are several good threads in this forum about bracket performance / structural characteristics, but I'd appreciate this group's view on his point. I have my own modest opinion, but has anyone dealt with this directly?

Also, since this my first post on this forum, I'll show off the boat back in her glory days. This was about 6 years ago after a fresh coat of Awlgrip.

In my opinion on newer boats custom work may devalue the boat but most of the time adding a closed transom with an nice outboard bracket will help raise the value of a boat. Everyone now days wants a bracketed boat so I think if you sold it latter on it would sell faster done that way. Custom work can go both ways but usually good quality work that looks better than factory standards will be a plus.

Thanks. I tend to agree with you, and very good point on the importance of quality / looking better than factory work. The other angle I see is since this was a hull designed in the "pre-4stroke" era, if you are going to carry modern twins, this is the right long term thing to do for the boat anyway.

I know this question revolves around resale value, but I've owned the boat for 15 years and have little desire to part with it in the foreseeable future - assuming I'm not blown away with the pending re-power and maintenance costs.

A good floatation bracket for 4 strokes like a Hermco is the best thing you can do to offset the weight of the heavier motors. The fours will help the value and bracket will give you more room and make it more marketable for sure. Some people set out to buy a boat and don't know what type of boat they even want but they know that "long as it has a four stroke and a bracket" they will be happy. It has almost became a popular or a fad to way to go with this style setup. If you are planning on keeping it for a while I would do it how it will work best for you anyhow. Long as its done right, you keep good balance on the boat and maintain a good ride you will benefit.

I agree If the bracket is done right, it's a huge plus. I wonder If the twin 150s will be too heavy? If not those Yammies or the New mercury 150s are nice motors.

Merc says their 4S 150 weighs 455 and Yamaha says theirs weighs 480. So only a combined 50# delta. I believe the current ones are listed at 415, so the new increased weight would be 130#s (+16%) - hopefully solved by a bracket

After my current experience I'd prefer to never own Mercs again, so if I get comfortable with the weight increase, I'll go with the yams.

Has anyone on CSC run this setup on a 23 and able to comment on CG issues?

Lastly, has anybody put the new inline F200s on a 23 yet? Its pure overkill (am being quoted ~10k more for them) but since they are the same weight, it's fun food for thought.

Ryan, Frizzle, Thanks for your prior comments.
T

If the delta for the motors & rigging is 150# and the weight of the bracket is 150# (a guess), you would have to offset 300# with flotation at rest to maintain the same waterline. That is about 5 ft3 in water displacement which should be pretty easy to get with a bracket if you plan it out. As far as running angle I think you would be ok there - lots of folks run brackets on the 23CC with great results.

Not trying to push the mercs but the new 150s have some pretty impressive numbers. Either way I'll be interested to see your progress!