Re: Bracket Position
Bracket Theory 101.....The water exits the hull at the original transom line. The bracket bottom is entirely dry at speed, and is not a running surface. (it may get wet, but a properly designed installation will NOT result in the bottom of the bracket becoming a running surface). I have seen several rigs that resulted in the far aft edge of the bracket "touching down" so to speak....but that is not the way the gurus would design it. Reducing the length of the running surface decreases drag (less wetted surface) but at lower speeds, the buoyancy of the bracket (that is now submerged) helps offset the distance aft the engine is now placed (compared to the transom mount scenario). So, you have a longer boat at displacement speed, a bigger boat (engine out of the cockpit), and a faster boat (less drag from hull bottom, and less lower unit drag from having the prop work in cleaner, higher water.) I didn't pay too much attention in all those naval arch and fluid dynamics classes, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn........
once or twice.
Remember, the original "bracket" was simply a framework "cage" that was intended to move some big huge racing Black Max Mercuries up and aft....
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