[thehermit]

Looks like the "powerlift" jack plate. A friend of mine also has one. On his transom we made up a board (wood and glass) to fill in the void and raise the transom. It was secured by the upper outboard bolts. On the inside he used a square alum backing plate (a thick one-1/4 in maybe) to pick up the 4 bolt pattern. It was aslo painted to blend. I think the addition of the inside plate and the fill board closed up the transom and provided a little more tie in but the "powerlift" is still doing the work here. I think he may also have added bolts through the outboard/lift/transom/and plate somewhere in the middle of the typical 4 bolt pattern (overkill really). I hope this make some sense....he aslo had a strong transom to start with. In the end it looked similar to what Bigshrimpin posted to your orig post.