Made some progress but didn't take any pics unfortunately, amazing the stuff you forget to do when you're working against the epoxy set timeline
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Friday night got the Coosa laminated together (layer of 1708 and thickened epoxy) and let that set up over night, solid as a rock in the morning.
Saturday we trial fitted it and got her nice and snug and then drilled the weep holes, buttered her with with some thickened epoxy, put a generous amount of thickened epoxy along the bottom for her to rest in and set her in place. Tightened down the 2x4s used to clamp her in place and then cleaned up the ooze that was coming from the holes.
Sunday I sanded down and cleaned up the messy spots where the epoxy oozed over night through the weep holes and around the bottom. Also did a lot of staring and thinking, which is what I go to from here.
I've been thinking and losing sleep over what you guys said in the beginning, about going back to a 20" transom with the heavier 4s. I'm basically locked in to the 20" motor sitting in the crate in my garage though, the out of town outfit we went with for the engine has been less than helpful. I mentioned before about them trying to get another sale out of me the day after I bought it when I inquired about coming up and switching it out for a 25" (wanted me to pay the difference ($1300) for a 2009, because they were sold out of 25" 2008s where the day before when I picked up mine they had them in stock). I even inquired later about trading down to a 140 Zuke like most guys on here did and eating the difference but they would have none of it. They also promised to not submit the warranty info to Suzuki till I called and told them I hung the engine (being that I knew it would most likely sit for a month or so while I replaced the transom) so I wouldn't lose that time in warranty when its sitting in a crate, but last week I got my warranty card and a "Dealer Satisfaction Survey" in the mail from Suzuki, gonna be fun to fill that out.
So what I'm 90ish percent positive I'm gonna do is leave the transom closed in, install a bracket, mount the 20" on the bracket. I've been searching this and classic mako for any post with a bracket over the past few days, and have realistically spent around 20 hours reading them over the weekend.
I've seen on Hermco's site that his are made for 25" shaft only, so a Hermco is out. In fact
D&D Marine is the only company that has instructions for installing for a 20" shaft motor. A
guy over on Classic Mako closed in his transom and put a bracket from D&D on his 19 and reported that he was pleased with the ride and flotation, getting a waterline about 1" lower with the bracket vs directly mounted on the transom. The D&D bracket is 16.5" x 18" x 30" long. I also have found another outfit that makes a bracket very similar to the D&D one in design but is 15.5" x 15.5" x 26" long (which after talking to him he said he could fabricate one with a larger flotation chamber if I wanted). Would the 4" less offset be of more value being closer to the transom provided less of a throw to the COG, or do you guys think the 4" more inches of flotation space would be better because it offsets the weight of the engine more? I've read CaptLloyd's post on the modifications he made to his B-Bracket to get more lift and how in retrospect he would have gone with a bracket that provided more flotation to begin with, but I'm kinda locked in place with the 20" shaft.
What do you guys think is the better option? Cutting the transom back to the 20" notch and risk having the water dangerously close (if not up to) to the line of the splash well because of the extra weight (and like you guys said, possibly killing the resale value because noone wants a 20" transom anymore, although right now I dont ever see myself selling her I want to keep my options open), or keeping the transom full, installing a positive flotation bracket like from D&D (or from the other guy and having him fabricate one with a wider flotation chamber for more weight offset) and possibly have the boat ride a little off from being stern heavy. I have redone with transom with Coosa saving weight, moved the batteries to under the console, pushed the fuel tank all the way forward, and could put a couple gallons of freshwater in the anchor storage up front to help offset the weight if need be, later add trim tabs, etc). It all just seems like the wisest choice to me to go with the bracket and closed transom. I'm pretty sure thats how I'm going, and hopefully get some reassurance from you guys. I know I might run into COG problems from doing this, but which is worse, working out COG issues, or having my boat/engine dangerously close to the waterline with a 20" transom and still probably have COG issues to work out? Thanks for any input guys.