Brackets are they that much better

[sponge]

Hi Guys,
I trying to figure out if I should spend money on bracket.
Do they make the boat perform that much better.
I would really like to put that money into a new moter.

[Bushwacker]

Besides the obvious benefits of providing a solid transom to keep some noise and a following sea out of the boat and allowing you to eliminate the splash well and create more storage area and bilge access, they're generally worth about +3 mph in top end speed which will allow use of a smaller motor. I don't care about the speed, but the safety aspect of a solid transom is significant if you spend much time offshore! A bracket moves engine weight aft and tends to screw up balance of the boat, so you have to be sensitive to that. I would not consider one w/o a BIG flotation tank if you care about self bailing, and I'd use the lightest motor and the smallest setback possible and at least a 25" shaft. That longer shaft made a big difference in ability to control my boat's running angle with power trim and seems to cancel out the effect of the aft weight shift. Boat will also behave like a longer boat during low speed maneuvering because you've shifted the pivot point aft with the bracket.

[JohnB]

Had one without a bracket, then put the bracket on, the only down side is the cost. It improved almost every aspect. It think with the 23', it is a good upgrade. I don't think I would put one on the smaller boats.