Damn thats running smooth. I would imagine I would have the space , since it had a transmission previously.

How do you move the ending forward with a Bravo transom assembly? Doesn't the engine bell housing mount directly to the transom assembly? "Inquiring minds need to know!"

Great read. Im gonna put in the setup as stock and see how it goes. boat runs pretty flat now. I will be adding more power next year and make the adjustments at that point.

if the trs exhaust that came with the boat is acceptable, save it unless or until you decide not to move the engine.
if you still have the merctrans laying around measure from the center of the rear mounts to the flywheel cover / block
mounting surface.
the bravo measures 4 inches, the difference will tell you how far the engine gets moved back on your conversion
post the info, would like to know how much farther back the engine goes from merctrans to bravo

sonic24, you would use a front and rear offshore plate, or with a full fledged bravo drive line you could use either the plates
or 4 pedestal mounts as the bravo drive line bearing housing has the provision for mounts that go on the rear pedestals.

I have stainless marine exhaust. My merc trans did not mount to the back mounts used the yail piece and rubber bushing. but I certainly could get a pretty.close measurement. From back of block where trans meets the block is 12" which would move me back 8" give or take. I plan on moving all the hardware to the seat back, that should offset some of the weight....Wish I could post some pics. got a quite a bit of grinding done today.

the other thing i noticed just now on that video, starting at 1:51 the boat leaves the water 4-5 times but the prop is still in the water
and the throttle is still on,
makes me think the 4 3/8 prop-shaft height i went is a little high.

Why is there some disagreement about using coosa board.Some people on one of my post said that using coosa board is not good for transoms only wood.Are they just old school thinkers?
I read about in the past people laminating coosa board together to make a tansom maybe before the selection of coosa board was different then today, but we just installed a solid 2 inch thick coosa board tansom in my 39 foot catamaran and I want to know what is the problem with using coosa board.It has no wood and can not rot and it stronger than wood so it should be better.This is my build restore

Finally,My 39 Ocean Express Procharged Restor Build !!!

What I was told, when I inquired about coosa, was that it would fail in high HP applications. Again, fine for mild power, which I assume is 600 or less, but for big power it will not hold up. This is second hand info, as I've never used it, but I 100% trust where I got the info from. For my boat, I'm replacing the transom with marine plywood, VE, and 1708, and I will have 1100 hp x2 in front of it.

I have been doing transoms for probably twenty five plus years now and truthfully i will say there is a place for composite transoms and i have done several but for my applications in high load high torque situations i just dont feel it can handle the repetitive loading and unloading of compression and tension at the top and bottom of the transom assemblies. I have had three race boats with composite transoms and all developed issues that were a direct result of them being composite. The 37 Talon i raced with Ed and Cleveland construction developed stress "eyebrows" above and below the transom and was always an issue that only got worse through time. The 38 Fountain SV i raced with Dean and Wahoo flexed so bad it actually wrecked a brand new pair of Herring six blades first time out and there was plenty of room between at the get go, that boat also developed stress related issues around the drives. We found out later on that boat had a long history of wrecking props. The 30' AMT DW with Dean and Wahoo also had major flex issues with the transom but in defense of that boat it was built as a lightweight kilo boat and was never meant as a rough water boat (it truly was a fantastic running hull). I also have a 34' cat with a composite transom that is flexing and developing those tell tale eyebrows. The few transom i have done were on mid range performance applications and i laid them up in three layers of half inch with a full layer of 22oz roving in between each layer, ordinarily i do not use an old school fabric like that but in these cases ,because of the linear weave of the fabric, it helps establish a very stiff end result. It is also imperative when using foam boards that an advance resin system be used, a VE at the VERY least. My thoughts are this, and i will openly admit i still carry some old-school-ness in my ways but its not without well earned experience. For me, they flex to much and have there own unique set of problems to deal with that i dont care for. The rotting issue is almost a moot point unless you are going to spend all that time restoring a boat and then leave it in the water for its whole life or leave it outside to fill up with water untended. Wood does not rot because it is wood, wood rots because of how its cared for or how poorly it was installed in the first place. My transom are installed in a way that no water can ever come in contact with any edge or surface of the wood and all rigging is well sealed and maintained, all ends and cut outs are capped and encapsulated. I am not adamantly opposed to composite transoms, i just dont care for them and have valid reasons based on what I've seen and the fact i understand the product limitations. I have done several builds where all but the engine stringers and transom were composite and they were fantastic boats that i know will outlast all of their owners, i love working with the stuff as it is so easy to cut and shape and so forth but you do have to think on your feet throughout the process.

yep . . . that would be a high load high torque application . . . three layers of half for sure . . . especially if you have boxes

I can say even for mass production rec boats as many have gone all composite. one vibration is felt more and depending on production power one can feel some flex, also noise levels are louder, ie waves slapping, engine transmitting noise thru basically the hull cavities. Some of the composite lay ups seem hollow to me.

Wood dampens vibrations, seems better for sound deadening, wood floats, would holds screws better, so it does have some positive factors.