Express 27 outboard bracket
Singlehanded sailing has been a passion of mine, since I was a little 5 year old kid going off sailing for the day in my 8’ Sea Shell Pram. I love having to do all the jobs on the boat. You need a float plan, which is more important when you are on your own. Know how to navigate in all conditions without instruments. Have dialed in sail handling in all conditions, and proper sail combinations, day or night. And be completely present and living the moment. These are just some of the many aspects I love. Oh yea, and going fast all the time, is, well, what I do.
So as I have with all the boats I own I set up Kincora my Express 27 with a new deck layout. Then I had Kame Richards at Pineapple Sails build specific sails for short handed sailing. Kincora goes well in a wide range of condition. Be it in 0-3 kts of wind or going well up wind in 35 kts true. Downwind she is a dream but you have to be on top of it singlehanded. At only 2400 lbs. displacement and 1100 of that is the lead keel you do not have a lot of room for error. So you have to be on it downwind in breeze. But I love that challenge and reward.
Now there was one problem I kept having while trekking/racing. It was the beginning and end of the day or days. We might be in a very tight harbor with lots of current (3-5 kts) or going through a crowded tight cut that you can’t sail. So in those conditions I pull out the trusty 3.5 hp 4-stroke Tohatsu outboard.
So here is the problem. Kincora sails so much better when the outboard is stored below in her storage bracket under the companionway on the hull. The stock Express 27 has a light simple outboard bracket. Box aluminum tube with aluminum plate welded to the end, with white oak bolted to the plate. This works great for the outboard. But, getting it on and off is a nightmare at night or rough conditions by your self. I do not want to let my harness line be long enough to have me dragging in the water behind the boat. So I keep it just long enough on my aft jack line in the cockpit sole so I can reach the motor for refuel only. So too many times I kept the motor on and in rough downwind conditions it would drag. No good.
So I designed a dual track system last May to mount on the transom. The carriage is aluminum bolted to four cars. The original motor mount was cut and welded to the aluminum plate. This system works great. The cars need to be aligned properly and dry lubed often. But the motor is in the original location. And when I am done using the motor I tilt it up. Pull up the motor with a 4:1 purchase and then it at the top of the transom. Easy lift off and below it goes, and it is so much easier putting it on.
A good test was one night I was sailing into Woods Hole Pass against the current and wind died with ferry coming. In less then 4 min I had the motor out from below on and running. It is a very simple, cheap, easy to install system. This is just one more engineering problem to make Kincora fun to use singlehanded. Now to improve the motor storage below behind the Yeti cooler, that is a job for April. I will let you know what I come up with for a solution.