CONTINUOUSWAVE

I’m repowering my 1973 Boston Whaler Sport 13. The dealer doing the installation is planning to use wedges made out of Starboard to account for the curved transom and to take out some of the 20-degree rake to the transom.

Does anyone have any experience with a new motor installation done with transom wedges on a classic 13?

I’d really like to see some pictures of what a motor installation looks like with transom wedges. I’m also interested in knowing whether the wedges help or hurt performance.

The motor to be installed will be a 2017 Yamaha F25. The T25LWTC model I’m interested in weighs just 143-lbs with electric start and power tilt and trim. I've never noticed transom wedges on a classic 13 before and would like to learn what I can about them.

Bob -

This topic has been discussed several times in the past so the information is here.

In this thread the topic of wedges is discussed to lessen the vertical angle of the transom. There is also a case for installing wedges to account for the horizontal angle so the motor will sit flush on the face.

The dealer is thinking you need the wedges to allow increase your engine's full trim/tilt ability.

http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/005272.html

As Tom Clark (well respected guru) states, the wedges are not necessary.

We have installed transom wedges on our 1981 Sport 13 with a 2008 Mercury FOURSTOKE EFI 30/35 HP engine with hydraulic tilt and trim. The purpose was to allow the engine to be tilted completely out of the water while the boat was in a slip. I believe the wedges are called reverse wedges as wedges are more often used to allow an engine to be trimmed more downward. The curved transom was not a problem although, to remove any pins from the trim-and-tilt, one side of the mounting bolts must be loosened. If you never use a slip or mooring for your boat I would not install wedges as I can't think of them serving any useful function.

We considered painting the aluminum wedges black to match the engine or whitish to match the hull but decided that in a salt water environment to leave them unpainted to eliminate the need to repaint them often.

I recommend buying the manufactured aluminum wedges vs wedges fabricated from Starboard. They will probably cost less and serve better.