Progress Report: Turning "Toad" into a Mini Motorcruiser
What will it take to keep make an outboard quiet?
Article by Dave Dawson
Last October I introduced my current project—turning a 1983 Herreshoff America catboat into a pocket motor cruiser. The demolition was done at that point—sailing gear removed, centerboard and case cut out, and a hole chopped in the transom for an outboard motor well. It was time to start building the boat up into the classic looking motorboat I had in mind.
Progress has been painfully slow. There’s simply been more fussy details to work through than I estimated. The first step was to turn the hole I sawed in the cockpit sole and transom into a watertight and sturdy motor well. The well is built with 3/4-inch Okoume plywood screwed, epoxied and glassed to wood stringers cut from 5/4 mahogany, all of it well bonded to the hull. Yes, it’s seriously overbuilt for the 10-horse Honda it will carry. But the scantlings aren’t for strength, they are for quiet.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Small Craft Advisor to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.