How about a piece of rubber covering the opening. A large slit would allow the motor shaft through. If you tape it on for sea trials you haven't put any holes in the boat.

 

Interesting. I think you are saying a semi permanent gasket arrangement, maybe tabbed in with glass/epoxy?

I could see that working.

 

Maybe tab it in from above so there are no ridges/disturbances on the bottom of the hull.

 

If it were me, I would do the temporary/simplest method just to verify if the idea has merit. If and when the excitement takes hold, I'm sure that you can figure out the rest.

 

If you are taking the moter out of it's well when serious sailing How about a snug panel /box that matches the outside hull. Maybe a thruhull in it so you don't have to overcome its buoyancy (50 lbs?)as you push it down until the aligning pins find their holes. Or two hinged doors that live up side when motored and clip together when down. Just remember to undeploy before dropping the leg in.Make nifty SS strip spring clips out of hose clamp type stuff

 

Build a open top box that fits in the well and the bottom of the box is the same contour as the hull. it drops in when you remove the outboard . clamps on to the outboard mount the same as the motor.

 

Having the outboard down has to be a lot of relative drag. But I got a chuckle that 7 is not good enough on a 21 ft boat and you must have 8.

I'll bet the slapping issue could be solved by something that disturbs or redirects flow, rather than sealing it off completely. I can't be much help designing it in a vacuum, just throwing out the concept.

 

Looks like three good ideas that should each work: rubber cover with slit, rubber plug gasket and box w/contoured bottom. Ideally, something that will completely seal off the well's bottom will work best. The slit cover may be easiest to use, since it's left in place & the motor is inserted through it. Sooner or later (likely sooner?) the slit will stretch, get tired, tear, and hang open all the time, catching water and slowing you down. Affixing it to the hull could also be an adventure. The other two options might end up working better, long-term. The box setup would be great if you have things you can keep in the box - you get a sort of lazarette out of it. You just have to be able to lift it in & out when full of stuff, and have a place to put it when the engine is being used. The easiest to make might be the rubber plug gasket. You could use a block of closed-cell foam perhaps 4" thick. Styrofoam could also work, though it might not hold up well in a gasoline-prone venue. Cut it to fit the well and slide it down until it just protrudes, and then shave off the bottom of it until it's flush with your boat bottom. Mark the well to show how far down it has to be, and you can glue a handle (or run a line through it) to pull it out when you need to. Tying it off would prevent it's getting lost if an errant wave dislodges it. I made plugs like this for the bulkheads in my cedar-strip kayaks, though I gooped them in so they're watertight. K.I.S.S. works every time.

 

Try a shaped block of foam

 

When outboard motor wells were first introduced, and people typically used lightweight low horsepower 2 stroke outboards, small boats typically came with a "Plug" for the well which was essentially a box that slid into the well and which had a bottom shaped like the hull.

If I had to make a plug today, I would glue wax paper to the top of a piece of corrugated cardboard and tape that securely to the hull over the bottom of the well so that it conformed with the shape of the boat, and was tight against the bottom, and tape a layer of regular thin cardboard and then wax paper over the 4 sides of the well and up onto the deck surrounding the hole at the top. (The wax paper serves as a bond break, the corrugated cardboard acts as form, and the thin cardboard acts as shim to keep the plug from being too tight. Then working from the top, I would build up glass and resin to make the box. I would probably plan to layup one thin mat lay-up, followed by one roving layer while the plug is still in the boat and do the rest of the layup out of the boat. I would probably do one more mat and one more roving lay-up and see if that seemed stiff enough. The glass should lap onto the deck at the top to hold the box from dropping out the bottom and hopefully provide a way to hold the box down in the boat so it does not float up out of the well.

Jeff

 

Lots of ideas. Personally, I wouldn't want to store a box etc. on our 26' boat, I can't imagine that you have too much extra space either. It was pointed out that a rubber piece may wear out. Eventually it probably would happen but I have seen this idea employed on dinghy centreboards and the rubber can last for years. Also, if you attached it in a manner that allowed replacement, it may not be that big a deal to install a new piece.

 

If you want get fancy about it, the bottom of the box can be made with hinges on either side that allows the bottom to hinge out of the way when the outboard was inserted, In that way, there is no box to store since the plug would store in place.

Jeff

 

Lots of interesting ideas. I am starting to formulate a plan.

One detail I ommited was that the hole in the cockpit for the well is has a smaller opening than the full dimensions of the well, I attached a pic, the angle is me laying on my back in the drive way looking up through the well.

The opening size might take a couple of these options off the table for me, including the box and foam block.

I am kind of thinking of a high brid approach using a couple of different ideas. The well is way bigger than it needs to be for a Honda 2.3. So I am thinking I might make up a plug out of either fibreglass or plywood with a cicularish hole cut in it, just large enough to fit the outboard leg and possibly incorporate Pauls rubber slit idea, but just in the hole area. Then when i pull the outboard out, the rubber slit closes up. Or maybe have a little sliding door that covers the hole, or maybe both.

I also like the hinge idea, but that might be something I play with after I have done some experimenting.

 

The solid bottom with a circular hole sounds good. Instead of a rubber with a slit, how about a sheet of rubber a little larger than the hole that is attached only at the leading edge. Use flimsy material so that a bit of boat movement will push it over the hole.