Jackplate to Boat Tilted 3/16 - 1/4", CMC Power Lift

[jign4pigs]

Hello all,

A couple months ago I got a good (to me) deal on a '97 202 that I posted about before. I was up on St Clair for a couple weekends and the boat ran great, but I was taking some prop to pad measurements the other day and had the boat trimmed down and I noticed the motor seemed tilted to the naked eye. Never noticed much before cause I'm either in the drivers seat or its trimmed up on the motor toter. I took some measurements from the bottom of the boat to the bottom of the jackplate and it appears to be unlevel by about 1/4" to the left.

I read a bunch of posts on the internet and this site about this subject but hardly anyfor the CMC Power Lift jackplate. The top holes of the Jackplate are fixed and the bottom ones are vertically slotted. Looking for any advice really, while not trying to beat a dead horse.

It is worth note that as best I can tell from the "for sale" pics I looked at before I bought it, the motor was tilted for the previous owner as well, I just didn't notice. The boat still runs like a top, just wondering if its something I can fix.

Thanks !

[jarhead175]

If it runs good don't mess with it.

[pmgoffjr]

Sometimes it happens that the transom is not exactly square to the pad. This will give the impression the motor is tilted when in reality it's not.

There are a couple of ways to determine: There are two mold marks on the transom "bumps" that are dead center, or you can take a piece of string off each corner of the pad and arc mark the transom to determine the center. Do that before you think something is wrong with your boat.

[jign4pigs]

I went over during lunch and took some measurements. I have attached a pdf for reference of the measurements.

Yellow is from the base of the transom up to the jackplate Base (not visible), Green is from the corner of the transom to the jackplate base (wrong ending point in pic), and blue is from the aforementioned mold marking on the pad (I think those are what Pat referred to) to the designated point on the jackplate shown in the PDF.

Here are the measurements:

Left:
Yellow: 5 5/16"
Green: 9 9/16"
Blue: 13 5/8"

Right:
Yellow: 5 1/2"
Green: 9 3/4"
Blue: 13 3/4"

Granted because of the angle the blue measurement isn't the most indicative of jackplate crookedness. I will get some string after work and make an arc from each corner and take measurements from Center.

[jign4pigs]

Sometimes it happens that the transom is not exactly square to the pad. This will give the impression the motor is tilted when in reality it's not.

There are a couple of ways to determine: There are two mold marks on the transom "bumps" that are dead center, or you can take a piece of string off each corner of the pad and arc mark the transom to determine the center. Do that before you think something is wrong with your boat.

So I arc marked from the corners as best I could (not much room between the instep and jackplate) and then measured to the base of each bottom jackplate corner. My measurements were the same as far as I could tell for each side. Please let me know if I did that correctly, as it seemed more of a horizontal measurement than vertical.

Does that mean the whole transom is off? It is not level in regards to the instep below the jackplate which is how I noticed it in the first place. Just trying to get a better understanding of how this happens. Thanks!

[pmgoffjr]

I truly believe you’re looking at an optical illusion. I’ve setup hundreds of boats and not one was drilled wrong. Have seen some that looked off but after closer inspection were actually correct.

[jign4pigs]

Thanks Pat, that is comforting to know. I'll just keep it as is and when I get it winterized this fall, I'll have the Merc Tech take a peek at it at the dealership.