Engine leaning a little to the left (passenger) side

[clanderman]

I noticed that my engine seems to be slightly leaning to the passenger side. I put a level on my jackplate (10" detweiler) and it does show the offset. I then measured the difference between the back bracket top and the front bracket top (brackets on the jackplate as seen in the image below) and although not exact, the right side is about 1/8" - 1/4" higher then the passenger (left) side.

My questions are:

1. Is this normal to have the engine leaning a bit to make up for any type of prop rotation or something like that? I am just asking this, I personally dont think it would be normal.

2. What would cause this (I was in some extremely rough water a week ago, but the bolts dont seem all that loose) and what would be the process of fixing it if it is not supposed to be this way.



Thanks in advance

[tracy shannon]

your engine should be level loosen all the jack plate adjustment bolts and let it seat it self back to level and retighten bolts you may have to adjust hieght as you do this as well jack plate bolts need to be checked periodiclly they work loose in the rough stuff sometimes

[clanderman]

Thank you

[jjtriton]

It does not matter if the measurement is off at the top of the transom, the boat is in two parts. The measurement from the hull of the boat, pad, lifting strakes, and outside chines is were it counts. Putting a level on the jackplate is not showing you the engine is square, simply because the boat is setting on the trailer and there are too many variables. JJ

[Luke]

jack plate has shifted

[clanderman]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jjtriton &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It does not matter if the measurement is off at the top of the transom, the boat is in two parts. The measurement from the hull of the boat, pad, lifting strakes, and outside chines is were it counts. Putting a level on the jackplate is not showing you the engine is square, simply because the boat is setting on the trailer and there are too many variables. JJ</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sorry, I left off this information in my first post. I did throw the level on the transom and a few different locations on the boat to compare. I also measured vertically from each chine to the ground to make sure I had something to compare percentage of the leaning of the boat to it. The boat was almost exact on the level in all areas and the jackplate was the only thing off.


Modified by clanderman at 7:00 PM 12/22/2009

[Lea]

Did this just happen recently, or has it been like this all along..?

[clanderman]

I wish I could answer that.... I got off the water after an extremely rough day and was looking over the boat and kinda noticed that it looked like it was leaning. This does not mean that it wasnt before, but I am still wanting to level everything out. I loosened all mounting hardware last night (Jackplate to transom, jackplate adjustment, and engine to jackplate) and let the motor try to set itself like stated above. It seems to have helped, but there is a slight amount of offset (maybe 1/16 to 1/8") now.

I was told it could have something to do with the amount of grease in the two units of the jackplate. What type of grease do you put in these jackplates?

[Lea]

Carefully measure from the top of the transom down to the top bolt on each side of the jackplate. I have heard of instances where the install was not level at the git-go. If this is the case, you will need to have the hole(s) filled/repaired and the bolt holes drilled in the correct spot...

I am hoping it is a simpler fix, though..

As for the grease, someone else will have to chime in here....

[clanderman]

I just got off the phone with detweiler and they said any high quality marine grease would be fine.

[vafishing]

What Lea is describing was on my boat when I got it. The holes on the drivers side where drilled a 1/2 inch lower then those on the passenger side. Champion took care of it.