Hi Joey, you’re certainly right about the struggle! I was not aware of butyl tape at this point in the journey, so those holes are not sealed as of yet. I’m going to take of that when the boat comes out of the water relatively soon. Thanks for joining!

You are quite right about that, I messed it up the first time because I was ignorant. So many mistakes, so many lessons, but that is what this life is all about. Thank you for the input, helps me learn from people who have more experience than me.

Hi Carl, thank you for the kind words! The outboard is a short term solution for my current situation. Since the Perkins diesel is bad need or repair, I need a different way of moving this boat. To do a proper repair of the diesel it needs to be pulled out of the boat. Doing that in the boat would be incredibly hard and dangerous given the constant waves from passing boats in the Coronado bay. I’m also on a time crunch because I only have about 50 days left on my current mooring ball (passed down from previous owner) before I have to find a new home. The outboard will allow me to move the boat to a boat yard, where I can pull the engine and do a proper inspection of the hull along with new paint and any other repairs that are needed. At the moment I can’t rely on the main sail of the boat. When I bought this Columbia it had several inches of water in the bilge, and to my knowledge it has been there for about two years. All that water has severely corroded the supporting u-beams for the keel along with the iron collar for the mast. Because of this I don’t want to jeopardize raising the sails without knowing if the mast is capable of handling the pressure in its current condition. Eventually the mast will need to be pulled so that I can repair all the damage in the bilge. I’m quickly realizing that boating projects escalate rather quickly! Since there wasn’t a really good way of measuring how low the bracket would sit once attached to the back of the boat, I’m now in a position where my outboard bracket is in need of another bracket. I’m short 10 inches from where the cavitation plate needs to sit. So I’ll have to remove the panther bracket and weld up a stainless steel bracket that lowers its position another 10 inches. Long term I’m debating between using the rebuilt Perkins or going electric. At the moment I’m strongly leaning with going the electric route due to its simplicity, having one moving part, and because if properly designed can also serve as the power station for the boat using solar panels and wind turbines. As far as steering, a telescoping outboard handle should do the trick for short commutes. My outboard has wired controls that I will mount on the railing. I’ll be covering this in the next several weeks. Please let me know your thoughts! I’m a compete newbie when it comes to boating.

Lots of debate diesel vs converting to electric. Your outboard project makes total sense now….if for some reason it doesn’t work, you can always hire a tow. We have a 1980 34 ft Irwin, and i’m seriously considering replacing our old Yanmar with a 10 kilowatt Thunderstruck. Can’t remember how long your Columbia is, or if you intend long passage making, but i’d consider Thunderstruck if i were going into the yards for a major refit.

@@cwgoforth Lots of debate for sure. There are advantages to both systems. Long term, I am planning on crossing the Ocean. Not sure which ocean or where to, but it's a goal. The Columbia is 45 foot long. I've yet to look into which electric motor would work best. Part of me wants to put in a Tesla rear drive unit along with a full battery. I think this would give me a good replacement for a diesel along with some decent range from the battery. TONS of research has to be done... What is holding you back from converting to the Thunderstruck?

Bill, yes I should have. My inexperience has caused me to make many mistakes. I’ll correct this once the boat is out of the water. Thank you for the input!

Hi Cameron, its good to have you! Thank you for the recommendation, I need all the knowledge I can get. Will be checking out those channels.

Hi, this was an earlier video I made before I had a chance to mount an engine to it. Please look at some of the later videos to see how it works with an outboard. There is also a part 3 to this particular video. I actually had to make a separate bracket to have the clearance I needed for my outboard. Let me know if I could be of more help. Thank you!

What were some of the problems you ran into?