F-Ribs And Sibs - Inflatable Boat Community

Winter is a good time to do all those little jobs that make using the boat as easy as possible . It often means improving and refining make shift ideas used in the past season

An example is my F RIB.. It could do with the Yamaha 6HP outboard lifted around 15mm..to ensure the cavitation plate is not too deep below the transom. I didn’t suffer from spray being thrown up. In fact it was a beautiful clean wake..but I always felt it was marginally more efficient with less drag due to the deeper propeller depth.
My Brother’s F Rib 330 however ..suffered a significant spray throw up from his Yamaha 6HP.
He cured it by using a wooden transom spacer..which was just a block of 15mm thick wood. It worked well.. but he keeps his boat assembled all summer.
My problem with the method he used.. is I was always forgetting or losing the piece of wood. So I tended not to bother with a spacer. However it was always on the back of my mind to make a better solution.

This is what I came up with.. . I cant loose or forget the spacers now..nor will I curse as I fit the outboard and inadvertently knock the wooden spacer off the transom . Two wooden spacers cut to the size of the outboard clamps.. with a couple of cable ties threaded through holes drilled in the spacers.
A splash of paint to make them look like expensive bought bits.. and use cable ties to attach them to the outboard clamps.
Its now very easy to put the outboard on a mount or transom ..as the spacers are a “fit and forget fixture”. If I want to remove or change them..its a simple case of cutting the cable ties. They don’t interfere with the lifting mechanism either.
Another little DIY job out the way to make sure my boating experience ... come the spring..is kept as simple and enjoyable as possible.

Nice one Donny, look well posh for a bodge

I did wonder if my Mariner 15 might need this on the 360, but on last weeks run the fin was skimming the surface nicely - I could even read the name on it! no cavitation even in the turns so seems a perfect match.

Thats the thing with manual trim you need the cav plate deep enough not to cavitate in turns but not toooooo deep as to cause spray. Well done there donny. Good looking little mod there.

I wish my mind worked the way yours does, Donny!

As I scanned down your post, when I came to the picture of the two blocks of wood with cable ties, my first thought was -
surely he's not gonna drill holes through his pristine new F-RIB transom!

Then I scrolled further to the next pic - doh, slaps forehead!

So obvious when you see it, that's why my function in life is to copy other folk's practical ideas rather than be able to create my own.

Which is why this is such a great forum - thanks for sharing!

What a fantastic mod. I need to do that on my twatsu 9.8 as I'm forever dropping the bits of wood off the transom when mounting the engine.


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Chris Moody

I like the zip tie idea, excellent!

Was bummed that I didn't have a choice. The small short shaft mercs are known for being too long with a short clamp side. Mine measured around 17.25 inches instead of 15. My transom measured exactly at 15 inches. I experimented with blocks at first but the clamps came too close to the transom edge as it was raised and I was afraid of damage or losing the outboard. Unfortunately I had to resort to installing a plate and bracket so that I could raise the engine enough so that it hit the leg properly. I cut a slot so that it was quickly adjustable in height as I continued to experiment.

With this extension, I could clamp the engine higher than the transom which worked really well.

Who's a clever Chappy then ...
What a cracking, but yet so simple mod Donny.
Great idea, great pics to show it and simplicity at its best. Love it !!!

Yup, great mod there Donny and so simple
Love these ideas ...... I still can't believe how long it took us to think of putting wheels on suit cases

What a brilliant idea.

Thanks Donny, just making my own set.