[Rhodes22-list] Old Motor Lift

[Gardner, Douglas L. (LNG-DAY)]

Joe, 

   Fretnaught is also an '86. It sounds to me like a previous owner damaged
the lift and repaired it with wooden runners.  I thought about the same
thing when I broke my original plastic runners, but instead decided to
replace it with polycarbonate (e.g. Lexan).  

As you have already surmised, there is a lot of force exerted on these
pieces as the motor is entirely supported by them.  The pieces are in shear,
and must be strong. I don't believe polyethelene will be strong enough,
unless you make the parts very thick.

Ed's thought to use either stainless or aluminum is probably a good idea if
you don't want it to break.  However, I'm very happy that mine failed as it
did.  If it hadn't failed, then I would have either torn out my transom or
broken something on the motor. Instead, the motor mount slides absorbed the
impact, and they were very easy to replace.

--Doug

-----Original Message-----
From: Ware, Joseph W. [mailto:joseph_ware@merck.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 11:48 AM
To: List Rhodes (E-mail)
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Old Motor Lift


Does anyone have a picture of the older version of the motor lift?  Mine,
1986, has two gray plastic pieces directly on the transom.  Then there are,
were, two pieces of wood (1.5"x18") which are through bolted onto the
plastic pieces and actually hold the sliding mount on the transom.  These
pieces of wood split while I was trailering, leaving the motor hanging on by
both the lifting line and a safety chain attached to the transom.  I
e-mailed Stan for a plastic replacement, and he is not familiar with wood
ever being used.  Any one else have wood, or pictures?

Joe
S/V Whisper