Cal28 outboard motor well... what fits?

[JensenCal28]

I own a 67 Cal28 with the outboard well under the rear lazarette hatch.

Although I am pretty content with my Mercury 8HP motor, I'd like to think that I could upgrade to a 9.9HP with an electric start.

Fitting the lower end of the Mercury through the well is a Tetris-esque challenge and I'd imagine that a bigger motor will only make it more difficult.

Does anyone have any practical experience with this? What motors have you successfully fit through the hole?

[azsailor12]

The current 8 and 9.9 are the same size, so depending on how old your 8 is, it might be easy. The electric start parts are all on the top end, so shouldn't be an issue.

[Ex-Calif]

I think Sarafina (one of our mods) has the biggest engine that can fit in there. 15hp if I recall.

[sarafina]

Mercury 15 horse...


And MAN was it a bitch to fit in. Took a coupla hours and three of us horsing it around. If I had known ahead of time how tight it was gonna be I might not have done it, but I didn't, so I did, and I have to say... coming home on a windy evening into my slip it's a beautiful thing...

Reinforce the well with a good wooden collar.

[JensenCal28]

Thanks all for the quick reply.

I think that if I could reap the benefits of an alternator for charging AND 7 extra horses working for me, I would do what it took to shoehorn a bigger motor into the well.

Only once have I had to pull the existing motor from the well while under way and that was to unwrap an errant jib sheet from the prop (100% my bad). I can imagine that if I were to put in anything larger, say a 9.9 or 15, that it would require a trip over the side to untangle, since pulling it sounds like a three-person job.

Again, thanks for sharing what you know.