Aux Motor on Spring Loaded bracket.

[TheKommandant]

Hello,

First mundane question!

My RIB has a spring loaded AUX bracket hanging off the back. It feels fairly sturdy and has catches to hold it at either end (up or down)

Question is: Can I hang the Aux motor off it all the time (when running) or will it fall off? Is it safer to have it in a bag stowed away somewhere?

I only ask because there isn't a hell of alot of room on the boat TBH so I would rather hang it off the back...but I would also rather not watch it sink to the bottom of the Irish sea!

Cheers

[Phil M]

I have mine on the aux bracket, but put a strap around it back to the transom. In the raised position and with the engine tipped, the skeg just clears the water but it bounces around really badly due to the clearance around the pivot bolts and is just waiting to fail under fatigue. I now keep it in the mid position (e.g. the bracket arms make a square, not a flat diamond) and it is much more rigid. To raise the aux up enough I stick a bit of wood in it to raise the tilted position then strap it in tight. this seems to work ok but I still don't like it and mak well make a fixed bracket that is far more sturdy as the commercial ones seem to be designed for sailing boats that don't get such a pounding.

Phil M

[TheKommandant]

Cheers, yeah it feels sturdy but then I've not seen it with however many KG on it being bounced around the sea.

Thanks for the idea though! Will see how it goes. Sounds to me like those brackets aren't really designed for ribs.

[Pedrode]

I fitted one of these over the winter and its been fine - better than having no aux. However Im not confident it js fully up to the job and I don't like the strain it puts on the transom when it gets bouncy so I support it with a strap onto the A-frame which takes most of the strain.