Second thoughts on SW Dory motor well

I went the full nine yards with my SW Dory kit - rowing, sailing and motor well options. My thought was I could row for exercise, sail for fun, and motor when fishing or in the spring and fall when my 1967 Penn Yan runabout is on the hard. But after doing a dry fit of the centerboard trunk and the motor well with Susuki 2.5 hp there is not a lot of real estate left in the cockpit. The only place to sit is between the centerboard trunk and motor with your knees squeezed together. When sailing especially you need to be able to move around - sometimes quickly - when tacking, to adjust boat trim, or whatever, and that would be difficult. Possible, but certainly not comfortable. With the motor tilted forward I'm not sure there is even enough room to fully extend your arms forward when rowing. So I am going to think about it for awhile, but it is likely I will set the motor well assembly and unused Susuki aside and glass the piece I cut out of the bottom back in. If I really miss the motor I can always reinstall the well.


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RE: Second thoughts on SW Dory motor well

Charlie,

Don't take this the wrong way, but just how long are your arms anyway?

John is leaning forward, arms fully extended and he's still not touching the tilted forward motor, and he's around 6' tall, if not taller.

Maybe something's not in the right place?

Laszlo

 

RE: Second thoughts on SW Dory motor well

Thanks, Lazlo. Admittedly I had to eyeball the oarlock location since they aren't installed yet, but I could approximate pretty well based on the location of the inwale spacer and the motor was properly located on its mount in the well. Also you can't tell from the photo how close John's hands are to the motor. In any event that issue is secondary to the lack of room to move around between the centerboard/thwart and the motor well. It really is very confining, more so than I anticipated. I'll hang on to the Susuki and the well assembly for now, and if I really miss the motor after a season or so I can always reinstall it.

RE: Second thoughts on SW Dory motor well

If I went with a trolling motor instead of an outboard why couldn't I modify the well and gain maybe 18 inches of cockpit space?    

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