Engine mount modifications. Tiller - engine connection

Sea trials revealed several less than perfect aspects with the engine mount.  The mounting bracket interfered with the engine when tilting, making both hard to operate.  The engine tilt lock was difficult to access tilted or not.  The engine was not able to tilt all the way down to vertical.  The control cables had tight operational condition.  I decided to rebuild the engine mounting plate to overcome these issues.  Made in plywood for now, maybe a lightweight and resistant to the environment version will be built later.

First I epoxied 8mm plywood strips between the mounting bracket and the engine mounting plate

Then I added wedges of wood, epoxied to the mounting plate, on the aft side to tilt the engine a bit down, and further move the upper part aft in order to gain access to the tilt lock. (For some reason, beyond my comprehension, this is a mirror image)

These two steps made the operation of the engine much easier.  Now time for steering link.  I have drawn inspiration from pictures uploaded by members of the Yahoo F-boats forum.  By the way, there is now a new, uncensored F-boat forum started by Ian Farrier as well.  However, as I have to go to the swim step to lower and start the engine anyway I didn't see any advantage in a remote operated steering link and thus have made it as simple as possible.

I used a low stretch line from a hole in the engine trough a piece of PVC tube and to a horn cleat mounted on the tiller.  The line was too thin for the hole in the engine and this created an unacceptable amount of play in the system.

So I used a second piece of the same rope, inserted it to the original rope and thus had two ends to make a nice diamond knot at the engine end as well as taking out the play in the hole.
Those familiar to Yamahas will also see the tilt lock now clear of the bracket control.

When a connection between tiller and outboard is desired, the rope is tightened and fastened at the horn cleat

And a relatively tight and stable connection is made.

Then, when the connection is not desired, it is easily left free by uncleating the rope. The PVC tube will just hang free and does not interfere with tiller operation