Islander 21 Motor Well

There are a few names for a Transom Well, Motor Well, Inboard Outboard Well, Engine Mount Well, and I’m sure there are others.  I wanted to post a few more pictures of the engine mount well in my Islander 21′ sailboat for the folks at the Facebook Islander Sailboat Owners group.

Here’s my old 1967 Johnson 6hp outboard in the engine mount well:

Here’s my Dad working around the new 2014 Suzuki 6hp outboard in action in the motor well.  The echo of the motor in the empty cabin below decks can be a bit loud, and the tiller doesn’t rest nicely, but (especially solo) it’s much easier to manhandle the outboard in the cockpit rather than out over the stern:

The well from the top shows its rectangular shape:

I didn’t measure too carefully, but it seems the bottom tapers in a bit:

This is a picture looking straight up from below, I like it because of the blues and whites.  Also notice the lip all the way around where the bottom plate must have fit:

My buddy Jon was stomping on the top plate to keep the chop from splashing into the cockpit, and has his right hand out the back on the outboard tiller handle when the engine was on the transom outboard motor mount.  Notice the top plate has small hole next to the cleat / handle.  I think a bolt went down and attached to the bottom plate to hold it in place there, and perhaps a previous owner unbolted it at the wrong time and lost the bottom plate:

Here’s a fantastic article on how to create an outboard motor well http://www.atomvoyages.com/articles/improvement-projects/249-outboard-1.html

And there’s a lively discussion here on the pros and cons of the motor well http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?148251-Outboard-motor-wells