Engine Test Fitting

Once the carling was in place I needed to test fit the engine so that I could work out how to mount it. It soon became obvious that there was not enough space under the engine as the shaft would not line up unless the engine was actually sitting on the keel laminations. I needed to remove some material from the keel!

This is potentially a real problem with this boat. The main problem is with the jetski that the pump came out off. The ski has a flat bottom where the pump is located and the engine does not sit very high above the bottom of the hull. In the Dyno-Jet the keel is not flat and is quite thick where the pump and engine are located. Care needs to be taken so that the pump housing sits high enough in the hull so that the engine will sit above the keel laminations. In my case it was so close that I needed to remove some material from the keel.

If I was to do it again I would keep some more of the jet ski hull and position the whole pump/housing slightly higher so to give some more space inside to mount the engine.

Here is the motor placed in the boat.

Here is the keel after I have attacked it with a router and angle grinder. I have removed material from the keel laminations as well as the engine bearer laminations to allow enough room for the engine to sit low enough so that the shaft will line up and there is room for some mounting bolts.

How the engine mounts had to be worked out. I used two pieces of plate (about 5mm) that I had bent slightly by my nephew. I held them in place with clamps whilst working out how high or low they had to go.

A few holes later and they were bolted in.

More holes and bolts later and the rubber mounts where in. These I found at a local bearing supply shop for about $15 each. The marine type ones were in the hundreds and still had mild steel in them!

I used the original mounting plate that came with the jet ski and bolted it to the new mounts.

Here is the finished article. Note that the support for the shaft bearing is not in place yet.