From the engine diagrams I prepared a template representing the engine centerline and the mounting foot print. The template also represents the vertical location of the output shaft centerline relative to the base of the feet, with the adjustment screws in a good position. As luck would have it, the thickness of the board was just right. The bottom of the board was the bottom of the feet, and the top of the board was the location of the output shaft center line. I drove a tack into the centerline at the forward end, which I would later tie an alignment string to.

The boards below the template are the engine bed cores, temporarily screwed to the template. The plywood beside the cores is just a spacer representing the thickness of the glass that will eventually cover the cores. I fitted the bottom of the cores by placing the assembly in the hull with a string running down the centerline and out the shaft hole.

The picture shows the method I used to center the alignment string at the shaft exit. The shaft tube is out.

It took lots of trimming, but I eventually got it so the bed cores sat at the correct height, at the correct fore and aft tilt, and with the correct 'yaw'.

Next I disassembled the form to trim three eights of an inch off the top of the beds, rounded the top edges so that the wet glass would conform, and cut channels in the top for steel bars that I would eventually drill and tap for the engine mount bolts. After the top was trimmed, I put in a temporary spacer between the cores and template and removed the plywood from the sides of the core. I used an epoxy putty to bond the cores to the hull, checking with the alignment string as I did so. Once the putty had cured, I removed the template and spacers. Now I could glass over the cores.

This photograph shows the port engine bed with the glass on but not trimmed. I did the lay-up in several layers. You can just see the steel bar under the laminate on top of the core. The laminate is about a quarter of an inch thick.

The gussets have limber holes so that water will drain. The gussets are laminated on top of the bed laminate.

When you do lay-up like this, you should use laminating resin for the first layers, and finishing resin for the final layers. The laminating resin remains tacky for several days, as air inhibits the cure at the surface. This makes it ideal for additional layers. Surfacing resin contains wax, which floats to the surface, eliminating air and allowing the surface to cure. This wax will not allow subsequent layers to adhere, unless you sand and clean the surface with solvents first. Laminating resin gums up sandpaper.

Here you can see both beds and their gussets.

The rectangular cutout forward of the beds is where an access hatch used to be. You can see that I have cut away about six inches of the cabin sole. Directly above that (out of the frame) I also cut out most of a panel that was the front wall of the engine compartment. I doubt that the boat will miss this panel, but I do check, and will continue to check, for signs of undue stress in the area.

Here you get a better view of the cut away area just under the companionway sill.

I finished off the beds by bonding aluminum plate to the top of the beds. This gives I nice flat place for the mounts to sit. After locating the engine exactly, I drilled and tapped into the embeded steel, for the mounting bolts.

The small platform aft of the starboard bed will support the water lift exhaust.

You can see below the flat panel that I have glassed in a transverse piece. I used two of these to help keep the hull sides from panting, and also give more stability to the beds. I also thought that if one of the beds did come adrift, I did not want the engine to roll into the bilge. I wanted something that would stop it.

The flat panel is removable, and exists to catch dropped parts and to hold an oil diaper. I was going to glass it in, but then decided just to screw it down so that I could get into the bilge if I needed to.

The engine mounts are not bolted down yet.

The new engine comes aboard. The beds shown are the shipping beds, and get removed. For now they help protect the bottom of the engine.

To install this engine, we brought it in through the companionway, then put the mounts on, then slid it aft into the engine compartment. This was easy and safe with two people.

This shows a trial fit. I was worried about the swing of the compression release on top of the head, but there was just enough room for it. If I had to, I would bend it so it would still function.

While doing this trial fit, I took a four foot length of 1 inch aluminum conduit, and used it as a dummy prop shaft. With that I was able to do a preliminary engine mount adjustment.

Here the engine is in place, with the exhaust system and control cables attached.

I wanted to get the muffler lower, but that was not easy to do. The slope of the bilge makes it so an inch of drop would put the muffler against the running gear.

I opted for a bronze shaft, as I heard that you can straighten them more easily than you can a stainless shaft. Also, stainless tends to corrode more easily unless you get the most expensive grade.

Setting the shaft tube was a pain. The resin hardened before the tube was set accurately. I had to pop the tube out and grind out the new glass. The second try went better. runnin

This shows the new shaft and coupling. The coupling had some bad burrs on the inside of the set screw holes. Once I filed those out, things fit much better. No hammers required. I dimpled the shaft with a drill so that the set screws would lock the shaft. You do not want the shaft to pop out and jamb your rudder. Nor do you want it to shoot out the boat, leaving a one inch hole. The set screws are seized with wire to prevent their loosening.

The coupling is supposed to break apart if subjected to too much torque. Hopefully I will never find out about that. The engine does move quite a bit on the mounts, and the shaft is short, so a damper seems important.

Because of the depth of the engine in the hull, I wanted to have a siphon break on the cooling water injector at the exhaust elbow, as the installation manual recommends. The only way I could get the height I needed was to go through the side of the engine compartment and into the berth area.

I used to have an OFF-1-2-BOTH type battery switch, but I changed over to the three switches. I can switch the batteries on line independently or in parallel. An automatic device parallels the batteries for charging when the engine runs, but normally I use one battery for cranking the engine and one for the house. I would only manually parallel them if I needed the extra current for starting.

Here the engine is ready to run, with all cooling water hoses, electrical wires and control cables in place. The bolted down sections of the engine box/companionway ladder are in place.