Atlas Micro Jacker hydraulic jack plate on a Montauk 17
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 8:17 pm
Installing an Atlas Micro Jacker Hydraulic Jack Plate on a MONTAUK 17
This article will describe and illustrate the installation of an Atlas Micro Jacker hydraulic jack plate on my 1990 Montauk 17 with 1991 Mercury 90-HP outboard.
I mostly use my MONTAUK 17 boat for coastal saltwater fishing in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. A typical trip includes running through shallow channels in salt marsh followed by a 12-mile run across a bay to reach a barrier island that is surrounded by shallow water. I have come to realize that a hydraulic jack plate would help me deal with choppy bay waters while making it easier to maneuver in the shallows without excessive engine trim.
This is more than a convenience: I once returned from an afternoon trip during a falling tide to find that the channel I had previously used was no longer navigable, and I wandered through the marsh in the dark for an hour until I found my way back to deeper water. By this time, I had sucked up so much mud into the engine that I wound up blowing a cylinder due to overheating.
I have read a Cetacea article about putting brackets or jack plates on MONTAUK 17 boats, but I have not been able to find any information about installing a lightweight hydraulic jack plate on a Montauk 17.
I’ve worked on my boat a fair amount over the years, including replacing most of the electrical components, the water pump, and the outboard engine lower unit, and even rebuilding the outboard engine powerhead after my disastrous adventure in the marsh, but I had never paid much attention to how the motor was attached to the boat. On careful inspection, I noticed a few unusual features as seen in Figure 1.
Although I might have been unhappy if I had noticed these peculiarities when I bought the boat, the installation has worked well for me, with good engine performance and mounting bolts in the transom that were never immersed in water. Now, I run this boat with a fair amount of weight at the stern. Although the main engine isn’t heavy at 283-lbs, I typically carry two AGM batteries the weigh 42-lbs each at the stern, an 18-lbs trolling motor mounted on the transom, an assortment of tackle boxes, live wells, and ice chests on the rear deck, and 24-gallons of gasoline fuel under the Reversible Pilot Seat.
I wasn’t interested in putting a heavy jack plate on the transom, but when I saw the specs on the Atlas Micro Jacker at a weight of 23 lbs and rated for use with outboards up to 425-lbs or 115-HP, I thought it was perfect for my application. Indeed, one expert well known to this forum, Tom W. Clark stated
Of course, the biggest challenge to installing a jack plate is removing the outboard engine from the transom. I already had a lifting ring from when I had removed the powerhead, so I constructed a gantry crane using some scrap lumber and a sturdy portable chin-up bar I had built a few months ago. I had planned to use a cable winch puller, but a simple piece of chain was satisfactory; I could easily control the tension on the chain by cranking the trailer jack up or down.
Next step: Removing the 90-HP engine and test-fitting the jack plate to the transom.
This article will describe and illustrate the installation of an Atlas Micro Jacker hydraulic jack plate on my 1990 Montauk 17 with 1991 Mercury 90-HP outboard.
I mostly use my MONTAUK 17 boat for coastal saltwater fishing in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. A typical trip includes running through shallow channels in salt marsh followed by a 12-mile run across a bay to reach a barrier island that is surrounded by shallow water. I have come to realize that a hydraulic jack plate would help me deal with choppy bay waters while making it easier to maneuver in the shallows without excessive engine trim.
This is more than a convenience: I once returned from an afternoon trip during a falling tide to find that the channel I had previously used was no longer navigable, and I wandered through the marsh in the dark for an hour until I found my way back to deeper water. By this time, I had sucked up so much mud into the engine that I wound up blowing a cylinder due to overheating.
I have read a Cetacea article about putting brackets or jack plates on MONTAUK 17 boats, but I have not been able to find any information about installing a lightweight hydraulic jack plate on a Montauk 17.
I’ve worked on my boat a fair amount over the years, including replacing most of the electrical components, the water pump, and the outboard engine lower unit, and even rebuilding the outboard engine powerhead after my disastrous adventure in the marsh, but I had never paid much attention to how the motor was attached to the boat. On careful inspection, I noticed a few unusual features as seen in Figure 1.
- The engine was mounted two-holes up with the anti-ventilation plate about 1-1/8-inches above the keel, despite both the owner’s manual and the OEM service manual recommending the plate be even with the keel.
- The port splash well drain is installed about one inch closer to the centerline than the starboard drain.
- The lower engine bracket bolts are installed using the topmost holes in the bracket, even though there was room in the splash well for the bolts to be lower.
- There is a flange on the port side of the engine bracket that prevented my dealer from installing the engine any lower than it is without hitting the splashwell drain on that side. This flange doesn’t appear in any of the photos in the service manual, and it doesn’t seem to have any function.
Although I might have been unhappy if I had noticed these peculiarities when I bought the boat, the installation has worked well for me, with good engine performance and mounting bolts in the transom that were never immersed in water. Now, I run this boat with a fair amount of weight at the stern. Although the main engine isn’t heavy at 283-lbs, I typically carry two AGM batteries the weigh 42-lbs each at the stern, an 18-lbs trolling motor mounted on the transom, an assortment of tackle boxes, live wells, and ice chests on the rear deck, and 24-gallons of gasoline fuel under the Reversible Pilot Seat.
I wasn’t interested in putting a heavy jack plate on the transom, but when I saw the specs on the Atlas Micro Jacker at a weight of 23 lbs and rated for use with outboards up to 425-lbs or 115-HP, I thought it was perfect for my application. Indeed, one expert well known to this forum, Tom W. Clark stated
I wound up buying the jack plate from Home Depot Online because it was about the same price as on Amazon, and I had a coupon for 10% off.Tom Clark wrote:If I were going to install a jack plate on a small Whaler, the Atlas Micro Jacker is it.
Of course, the biggest challenge to installing a jack plate is removing the outboard engine from the transom. I already had a lifting ring from when I had removed the powerhead, so I constructed a gantry crane using some scrap lumber and a sturdy portable chin-up bar I had built a few months ago. I had planned to use a cable winch puller, but a simple piece of chain was satisfactory; I could easily control the tension on the chain by cranking the trailer jack up or down.
Next step: Removing the 90-HP engine and test-fitting the jack plate to the transom.