Black Hawk - Reducing the size of the outboard well

[Deaks]

At the boat show this week I was taken with this cockpit layout.

I'd like to incorporate something similar into my Black Hawk rebuild.
Problem is Fortune has an enormous well in the transom to house the raised outboard. Am I dreaming to imagine that I could:
A) Cut the entire well away, glass in the resulting hole, and fit a platform like this?

(It extends the full width of the boat, the black thing is steps to allow access for the show).
Or B) Cut down the length of the existing well? It's much larger than is necessary for the clearance required by a raised outboard.
Obviously (B) involves a lot less work but (A) appeals to me a great deal.
I have to make my mind up soon because I intend to paint in the next few weeks.
Somebody stop me from doing something daft.....................

Deaks

[colinpearce]

I take it the platform would be to hold the outboard? If so it would upset the balance of the boat, maybe not important on the river but it would be if you want the boat to plane. No ideal about the structural needs of that. I would be more inclined to build a seat top that fits onto the existing well if only to maintain the integrity of the boat

[Deaks]

Hi Colin.
Yes, the outboard would be mounted on the platform.
You have a point, though. There are several threads on the net about boats sitting stern-down when using large outboards mounted on pods. Maybe I should stick to plan B. I'm also thinking that although we only run a compact Yamaha 9.9 I don't want to reduce the well size so much that we can't fit a larger outboard at some time in the future.
Deaks.

[hoblands]

Not sure how deep your pockets are on this project but the Black Hawks were also factory built for Mercruiser Inboards with Alpha 1 outdrives, would create almost exactly the cockpit layout you're looking for, at what cost though I wouldn't like to guess..

Paul

[250dtt]

Or..........you could just shelve your Black Hawk project and buy the Sunseeker..................
Dave
If it ain't broke springs to mind...........

[Deaks]

Didn't know what a Sunseeker was so I googled some images. Doesn't look quite suitable for my disposable income.
It's not broke. But I'm fixing it anyway.

[Deaks]

Dave - I owe you an apology. It turns out I've seen a Sunseeker after all.
Looking back at the photos I took at the boat show I came across this:

I'm very taken with the portholes in the hull - particularly the big panoramic one.
It's a bit snowy to do anything today but the very next decent day we get I'm out there with the jigsaw................

Deaks