Homemade outboard motor stand
Anyone who uses an outboard motor in the ocean knows the hassle of keeping the salt water flushed from the system after each use. Also keeping the top-heavy machine upright during storage is also a must to prevent flooding. One of the easiest ways to do that is to get a outboard stand. You can store your motor on it without much hassle as well as flushing it out with a bucket of water underneath after each use.
As all marine products typically are, outboard stands are way over priced for what you get. It is literally a few pieces of bent metal and a piece of plywood while West Marine would not hesitate to charge you $120 for one.
That is why I decided to make my own little contraption. It’s no work of art but it’s serving me well so far. A couple pieces of wood and some galvanized hardware that costs me just around $12 and a Saturday morning later, I have my own little collapsable outboard mount.
It uses exactly 2 pieces of wood: a 8 foot 2×4 and another 8 foot 2×6. It is made to hinge so you can fold it flat when you are not using it or for easy transport. Straps at the bottom keeps it from doing the splits when the motor is mounted and I am even gonna mount some wheels on them so it can also be used as a dolly. All that for under 20 bucks. Take that West Marine!
Nice clean work. Is that some kind of a nylon strap holding the bottom together? How is it attached?
thanks. its a shoulder strap from an old bag made of nylon webbing. its attached with a lag eye screws on the four ends of the stand.
This is just what I’ve been looking for, great job on the detailed pics.
I am a young woodworker in Nova Scotia and this looks like it will last me the rest of my outboards life.
thank you very much
Danny Myers
You may not think it was art, but it looks elegant and modern. Alot more classy than the cheap metal tubular contraptions for sale. Good job.
Perfect! Just what I’ve been look’n for
I bought alittle 9.5 Evinrude and need to store it upright after use.
Hello,
Great job. I would like to build one for my 4hp motor I just got. Do you think you could post the cutting dimensions of the pieces, or advise on how long to cut the pieces.
Just finished building one for my buddy’s 50 hp Merc…perfect for the aplication!! Good on ya Oday!!
Great moter stand!I have a Merc 45 that will work nicely and look great on this stand. Can’t waite to get started on mine. Thanks ode22
My question is I have a 110 Evinrude And a 20hp outboards and I’m going crazy trying to figure out what type of stand I should make, for the past couple of months. I have seen many different types. Now my question is what would you suggest how and what to make so I could place both motors on it. I would appreciate if you were to give me an idea…..
Thanks.
Max!!!
Hi Ode22,
Thanks for the idea. I made mine from 2″ by 2″ but I cut the feet at an angle so they sit better and I attached my straps permanently. I made it quite wide too so I can get a barrel of water underneath if I want the engine running.
Ron.
Very handy stuff! Beats the dealers’ stand for sure, you aint gonna use it everyday I guess. Just nice!
Thanks, This is great. I just bought an O’Day 23 and was wondering how to store the motor for the winter.
Don
Very simple, but very practicle. Excellent idea.
This is nice I actually came up with….bought 2 premade Home Depot heavy duty wood sawhorses and C Clamped a boxed frame to the sawhorses for my 25 HP outboard. I bought a 2 x 6 and 2 x 4. The boxed framed I also cut small pcs of the 2 x 4 reinforced the corners. On the bottom of the frame I achieved the transom angle by runnning one boar across on the bottom. The nice thing with this is you unclamp the frame and have sawhorses you can use spring summer and fall as well. This setup with wood screws and sawhorses cost $45.00…….again I have sawhorses to use. The wood frame takes little storage space end of the season I lean it against the wall.
Thanks for posting this design. I just made one of these. It’s great. Simple, effective and inexpensive. My motor is a long shaft. I did cut the 2×6 pieces too long at 40″. I could have done with 35″ or a little less. Same with the cross bar – 2×6 etcc. I cut it at 19″. I could have done 16″ easily. but it works great.
Great design. it’s simple & cheap!
One thing to remember when building this: if you plan to put a water bucket beneath the motor for flushing, make sure there’s room for it and the output stream.
I’ve thought of a couple variations for the folding legs:
Instead of using all of the strap hardware, could just run rope through holes in the wood. Paracord comes to mind.
Or if folding is not needed on a regular basis, just put a second bolt in the back legs.
As for measurements, I went with:
(1) 24″ 2×6 middle piece
(2) 32″ 2×6 side pieces
(2) 24″ 2×4 back legs
For the 2×4 braces, I just measured what was already built and cut to fit.
These measurements were for a 6hp suzuki short shaft and a standard keg bucket for water.
Finished project here!
http://www.hairypsalm.0catch.com/suzuki-df6/outboard-motor-stand.jpg
Thanks again for the design. It works great.
whoops. That’s:
http://hairypsalm.0catch.com/suzuki-df6/outboard-motor-stand.html
Just built one for my 30HP Yamaha and I’m very pleased. Cut the 2×6 sides at 38 inches and have perfect ground clearance for the short shaft motor. I cut the motor mount 2×6 at 20 inches which is perfect. Wasn’t too sure where to drill the holes and how long to cut the 2×4 but guessed and it worked out fine.