We store our outboard on deck.
It’s not pretty. It’s not aerodynamic. It elicits charming comments from strangers like, “all that weight up so high up, tsk, tsk, tsk.”
But look, if you live on a 33′ boat and you want to have a giant outboard, you have to make some compromises. An unsightly outboard stored on deck is one of ours.
All of which might lead you to believe that I’m about to say we found a better solution for storing the outboard (wrong). Instead, I’d like to present the brand new outboard throne that is my new pride and joy 🙂
First, please admire my zipper panel (per Sailrite’s instructional videos… he says “Coo-shun” really funny but other than that the videos are amazing):
Next, please hazard a guess at the multi-purpose nature of this giant cushion…
If you guessed “somewhere to store all the required lifejackets while simultaneously protecting the deck from getting banged up by the outboard”, you got it right!
I’d never tried sewing a piped cushion before. It’s seriously satisfying.
And the finished product. An outboard throne 😉
Like I said, I’m pretty sure you have to be a small boat person to appreciate this little project… but it’s pretty great from over here 🙂
Leah
Do you have the outboard locked/secured somehow? Any worries about someone walking away with it?
That’s a good question!!
We tie the outboard down (so it doesn’t fall off the boat :P) but haven’t ever locked it…
I guess we’ve figured that stealing an outboard off the middle of the deck would be a heck of a lot more gutsy than stealing it off a dinghy or off the back of a boat (where all normal-sized boaters get to store their outboards haha 😉 )… but in hindsight, we probably should lock it 😀