Robert,
Have seen a photo of a rail/slide gizmo hung on a transom that caused the motor to be lifted out of the water. The OB clamped to it. So it may be a market item. Getting the motor out of the water straight up would require a whole lot of travel in the device. Now, if you could lift it up to a point and then tilt the OB that might work. But not in the Ariel well. Unless you were tempted to put a keyhole (as Mike Called it) in the transom.
Straight up lift would require 12 to 18" (?). To cover the hole in the aft 'deck' the hutch/hatch on 338 has to clear 14" above the deck. And that's a tilted motor.
Must be a reason why for four decades skippers have lifted a two-cycle out and laid it sideways in the Lazerette or below.
The guy who invented the CapeHorn steering vane had a Triton. He rigged his OB on a spar that pivoted amidships off his starboard side, I think, that he lowered and raised with block and tackle at the cockpit. You may find his web site. He did some serious cruising. But what happened to the motor on a portack?![]()