has anyone ever hung a 9.9 off the stern?

[sinbin]

Actually, I've been hanging off the stern myself - the biggest stretch is to control the shifter. Need to kneel on the lazarette for that and for starting. Backstay makes a good handhold. Throttle can be controlled w/o leaving the cockpit. Whenever in doubt, I attach myself to the boat with a lanyard. Am set up for singlehanding, incl tiller pilot, which I mostly do. You could always have a crew member assist (hang on to lanyard, etc). I don't consider operating the motor off the stern any more sketchy than going forward to change a headsail or secure the main. Don't worry about having to start it in heavy airs - you won't need to. I beefed up my stern based on cautions about it in the manual.

[Poodle Head Mikey]

Do you have your outboard mount centered on the stern? Or offset to one side or the other?

And if to one side; which one and why? <g>

PHM
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Actually, I've been hanging off the stern myself - the biggest stretch is to control the shifter. Need to kneel on the lazarette for that and for starting. Backstay makes a good handhold. Throttle can be controlled w/o leaving the cockpit. Whenever in doubt, I attach myself to the boat with a lanyard. Am set up for singlehanding, incl tiller pilot, which I mostly do. You could always have a crew member assist (hang on to lanyard, etc). I don't consider operating the motor off the stern any more sketchy than going forward to change a headsail or secure the main. Don't worry about having to start it in heavy airs - you won't need to. I beefed up my stern based on cautions about it in the manual.

[sinbin]

My bracket is centered for no good reason except maybe for weight distribution. The main concern was getting the height right in order that the long shaft motor would bite at the correct depth and angle when running. Seems to have worked out so far. Between you and me, though, I wouldn't want more than 60 lbs hanging off the back of "Sinbin" the way I have set it up. Reinforcing the stern is a definite consideration. There is a story of an Ariel losing it's stern in the Berkeley chop due to having an outboard on a bracket.