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Phil,
In essence, my reason for the set back was greediness. I wanted to increase my deck space as well as have "splash doors" at the stern of my boat. My "splash door" is a splash board is directly on top of my transom enclosing the rear of my boat. I needed the motor completely free of stern and the 12" jack plate was my solution.

I am glad Joe posted the article that I was familiar with. In retrospect I realize I took parts of different articles and applied them to my boat. None of which was a replica of my situation. With Joe's reminder, I am actually more optimistic now. If my current reinforcement does not work instead of canning the whole idea, I'll just enclose the stern completely and have what I was after all along. A boat ride with dry feet.

Garris