I appreciated John's comments about his M17 with the motor cut out and the additional lifting mount. My boat has the motor notch and also came with a lifting mount but the transom was totally destroyed, delaminated, when I got the boat (see pictures on msogphotosite.) So I decided not to reinstall the SS mount. Now I'm inclined to put it back on after all. The long shaft (20") of my 2-stroke Yamaha/Mariner 5hp is barely long enough. It works fine when I am in the cockpit but if I step out of the boat onto a dock the exhaust starts to come out of the water. If I step on the foredeck it lifts higher and gets really loud! So I'm thinking the solution is either an extra long shaft (25") motor or a lifting mount. The Mariner is light (46.9 lb on my bathroom scale) compared to current 4-strokes but I am still reluctant to put that weight further aft. I need the FNR gears that lighter weight motors don't provide. I'm getting too old and crotchety and my reaction times are too slow to fiddle with spinning a motor 360° for reverse when other things are going on. 🥴 Another drawback of using the transom notch is that the motor head blocks the sweep of the tiller, keeping me from putting it hard over. Not a problem for normal sailing but I sometimes need to do so when shooting into the wind to pick up my mooring. Then I have to loosen the tiller lock lines and lift the tiller very high to clear the motor. I had read that Jerry designed the transom cut out with the 70s Evinrude/Johnson 4hp in mind. So I've been watching Craigslist and eBay for one for the last 4 years. I finally found one last fall at a good price, an Evinrude 4hp Deluxe with long shaft and FNR. These things run forever! It is smoother and quieter than the Yamaha thanks to it's 2 cylinders vs 1. But it is a bit fatter, taking up more space in the notch which does not allow it to turn more than a few degrees to assist with steering. It is also heavier than the Yamaha at 54.5lb. The shaft length is exactly the same and I have the same issues with the exhaust coming out of the water when I go forward. So I went back to the Mariner/Yamaha. Still looking for the "perfect (for me)" motor. I'll probably end up keeping the Mariner and installing the lifting mount eventually. I know, everything is a compromise. What compromises have you made, and why? Henry Monita