The saddle seems to be working pretty well. It's 3/8 meranti marine ply with a piece of oak or cherry shaped and beveled to fit the transom and then epoxied between the panels. I then screwed a cleat to the bottom inside edge that fits up against the underside of the transom frame so the cleat can't come off. I figured I could just unscrew the cleat and remove the saddle when we get around to sailing. I didn't have much luck finding a decent used motor so I sprung for a new one and bought a long shaft. The cavitation plate is 2-3 inches below the bottom edge of the transom. The 4 stroke is heavy and sticks up quite high. I think a 3, 3.5 hp would work fine but the Tohatsu didn't have a stock connection for an external tank on the 3.5 although it is significantly lighter than the 4 hp. The motor does put stress on the rear knee. My transom is 3/8 meranti and the top frame is South American mahogany because I had some scrap and I thought it would be more durable with the motor. The boat and trailer have been over some really bad roads in Maine and I could see the paint separating at the knee so I put three good size screws into the knee from the back face of the transom. It seems to have stabilized it.