Got to looking at the boat yesterday while cleaning it up and noticed the motor is not level.  Its off by about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch.  The first thing that tipped me off was the steering arms for the hydraulic steering.  Going by that its about 1/4 inch off.  At the jack plate its about an 1/8 inch off.  Is this bad and is it going to affect the motor, meaning damage it?  Im assuming it will probably affect performance?

i had it in the garage today and checked for level ground and everything was level, except for the motor.  What should i do??  Thanks for the help.

Its a 2006 ETEC 200 H.O. on a 2006 Stratos 294.

Leave it alone.

Most likely Stratos had a reason if it infact it's not straight. Stratos has done this in the past on different hulls. Some hulls have a bad tendency to lean to one side at low speeds and Stratos mounts the motor at a slight angle to compensate for this.

Not saying this is the case with your's but I would check with Stratos before getting concerned. They use all kinds of high tech equipment to make sure the hulls are properly drilled for the motor.

Thanks for your help way2slow.  i knew i would hear from you sooner or later!!  im gonna call the dealer today and just double check and see what they say.  Thanks again.

well I do not know this for sure but here is a bit of an extrapulation...

yours is a 200 horse?

I feel like you would definately FEEL a problem if there was one. We used to go to Canada to fish the ice off every year. The place we stayed had these little 1950's era steel boats with little 9 horse Nissan motors. We went early enough in the season that when we got there the guy who ran the place usually had to pull a boat out of storage for us and set it up. There was a year that he must have been side tracked or something cause when he put the motor on the boat...one of the bolts on the bracket was broken and would not tighten...so the motor kept moving around on the transom. When it came out of level and twisted to the up or down...you could definately feel it when driving...the boat would start pulling hard to one side or the other.

and that was a little 9 horse...

with a 200 I think the the boat would definately pull...maybe even go around in circles ! LOL!

Stratos has done this in the past on different hulls. Some hulls have a bad tendency to lean to one side at low speeds and Stratos mounts the motor at a slight angle to compensate for this.

...and now that I am thinking about it...Does this say something about Stratos? A bad tnedency to lean so lets mount the motor crooked? seems like a cheat to me...like the have a manufacturing problem that needs attention.

yea that sounds jack up !!!! is this boat sold by k-mart? i would like it see some pictures of this. Dont get me wrong not knocking your boat .

All boats have characteristics of their own & none sit perfectly level in the water.  

As Way2slow stated the factory does not just stick a motor up there, drill holes & bolt a motor on.

Well, i spoke to my dealer and he said it should not be that way.  The boat has a 6 inch jack plate on it that seems to be mounted about 1/8 inch off level.  I spoke to him about it and he is addressing the concern to Stratos.  Otherwise i adjusted my jackplate so that the motor is level and all should be good.