Hi Peter

I’ve sailed a friend’s Hunter Horizon 23 with an outboard rigged in the port cockpit locker. It was a good system that worked well. My friend didn’t have a door to close the hole in the bottom of the hull when the engine was raised, but that was not a major problem. When upright the hole was clear out of the water. The boat was fairly broad beamed and had good form stability, and sailed well at a fairly low angle of heel. When on starboard tack there wasn’t a great swirl of water in the outboard bay to drown the engine.

Mariposa is a Contessa 26 which is based on the Folkboat hull. These boats have less form stability than the Hunter range, and tend to sail at a greater angle of heel. I would suggest that you mark up the hull with the probable hull opening and sail the boat on the tack with the hole submerged to see how wet the locker would be, even with a hatch over the opening. These opening are usually not watertight, so there could be a flooding problem with the wineglass hull shape as opposed to the round bilge Hunter hull.

Folkboats have a lower after deck and tend to use a track along the aft deck to drop the outboard in the water when wanted, and to lift is clear when not. The alternative is a side mount on the quarter, which may be a practical solution for your boat.

Cheers, Slieve.

PS. I believe the Sonata, Duet and Horizon 23 all share the same hull shape. I have also sailed a Sonata with a transom mounted outboard, on a lifting mount which worked quite well.