Almost 27 inches. I could use a jack plate to lower it but that’s just another $300. Arrrgg. I have to blame you for this Brian, the only reason I measured it is because of your question about the swim step heights, 😂 . I’ll post some pictures of what skill saw does to a finished transom.
By the way good word “ hypotenuse” , that’s a new one for me.
Well ...
technically, the dimension in the design is already adjusted to place the cav plate just barely into the water a little.
Example)
h cos(14) = x, where x is the shaft length and h is the measured distance on the transom itself, the hypotenuse.
h = x / cos(14), which is 25 / cos(14) ... which comes out to about 25-3/4" inch.
There's a little more than 1/2" downward adjustment in the 25-1/8" measurement to make up for minor motor mounting errors. It's better to be down 1/2" than to suck air ...
bd
PS: It's better to have to remove a little wood than it is to add!