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Davidk,

The extra set of holes you describe on your Yamaha are called "blind holes". They were first introduced by OMC exactly as you have described. Yamaha copied OMC's bolt pattern. Only if Bachus is buying a motor with these same blind holes, can he be able to make use of them.

The problem with the blind holes is that once used, there is no vertical adjustment to the motor and in the old days the outboards put on Whalers were typically set as low as they would go. This is NOT where a modern motor wants to be mounted. It should to be mounted higher.

The solution here is very simple: Fill the old holes and drill new ones. I do not see any good reason to be afraid of doing this. It is very easy to do and will cost very little. A little epoxy glue, a little gel coat patch paste and elbow grease and the transom will be restored to its new, undrilled condition. Then you can start fresh and mount the motor as it should be, 3/4" to 1-1/2" above the top of the transom.