[Birdnest]

On the Salty Dog board a few trailering questions came up.

1. Do you trailer your boat with the outboard all the way up and resting on the built in brace?

2. If not, do you use a transom saver?

Skein posted that his manual warned him about trailering with the motor all of the way up, while a few of us were told the exact opposite when we purchased our boats. Sounds like a block of wood is a popular solution.

So what is the scoop? :shrug:

Tight Lines,

Joe

 

[STGRule]

I thought that was why it was called a trailering bracket. We've always put the motor all the way up, engaged the bracket and lowered the motor to take the strain of the hydraulics. Interesting question.

 

[ampersat]

not being a "fancy boat" owner, i can only speculate. however, it would seem wise to use the transom saver when trailering. up or down, the motor is going to torque on the transom while driving down the road as it bounces up and down.

 

[Smj]

$49.00 got me a transom saver at Stevens that has a bracket that bolts to the bottom back of the trailer and an arm that extends back and up to the the lower unit of the motor. The arm has a rubber "V" that cradles the motor and a bungie cord to hold it in place.
I've been using it for two and a half years now with no problems.

They also told me when I bought the boat not to trailer with the Merc all the way up and the lock in place, don't know about other brands of motors. The lock on the Merc (75 in my case) is used when servicing only.

Smj

 

[dampainter]

soo let me get this straight .....I have a 14 foot aluminum with a 15 hp yamaha. when I go down the road I have the motor down, is this going to screw up my transom?

 

[Smj]

No, I don't think so. But when I had my smaller boat, like yours, I went through a raised driveway once and trashed my prop and skeg because I had the motor down.

I had a Honda 15 at the time and after trailering with the motor up after a while it broke the support that holds the motor up..CHA CHING!

Smj

 

[dampainter]

I keep it in the unlocked position so hopefully if I go over something like that it will just bounce up?

 

[Birdnest]

ttt

 

[Born to Fish]

My boat, with 90 hp Merc, came with a transom saver - don't leave home without it. :wink:

[ 08-24-2003, 04:52 PM: Message edited by: Born to Fish ]

 

[trap50]

I use 2 on my boat both the big motor and the troller. The 115 I put the saver under then let the tilt down to releive the pressure on the unit. Works great for me.. Any shock goes to the trailer not the transom.