Trailering motor up or down

F

FLATHEAD MAC

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:confused: BUDDY HAS 15' MFG TRI HULL WITH A MERCURY 500 50 HP MOTOR BAUGHT COUPLE OF YEARS SGO AND JUST GETTING TIME TO GET HER ON THE WATER, A MAGORITY OF BOATS IVE SEEN GOING DOWN THE ROAD ARE UP SOME WITH TRANSOM SUPPORTS AND SOME WITHOUT, BUT READING THAT SOME TRAILER WITH MOTOR DOWN.

THE WAY THE BOAT SITS ON TRAILER MOTOR BEARLY CLEARS THE GROUND . BUT LOOKING AT CLEARANCE BETWEEN BOTTOM OF BOAT AND TRAILER THERES ONLY ABOUT 1" - 1 1/2" , THINKING THAT S A LITTLE CLOSE ALL SLIDERS AND ROLLERS ARE ADJUSTIBLE AND HAVE ROOM TO MOVE UP.

THINKING OF MOVING UP TO GET AT LEAST 2 1/2 - 3" ONCE WE GET BOAT IN WATER.

BACK TO ORIGONAL QUESTION TRAILERING SHOULD MOTOR BE UP OR DOWN. WHICH WOULD BE BEST????
 
F

FLATHEAD MAC

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

:rolleyes: Apollogize for the CAP LOCK . came across another post answering on up / down. but still courious on boat trailer clearance?
 
etracer68

etracer68

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

Up, in the locked position, you should have 12 inches of clearance to ground, to be safe.
 
S

Scottimus

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

Yeah, there would be no way to pull my boat with the motor down. Any little bump and the skeg would be scraping the road, so I have it up and locked when pulling, I put it down when it is in the driveway...
 
JimS123

JimS123

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

Never trailer up - the stress from bouncing can ruin your transom (ask me how I know....LOL)

All the way down if the skeg has at least 12" clearance from the road, or half way down with a transom saver bracket.
 
H

Home Cookin'

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

well here we go again.
There is no one answer because trailers and boats are different.
Clearance is the first concern.
Many people believe, and I agree, that IF you have the clearance, leave it down.

But millions of miles have been travelled with the motor up, with no sudden or long-term harm. The exceptions are so few as to be statistically irrelevant--except in one respect. The motor must be secure to keep it from bouncing off. If it is secure from bouncing on the transom, either up/down or side2side, you are less likely to have a bounce-off, and logically, reduce stress on the motor and transom.

The risk of harm trailering up is slight. The risk of harm trailering down is substantial and therefore must be assessed case by case.

There is no "never"; that advice is wrong.
 
Silvertip

Silvertip

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

Unless you have at least 12 inches of clearance between the skeg and the ground you MUST raise the motor. Leaving or entering a curb/driveway can easily drag the motor. Raising the motor all the way and using the "tilt lock" while trailering is also wrong as most owners manuals will tell you. They are used when the boat is in the water and to hold the motor up. They are not designed to take the abuse of a bouncing motor while trailering. There are an abundance of the transom savers (motor "deflopperizers") available for trailering and support use.
 
lncoop

lncoop

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

I ALWAYS tow with my motor down.......... of course I have a party barge.:p Actually though, I do think I'll start towing with the motor cradled on a deflopperizer. Just think it will be kinder to the motor pod.
 
B

BRICH1260

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

Up with a motor "defloperizer" secured to motor and trailer.
 
bigdee

bigdee

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

I was driving behind someone pulling a bass boat and for whatever reason the motor was trimmed all the way down. I don't know if he hit a bump or if he ran off the shoulder but his prop hit the pavement and jerked the boat off the trailer....poor guy,looked liked a new bass boat too. He was too angry and embarrassed to talk to. So, IMO I would tow with motor up and locked.
 
j_martin

j_martin

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

Jims....What you don't know is that the transom was junk to start with.

Dan over at CountryView Marine showed me a LU with the skeg ground off right up to the gear housing. Customer bought a bass boat in Chicago, towed it to Minneapolis behind a motor home. Motor tilt hydraulics sagged and let the motor slowly ride right down into the road.

Another thing I have found out from an insurance man is that if a big motor is carried tilted up, and it's rear-ended, it usually does a little prop and skeg damage to the motor, none to the boat. Most of the shock is absorbed by the offending grill, radiator, water pump, air cleaner, hood, etc.

I use the transport brace for long hauls. Skip it for the quick jaunt to the local lake.
 
beason

beason

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

I am assuming you guys are talking about O/B motors. I have an I/O and i cant even put the lower all the way down on the trailer. I have looked at the defloppers, but im not sure i need one. Ive never had the lower go down on its own, but for long trips i think i would feel better.
 
H

H20Rat

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

beason said:
I am assuming you guys are talking about O/B motors. I have an I/O and i cant even put the lower all the way down on the trailer. I have looked at the defloppers, but im not sure i need one. Ive never had the lower go down on its own, but for long trips i think i would feel better.
Click to expand...

The BEST thing you can do is find yourself a pair of those little pieces of plastic that clip onto the hydraulic rams. Simple, cheap, and very effective.
 
beason

beason

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

smokingcrater said:
The BEST thing you can do is find yourself a pair of those little pieces of plastic that clip onto the hydraulic rams. Simple, cheap, and very effective.
Click to expand...

i like this idea a lot. do you have a link for those, or at least a pic so i know what to look for?
 
oldjeep

oldjeep

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

smokingcrater said:
The BEST thing you can do is find yourself a pair of those little pieces of plastic that clip onto the hydraulic rams. Simple, cheap, and very effective.
Click to expand...

Jeez, I havn't seen those for years - do they actually still make them?
 
T

tonk62

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

get you some pvc pipe that has an inside deminsion slightly bigger or same size as rams, cut to length with motor up to fit on rams, use a saw to rip about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch groove down the lengh of pipe, just enough so they snap on over ram. Then put you some kind of flag on them, so you remember to remove them when launching boat, lol. I had them on my inboard for years, made them myself and they worked great.
 
B

BRICH1260

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

Overtons has them, saw them in catalog last night. Called trailering clips, $25.00/pr. Might look on iboats also.
 
JimS123

JimS123

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

j_martin said:
Jims....What you don't know is that the transom was junk to start with.
Click to expand...
In fact, I DO know it wasn't.

It was an aluminum boat with plywood on the top half of the transom. The wood was solid when the transom failed and is still solid to this day. Fortunately the engine with transom attached was recovered and re-welded in place with some extra reinforcement.

The failure occurred along the riveted seam where the transom meets the sides and bottom of the boat. The engine was a 40 HP Evinrude that had been tilted up and locked, and not secured in any way. The typical vacation trip was 400 miles one way. After about 5 years of driving like this the seam started to leak, and 2 years later the transom separated from the hull while towing a waterskiier.

The bottom line is that the engine bounced and it was quite visiblle to anyone following the trailer. The stupid part was that there was ample ground clearance with the engine down.
 
beason

beason

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Re: Trailering motor up or down

tonk62 said:
get you some pvc pipe that has an inside deminsion slightly bigger or same size as rams, cut to length with motor up to fit on rams, use a saw to rip about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch groove down the lengh of pipe, just enough so they snap on over ram. Then put you some kind of flag on them, so you remember to remove them when launching boat, lol. I had them on my inboard for years, made them myself and they worked great.
Click to expand...

perfect! i wouldnt use them much. its only about a mile to the storage place, and about 6 miles to the ramp. I put the lower down as far as i can at the storage so the bellows arent kinked.

I would only use them on road trips. i will check into this!
 
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