First time boat owner with questions. (Long)

If this is in the wrong area of the forum I apologize. First off let me say I am 30yrs old and had boats in the family my whole life, however this is the first time for me to own one. I grew up with my grandpas 16ft Lowe aluminum and his 20ft Sea-Ray. Well since his passing dad got the Sea-Ray and my uncle got the Lowe which i no longer have access too, we use the Sea-Ray for Lake Erie a lot but it's harder to fish smaller lakes with it. So I wanted a smaller boat. I got a great deal from my uncles friend on a 15ft Meyers aluminum with trailer and 18hp Evinrude Fastwin. Came with fuel tanks, anchores, lines, oars, etc. I dont know the model of it as I cant find a placard plate anywhere. I do know that it used to be steering wheel drive and that was all removed and now it's tiller steer. After cleaning the carb, replacing lower drive lube, and putting new rope in just for security(its elec start), we took it out and she runs like a top! Anyways heres the questions. When pulling the boat down the road the motor seems awfully close to the ground. Theres no lock or anything to keep the motor tilted up that we can find and it doesn;t appear to have ever had anything. So are we missing something? or should we jack to boat up and move the trailer pads upward since it seems we have lots of room in the slots where they are bolted to trailer?(See picture) Also if we move the rear up do we have to maintain at least some upward slope from rear to front? otherwise the boat would be hard to load and unload if it were doing a nosedive on trailer. Also when trailering down road I noticed that the motor swings back and forth, once again cant find a lock, so we used a strap temporarily but it shouldn;t do that should it? And I guess last but not least, I noticed when we fished the other night with it that the entire boat stayed bone dry except a little bit in very front, at first i thought maybe splashing over front when dad first sat in front seat, or water from anchor, but now I wonder if I have a small seep because i noticed on the bow eye it looks like someone has placed a little sealant once before, and it has a very slight amount of wiggle to it. Is this something I should worry about or am I just being overly anal? Thanks for any info and help guys.

Re: First time boat owner with questions. (Long)

Had the same problem, a transom saver is what will keep the motor from bouncing all around while trailering. You can pick them up jus about anywhere. picked mine up from bass pro shop and the other from cabellas. if i rememeber the fun about 40.00. i have seen some people also use a block of wood, so it takes the stress on the transom and applies it to the wood, atleast i would assume so. as far as the bow eye, some silicone might work.

Re: First time boat owner with questions. (Long)

rcrew said:

some silicone might work.

Click to expand...

As a rule, don't use silicone on anything that comes into contact with water....it won't last. Use 3M 5200 to seal something permanently(very difficult to get off in the future).

Or use 3M 4200 which is very good, but doesn't need to be ground off should you need to remove it in the future.

Re: First time boat owner with questions. (Long)

sorry meant sealant.....agree with Bon 110%

Re: First time boat owner with questions. (Long)

this transom saver, do they permanently attatch to trailer and fold away when loading and unloading? or basically like a "kickstand" you just prop it in their when trailering and take it completely out during launch/load? are they generally a one fits all in certain HP ranges for motors?

Re: First time boat owner with questions. (Long)

The kind that I have seen are removable/stowable. They worked by bracing between the trailer and lower unit and are adjustable (in length). You may want to check at the big K or wally world too.

Re: First time boat owner with questions. (Long)

Wal-Mart should have a transom saver that will meet your needs fine. One end is hooked and goes around your first keel roller and the other end on the motor's lower unit and secured with a bungee.

Re: First time boat owner with questions. (Long)

thanks for the help guys, i will get my transom saver. im sure i will have more questions soon.