Motor Breakaway

[huntsman]

Hi All,
I'm new to the forums and I'm in the market for a new Honda or Tohotsu 20 HP motor with short shaft, electric start, and power tilt/trim. My question involves whether or not there is a breakaway feature on motors with power tilt/trim. In other words, if I were to be motoring in shallow water and I hit a stump or rock, would the motor swing up and out of the way as a safety feature to protect the motor from substantial damage and me from whiplash? I assume that on a motor that does not have power tilt/trim the motor would swing upward and out of the way, but I'm confused if it will do the same on a powered tilt/trim.

 

[pvanv]

Re: Motor Breakaway

If you are powering in forward, the thrust of any OB motor is pushing it down against the thrust rod, so it will likely not swing up as the result of a minor underwater collision.

Likewise, if you are powering in reverse, the locking mechanism is latched on the thrust rod to hold the motor down (so it doesn't try to power up and away from the transom), so, in reverse, the motor is not going to tilt.

 

[huntsman]

Re: Motor Breakaway

Thank you very much, Paul, for your reply.
That makes perfect sense to me.....duh, I don't know why I didn't consider that.???
What if I see the object and have time to back off the throttle and hit the object anyway? Will the power tilt/trim prevent the motor from swinging up?

 

[Skagway]

Re: Motor Breakaway

At work we run jet outboards in skinny water. We ran all of our manual tilt motors without the lock pin. This would allow the motor to swing up in case of a gravel out. We had a yamaha with power trim and tilt. When you ran it to shallow it would not kick up, causing everything and everyone to fly. We had to take the piston off and ran it as a manual tilt. So the answer to your question is no. If you hit somthing you do major damage and go for a ride.

 

[huntsman]

Re: Motor Breakaway

Thank you Scagway. That definately answers my question.

 

[mnormand]

Re: Motor Breakaway

If you are powering in forward, the thrust of any OB motor is pushing it down against the thrust rod, so it will likely not swing up as the result of a minor underwater collision.

Likewise, if you are powering in reverse, the locking mechanism is latched on the thrust rod to hold the motor down (so it doesn't try to power up and away from the transom), so, in reverse, the motor is not going to tilt.

Would like to bring this up for clarification. I run very stumpy waters at times. With the class of recent model 20-25hp Toh w tilt assist, or full TnT, what exactly happens on a more solid hit? No breakaway of any kind? Hopefully transom stays intact but stuff flies?

A few years back I hit a stump hard at speed w loaded johnboat and 25 Merc manual tiller. Motor came up but I broke all kinds of heavy metal around motor pivot mount.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Motor Breakaway

mnormand You have a PM

 

[pvanv]

Re: Motor Breakaway

Would like to bring this up for clarification. I run very stumpy waters at times. With the class of recent model 20-25hp Toh w tilt assist, or full TnT, what exactly happens on a more solid hit? No breakaway of any kind? Hopefully transom stays intact but stuff flies?

A few years back I hit a stump hard at speed w loaded johnboat and 25 Merc manual tiller. Motor came up but I broke all kinds of heavy metal around motor pivot mount.

Tilt assist is still maunal tilt, so the motor can swing up in a minor collision. But with power T-n-T, the hydraulics will hold the motor in position.