Jack plate down when trailering?

[Champ2005]

For what it's worth, I spoke with an engineer at Bob's today and he said it won't hurt the structural integrity of the plate to trailer it all the way up, but they recommend it be in the down position. The reason for this is the plate could collect dirt, dust, and road debris. The down position helps protect the greased plastic tracks that the slide plate moves up and down in.

I just got a boat with a hydraulic jackplate for the first time and never thought about this. I have a Bob's hydraulic and I have been leaving it on "2" almost all the time, while operating the boat and trailing it, do you think that is a problem? I haven't played around with the plate overall too much, so I have been leaving it there all the time.

[Mechanic Bob]

Thanks for the post as I never thought about it as I always was leaving it all the way up as to prevent damage when loading or launching. I'll be changing my ways of trailering now. Thanks.