Little Tin - Motor up or down when trailering?

[XS-Skeet]

Have a little 14 Jon Boat that we use as a river boat (Saluda River) equipped with a 15hp Merc 4 stroke. Sweet little rascal.

As there is no tilt or trim other than the manual cross bar, whats the recommend method of trailering the motor? Up on the motor lock and then turn to one side or leave it down?

I don't really care for leaving it down as you can whack stuff with the lower unit driving down the road, angled drive ways etc... Up in the lock position it is clear of road hazards, but just wondering how much stress is being put on the transom.

How are you guys trailering these little motors?

[mxmike]

I have a 20 hp tiller on my tin rig. When trailing, I lift it to the first tilt latch setting, turn motor to the side and strap lightly to transom eyes. I put just enough tension on the ratchet strap to keep motor from bouncing when I hit bumps in the road.

[Loweman11]

Motor toter?

[Jeff Hahn]

I have a 14' 4" Lund Rebel with a 25 hp Yamaha F25 motor. My boat came with a motor toter and it works great. I wouldn't be without one.

[Team Colibri]

If at all possible, your outboard should be trimmed down when on the trailer. If this is not possible (due to a low trailer), trim/ tilt up as far as you must but no more, and use some kind of support for the ouboard. This is regardless of size of your boat, as the dimmensions on trim/tilt, outboard-bracket, boats transom etc reflects the size of the boat and outboard.

[Ranger391v]

I used to live in that part of the world, and had little boats like you described. I always put the flip lever on the outboard to 'shallow water kick up', picked motor up so the little lever would catch the motor into an upward angle for navigating shallow water, turn motor all the way to one side, put a ratchet strap from transom tiedown loop to tiedown loop ....... and periodically check outboard mounting bolts for being tight.

Two extra things pertaining to,
If your have your motor mounted by only 'clamped' using the twist/screw clamps that typically come on small outboards ...... then do yourself a favor and at least through bolt the lower holes.

The biggest thing to worry about with SC roads (paved or dirt) is making sure the bunk boards extend past the transom at least 1/2" or further. This will prevent you from beating a hook into your hull. I almost ruined a War Eagle on a WESCO one time b/c of this. Thankfully I was able to beat it out and not crack a weld.

Good Luck!!!!
-391v

[XS-Skeet]

Thanks guys for all the ideas!

And... Ranger391V... Yeah, tell me about SC roads! Getting worse by the day, I26 between Greenville and Columbia is a mess...

[Alex from GA]

I have a 14' old glass boat with a Merc 25 that I leave down to tow. The motor locks in the down position when in neutral and there's plenty of clearance under the skeg.