Engine Trailering Support

[Bransher]

I recently took delivery of a new 26M with a Suzuki DF50 engine. The engine manual says not to use the tilt lever for engine support when trailering the boat on the highway. They recommend using a transom saver bar for this purpose. However, it appears that the boat extends too far beyond the trailer to make this work. What are you folks using for engine support?

[kmclemore]

Not familiar with the Suzi, but my Tohatsu has a little kick-stand that flips down.. you raise the motor all the way, flip down the stand, then lower the motor till the stand firmly contacts the mounting bracket. That's all I use.. works great.

On your Suzi, I expect this is probably the lever for your kick-stand.



BTW, this has been discussed before, so might want to look here:

http://macgregorsailors.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=6277

Cheers,
Kevin

[Bransher]

Thanks for the reply, Kevin. I did do a search before posting, but for whatever reason, I did not find anything that applied.

The kickstand that you refer to is indeed on my engine, but that is precisely what Suzuki warns against using. They say it is only for staitionary use and could fail if used in transit.

[Hamin' X]

This is a standard warning for most OB's. I have always used an old axe handle. Any suitable piece of hardwood should suffice.

Rich

[Don n Cheri]

Rich, how do you use your handle to hold up your motor
..... ahhh AX HANDLE, that is.

don

[Hamin' X]

Tilt motor all the way up.
Place handle between transom mount and motor where kick stands are.
Lower motor onto handle.

Rich

[Catigale]

I just tie a dock line from cleat to the motor to help support it. I dont do this on the short drive to the Hudson (15 minutes) but always on the big ocean trips. Same dock line comes on board the board on the water - multiple uses for all things....

[Chip Hindes]

Not familiar with the Suzi, but my Tohatsu has a little kick-stand that flips down.. you raise the motor all the way, flip down the stand, then lower the motor till the stand firmly contacts the mounting bracket. That's all I use.. works great.

The Tohatsu manual calls this a "tilt stopper" (must be a drect translation form the original Japanese) and like most motor manuals, it says not to use it for trailering. The theory is that the casting it's bolted to is not designed for the loads that occur during trailering, and if it breaks replacement would be very expensive.

Like many, I used mine this way for the first two years or so of my boat's life without incident. I've never heard of one actually breaking.

I used a hunk of wood wedged in between the parts for a few years, but it didn't fit very well and I eventually lost it.

My current brace is a piece of thick wall aluminum tube with the one side cut out so it slips over the tilt cylinder rod, and cut to the right length so that tilting the motor all the way up leaves just enough room for it to slip it in, while tilting it back down holds it in place. I "store" it in the transom well when it's not in use.

[Divecoz]

I do the same as Chip , except mine is a short piece of Grey Electrical PVC pipe. Yes it works great.
Everyone and his brother is in CYA mode everywhere.
There is or was site dedicated to funny and ridiculous warning stickers and the like.

[Catigale]

My all time favourite (and this is sure to generate a Pub thread) is

DOnt use your new lawn mower to trim hedges

[Night Sailor]

I use about 5.5 inches of 1.5 inch schedule 40 PVC with a longitudinal slit cut just a bit smaller than the tilt cylinder rod diameter. It springs open enough to slide on, but can't come off by itself. And it's practically invisible. It stores in one of the fuel compartments when not in use, but is reachable from the ground for trailering prep. In the beginning I used a piece of 2x4 under the bracket but it didn't look all that nice.