This is the first boat i ever owned although i have been out with friends in there boats which also do not have power tilt. My question is that on my friends boats when we come in to the boat launch they are able to grab the back of the motor and tilt it forward until it locks to prevent lower end damage but on this boat there is a rod which is removable that goes across the mounting bracket of the motor on the transom and once the motor is lowered the latch on the motor locks on to this rod and once that happens there is no way that i can see to release the latch to tilt the motor forward the only way i see to tilt the motor forward is to lift the motor slightly and remove the rod and the only way to do that is to get out in the water so my question is do i remove this rod completly and run the motor all the way down or is there a way to release this latch from in the boat that i am not aware of? and if i remove the rod so that i can just grab the motor and tilt it will it damage the motor or the transom by allowing the motor to rest all the way down against the boat by not using the rod? thanks in advance for your advice.
