Mike in Tac
Seaman
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2010
- Messages
- 50
I have a 1993 14? Livingston and a 1989 25hp Evinrude outboard. The trailer is a 1993 Shorelander that came with the boat. I bought the boat about 2 years ago and the motor a year ago ? due to a variety of reasons (meaning, I tried fixing it up myself for a LONG time), I just got them out in the water for the first time this winter.
I?m pretty much learning things as I go along, and local mechanic showed me last month how to raise the motor and ?lock? it in place. I thought this was cool, as I often see boats being trailered with their motors in raised positions, and I figured that this would provide some added security against having my motor banging against rocks or whatever on bumpy roads.
So, this weekend I took the boat to a local lake (with motor raised), hit some railroad tracks and BANG!, the motor slams back down against the transom. (well not quite the transom, but a metal bar on the motor mount that sits about an inch off the transom itself) Dumbly, I pull over, go back to the motor, raise it and continue driving. About 2 minutes away from my house I hit a bump and BANG! The motor drops again. It was about this time that I wondered if I was hurting my boat by raising the motor like this. Go figure?. :-}
I wish I could say that this was the only time this happened, but I did the same thing when I drove the boat home from the lake in February ? I got "only" one BANG! that time.
Today, I was talking to a friend at work who told me about transom savers. I wish I knew about that before?.
In the meantime, I went out and looked over my transom tonight. I did not remove the motor, but I saw no evidence of any scratches, dents or cracks related to my BANGS. I rapped on the transom with my knuckles and tugged on it a few times - it seems real solid. It's not wobbly or anything.
I am very concerned that my bad choices to drive with the unsecured, raised motor may have caused some damage to the transom. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I should go about determining if I screwed anything up? Any other tips?
As for the future, am I right in guessing that a transom saver should be on my shopping list? Another guy at work suggested that I secure the motor tight against the transom in the ?down? position ? just to eliminate the rattling and bumping on the road.
Thanks for your help,
MIT
I?m pretty much learning things as I go along, and local mechanic showed me last month how to raise the motor and ?lock? it in place. I thought this was cool, as I often see boats being trailered with their motors in raised positions, and I figured that this would provide some added security against having my motor banging against rocks or whatever on bumpy roads.
So, this weekend I took the boat to a local lake (with motor raised), hit some railroad tracks and BANG!, the motor slams back down against the transom. (well not quite the transom, but a metal bar on the motor mount that sits about an inch off the transom itself) Dumbly, I pull over, go back to the motor, raise it and continue driving. About 2 minutes away from my house I hit a bump and BANG! The motor drops again. It was about this time that I wondered if I was hurting my boat by raising the motor like this. Go figure?. :-}
I wish I could say that this was the only time this happened, but I did the same thing when I drove the boat home from the lake in February ? I got "only" one BANG! that time.
Today, I was talking to a friend at work who told me about transom savers. I wish I knew about that before?.
In the meantime, I went out and looked over my transom tonight. I did not remove the motor, but I saw no evidence of any scratches, dents or cracks related to my BANGS. I rapped on the transom with my knuckles and tugged on it a few times - it seems real solid. It's not wobbly or anything.
I am very concerned that my bad choices to drive with the unsecured, raised motor may have caused some damage to the transom. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I should go about determining if I screwed anything up? Any other tips?
As for the future, am I right in guessing that a transom saver should be on my shopping list? Another guy at work suggested that I secure the motor tight against the transom in the ?down? position ? just to eliminate the rattling and bumping on the road.
Thanks for your help,
MIT
