Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I recently read lots of people dont use these and just leave the motor all the way down. I have a Merc 115 on mine which is heavy. I have been using a saver but with these s**ty roads around here it pops off the motor a lot. I even have it bungied to the motor. Just looking for what people do on their setup. I think part of it is my motor is not at 45 degrees or so, and may need a longer unit. I didnt take any pics yet, I decided to post first. Thanks for any input, Frank.

I use one, my motor is tilted up just slightly. Never had a problem with it trying to come off. Do you have a picture of your setup?


This is when I first installed mine. It's sort of homemade jobby, I found the motor side laying along the road. I fabbed the trailer side myself.

I will take one in the morning. Previous owner fabbed mine and I have been modifying since. Not a pretty sight!

My trailer is high enough I don't tilt it up pulling it up the ramp or down the road

Mine is too, but with the weight of the Merc Im not sure thats a good idea. Its a four cylinder unit, and I`ve already had to reinforce the transom when it broke loose from the main frame.

The Voyager has some issues in that arena, but I dont know if the transom saver makes that much difference on stress. I liked geometry in school, but forgot everything I learned about angles. So much for paying attention,,,

It should get roughter treatment on the water, it twisting and bouncing around on the water.

Going down the road it is just bouncing up and down, plus with a bar wouldn't you be tranfering any bumps you hit on the road to the engine and engine pod ???

this question has been debated for as long as I can remember. Always used one, starting with my first boat in 1970 and use one now on my pontoon. some people say it doesn't do any good. I have never had a problem with either the boat, engine or trailer using one. I will continue to use one just because its always worked for me.

Hi Frank.... as someone else mentioned, this is an issue that has been kicked around for a long long time with no "real" absolute answer..... My yamaha manual says if there's plenty of clearance you should tow with the motor trimmed all the way down... it also says if you don't have clearance you should use some sort of motor support.... having said that my son wanted one for his pontoon which has a yamaha 115 four stroke on the back end... I bought him one from this company. www.motormateusa.com not cheap... around 100 bucks or so, but well made and seems to be well thought out... I would buy one for my motor except they don't have one on the market for my Yamaha 75... oh, and another device I saw that got a lot of good reviews was at www.lock-n-haul.com. I like the motormate better, but this lock and haul seems like it would do the job also...

This was touched on this thread as well. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16552 In it you'll see a picture of my transom, cracked by not using one on the way home (350 plus miles) after buying the boat. The dealer told me to use the factory Verado tow support, that swings down from the motor. I should have known better, because of all the miles logged pulling the old boat around with one, never a problem. This is not the worse that can happen. I was talking to the service manager at the repair facility that repaired the transom (free of charge, under warranty by Premiers 20 year warranty, THEY ROCK!) He said he has seen the aluminum break on the outboard side, around the bolt mounting holes where the motor bolts to the transom. Actually had a customer loose his outboard completely when his outboard mount broke around all 4 holes. I'm not sure of a smaller outboard, but mine weighs 625 pounds and when its twisting on the transom for 350 miles, somethings gonna give, eventually. I have trailered over 2100 miles in the last year with the Transom saver on this boat now. The last boat, my Manitou had over 17000 miles of trailering with one, never an issue.
My 2 cents, for under $60.00 you can have a T/Saver. Transom repair... $200.00plus and if you bust the motor bracket, $wow!
I'll use one every time I tow 1 mile or 500 miles.
Plus I can feel the difference in the tow since I brought the boat home that first trip. Its rock solid on the trailer!

kryptonite wrote:I use one, my motor is tilted up just slightly. Never had a problem with it trying to come off. Do you have a picture of your setup?


This is when I first installed mine. It's sort of homemade jobby, I found the motor side laying along the road. I fabbed the trailer side myself.

In my humble opinion, the transom saver bar is doing little to help support the weight of the motor in the above pic. In fact I will respectfully submit that there is little to no benefit from it in this pic.

Ideally, the motor should be in the highest possible position with the transom saver bar installed because a larger amount of the motors weight will be properly supported by the trailer as opposed to the transom. Think of it simple leverage terms.

I always use my TSB when on the road and think it will extend the life of many vital components like especially during the time I towed my toon from Dallas TX to KY. When its installed, my motor is practically in its upper most position.

ROLAND wrote:Hi Frank.... as someone else mentioned, this is an issue that has been kicked around for a long long time with no "real" absolute answer..... My yamaha manual says if there's plenty of clearance you should tow with the motor trimmed all the way down... it also says if you don't have clearance you should use some sort of motor support.... having said that my son wanted one for his pontoon which has a yamaha 115 four stroke on the back end... I bought him one from this company. http://www.motormateusa.com not cheap... around 100 bucks or so, but well made and seems to be well thought out... I would buy one for my motor except they don't have one on the market for my Yamaha 75... oh, and another device I saw that got a lot of good reviews was at http://www.lock-n-haul.com. I like the motormate better, but this lock and haul seems like it would do the job also...

I don't see the lock-n-haul as a transom saver. It does hold the motor up to avoid dragging the skeg, but it still puts the load on the transom. Instead of going from the motor to the trailer, it appears to go from the raised motor to the transom brackets of the motor. That's from looking at the three examples on their web page.

Glenn

wrd1972 wrote:

kryptonite wrote:I use one, my motor is tilted up just slightly. Never had a problem with it trying to come off. Do you have a picture of your setup?


This is when I first installed mine. It's sort of homemade jobby, I found the motor side laying along the road. I fabbed the trailer side myself.

In my humble opinion, the transom saver bar is doing little to help support the weight of the motor in the above pic. In fact I will respectfully submit that there is little to no benefit from it in this pic.

Ideally, the motor should be in the highest possible position with the transom saver bar installed because a larger amount of the motors weight will be properly supported by the trailer as opposed to the transom. Think of it simple leverage terms.

I always use my TSB when on the road and think it will extend the life of many vital components like especially during the time I towed my toon from Dallas TX to KY. When its installed, my motor is practically in its upper most position.

I'll disagree, only because when I trim down against the transom saver, the transom actually goes upward slightly. So this would tell me that it does help. You're not trying to support the whole weight of the motor, just cushion it from jolts from rough roads.

kryptonite wrote: I'll disagree, only because when I trim down against the transom saver, the transom actually goes upward slightly. So this would tell me that it does help. You're not trying to support the whole weight of the motor, just cushion it from jolts from rough roads.

Agreed! 100%....
You have to support the motor by taking the pressure off the transom and letting the trailer brace it. Take it from someone who has been there and done that. And can show you the proof.
As far as the Motormates and Lock-n-Hauls, same thing, they do not take the pressure off the transom. A buddy used a M-Y Wedge on his Champion for several years, then the transom began to spiderweb through the gelcoat. He has since gone to a trailer mounted transom saver after having his transom re-gelcoated. I used the M-Y Wedge once on my Manitou and lost it somewhere around the Iowa-Missouri border on I218-27. The trim cylinders still moved enough to loosen it up and jar it out. The trailer mounted transom saver won't let the trim cylinders move out and in, because the lower part of the outboard is locked in place.
I'm not preachin the T/Saver gospel here, but my own expirience is proof enough for myself that I'll use a trailer mounted T/Saver on everyboat I own currently and in the future.

I know this can be a controversial topic, but I didnt intend it to be. I do my best to avoid those. But, thanks for the great input guys! Lots of real good points. My motor sits at about 35 - 40 degrees and I agree more angle gives more support. I guess I will fix this POS and continue using it, mainly because this motor is so heavy.
Lets see, what can my next topic be?? Gas vs. diesel? NO WAY!!

Thanks again, guys.

lounge lizard wrote:I know this can be a controversial topic, but I didnt intend it to be. I do my best to avoid those. But, thanks for the great input guys! Lots of real good points. My motor sits at about 35 - 40 degrees and I agree more angle gives more support. I guess I will fix this POS and continue using it, mainly because this motor is so heavy.
Lets see, what can my next topic be?? Gas vs. diesel? NO WAY!!

Thanks again, guys.

Diesel if you have big nuts to go with it