Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

As I walk around the inland lake marina, I notice (roughly) half the motors tilted all the way up and the other half have the motors down. The dealer we bought from gave fairly detailed instructions on many things, but did not mention what is better to do with the motor while docked. And I didn't know to ask.

Is there a best practice position to store the motor? We do have power tilt/lift if that matters, but I figure anything mechanical has an end life which could end sooner if used more. If there is not a good reason to raise the motor, I would leave it down - as we do now.

TNX

Up when not in use as otherwise the crap that grows on the bottom of your pontoons will also be growing on the foot of your motor too... I left the foot of my motor down for 5 or 6 weeks while the ECM was being re-programmed and my once mirror-shine stainless steel prop is now etched a hard water dark gray and is no longer smooth to the touch either....

Ditto....

Great - Thanks...

teecro wrote:Up when not in use as otherwise the crap that grows on the bottom of your pontoons will also be growing on the foot of your motor too... I left the foot of my motor down for 5 or 6 weeks while the ECM was being re-programmed and my once mirror-shine stainless steel prop is now etched a hard water dark gray and is no longer smooth to the touch either....

Would your advice be different if the boat was stored on a lift and the foot of the motor wasn't under water when the motor was down?

jediger wrote:

teecro wrote:Up when not in use as otherwise the crap that grows on the bottom of your pontoons will also be growing on the foot of your motor too... I left the foot of my motor down for 5 or 6 weeks while the ECM was being re-programmed and my once mirror-shine stainless steel prop is now etched a hard water dark gray and is no longer smooth to the touch either....

Would your advice be different if the boat was stored on a lift and the foot of the motor wasn't under water when the motor was down?

Either way then...

Another bad side effect of leaving the motor in the water is that the speedo will quit working.

The boat shop left mine in the water for a few days after working on it before I made it back to the lake.

The speedo quit working cause it got gummed up with crud.

The next time it was pulled out of the water was end of year and it got pressure washed.

Speedo started working again cause the crud got cleaned out.

On lifts, I see motors both ways.

Doesn't seem to matter if the motor is out of the water.

Last year, mine went in the water in mid March and stayed until Nov. 4th.

This year it took till April to get it in, but it'll probably stay till November again.

If I left the motor down, it'd be gunked up, so I leave it tilted up.

I drop the motor down into the water when I step onto the boat. Swab off spiderwebs, Pull life jackets from stowage, fill the ice chest with ice. Roll up the extension cord and stow the battery charger in the dock box, and then turn on the main switch and power up the GPS/Depth Finder and fire up the motor, checking to ensure the pee line is discharging water. Once a month, I'll check the oil level before cranking up the motor.

If all that's in order, then I cast off lines and go toonin!

Thanks everyone. I always appreciate your step-by-step procedures because I will probably mirror them, too. I went and raised the motor all the way - Completely out of the water. Then I looked down the line and of the ones raised at all, they were only raised enough to get the prop out of the water. I'm new here and have not seen these other boats out on the lake as of yet - I suppose the hydraulic lift can drift down in time? Or maybe they are only concerned for the prop and consider the rest of the lower housing is simply cosmetic (thinking about growth)?

urbnsr wrote:Thanks everyone. I always appreciate your step-by-step procedures because I will probably mirror them, too. I went and raised the motor all the way - Completely out of the water. Then I looked down the line and of the ones raised at all, they were only raised enough to get the prop out of the water. I'm new here and have not seen these other boats out on the lake as of yet - I suppose the hydraulic lift can drift down in time? Or maybe they are only concerned for the prop and consider the rest of the lower housing is simply cosmetic (thinking about growth)?

Keep in mind that all boat/motor combo are different some may only be able to clear the water by a little bit, some may not clear the water at all and yet some lift full clear. My friends HONDA will not quite clear all the way as the motor is just big boned for his boat...

The only time a trim/till will drift if if it leaks by or leaks out and either way that is another problem to deal with but is also very rare.

Much more than cosmetic when you have Zebra Mussels growing inside your foot and fowling your water intake and/or ruining your motor due to overheating....

Good points. Nice pictures!

urbnsr wrote:Good points. Nice pictures!

Notice two completely different motors? Both tilted out all the way but each look different due to overall size and weight too as one motor is a hundred pounds heavier so she sits deeper in the water...

I did NOT notice that the two were different. Should the heavier motor be mounted high to offset the weight/depth difference?

urbnsr wrote:I did NOT notice that the two were different. Should the heavier motor be mounted high to offset the weight/depth difference?

Well yes and no... What you have to look at is underway performance in that you would like to get the motor as high up as you can without a loss in speed and/or performance. This motor is mounted up one hole from lowest for that reason which also allows full tilt without hitting the boat; which in my case is the gas filler... When underway at full speed with your normal load you would like to see the large flat anti-cav plate at or close to the water surface.

Cool. Thanks T Cro.

At my Fil's marina someone stole all the props that were out of the water a few years ago...including the Sheriff's patrol boat.