[mwolaver]

I've been tucking my tiller motor against the transom and running a strap across it to keep it turned to one side, but I've been using a transom saver on my Hewes.

On a tiller motor, how do you keep the motor centered when it's on the saver? Seems like it would want to fall to one side or the other.

I use a couple of cinch-type cords on my tiller, one on each side, to keep it centered on long trips. A piece of 1.5" PVC pipe fits nicely within the bracket and holds the engine at the height I want. I just "trim" the motor down onto the PVC to just barely compress the pipe. On my yamaha, the steering tensioner won't tighten enough to hold the motor straight on long trips.

Edit: sorry to derail. I do not think a transom saver is needed with these small engines.

 

[crboggs]

I do not think a transom saver is needed with these small engines.

They certainly don't hurt though, IMHO.

 

[coconutgroves]

I'd rather be safe than sorry. I've used one for every boat I've ever owned. But I also trailer my skiff about 400 miles round trip and we have some crappy sink holes on our roads here in TX headed to the coast from Austin.

If you get the Attwood model from Amazon, watch out for generic knock offs. I had one arrive a few weeks ago - no Attwood label, photo copied instructions (not that I need them), but worse, no holes drilled into the bar to set the length. I ordered a replacement and got the real thing.

 

[crboggs]

If you get the Attwood model from Amazon, watch out for generic knock offs. I had one arrive a few weeks ago - no Attwood label, photo copied instructions (not that I need them), but worse, no holes drilled into the bar to set the length. I ordered a replacement and got the real thing.

Jeff Bezos has made more money off cheap chinese knock offs than WalMart ever dreamed of...

 

[mwolaver]

I don't want to be argumentative, but I have never had a transom fail or become damaged from trailering. No one I know has ever had a transom problem from trailering. Presumably these devices transfer the force of a bouncing lower unit from the transom to the trailer frame, sometimes through the keel roller? I trailer with my engine only tilted enough to reliably clear road hazards. I think that there is more force transmitted to my transom while I am running the boat (or sometimes hitting something....I know, never happens), then while I am trailering. Maybe on @coconutgroves nasty roads in Tejas it's different...maybe.

I am thinking about this incorrectly, Chris?

 

[crboggs]

I am thinking about this incorrectly, Chris?

Nah...there's no right or wrong here IMHO.

Hell...as thick as the transom is on my Spear I could probably stand on the top of my Tohatsu and bounce up and down without doing it much harm.

But...I use the transom saver as a way to immobilize the motor as much as anything...especially the tiller arm and CM extension.

I see too many skiffs bouncing around on their trailers with moving parts flailing left and right.

I always police my skiff and make sure there is nothing loose or untethered whenever I go further than the half mile between storage and the ramp.

 

[POCtied]

don't use one, motor doesn't move at all