01 Our Tohatsu 9.8 engine tilt stopper bent, preventing us from being able to keep the engine tilted out of the water. This is a major problem for us, because the engine has to be tilted while underway, as well as to be tilted for placement on the boat storage rack. In my opinion, this is a poor engineering design feature, because there is only one support point in the assembly. The obvious solution from an engineering standpoint is to have two support points. In my opinion, this is too heavy a motor to have only one support point.

02 After spending $52 for the mechanic to bend the bracket back into place and only see it fail again, it became apparent that ordering a new bracket would result in the same issue over time. So I constructed a 3/4" diameter PVC T-Support.

03 Here, the T-Support securely holds the motor in place taking pressure off of the bracket. The "T" end slips over the reverse lock rod. The motor is very solidly held in place by this support. The horizontal 3/4" PVC pipe with elbows above it is inserted at that location just in case the T-Support disengages. It also saves me from harm should the T-Support accidentally disengage. I DON"T RECOMMEND OTHERS SHOULD TAKE MY ACTIONS. JUST BE AWARE OF THE ISSUES THIS MODEL CAN CAUSE. BUT IF ANYONE WERE TO DUPLICATE THIS SET UP, NEVER USE THE T-SUPPORT WITHOUT ALSO USING THE HORIZONTAL ROD AS A FAILSAFE MEASURE TO PROTECT PERSONS AND PROPERTY. Finally, I only used this set-up for about 90 miles. I don't know whether or not PVC will be elastic enough over time to withstand the stress. Next year, I am thinking about constructing a similar set up out of steel pipe. Naturally, the cradle will have to be rubberized if steel is used.

04 To deploy the motor, I pull back on the engine, and the T-Support just drops down. Then I remove the T-Support and an elbow from the horizontal PVC pipe, lift the engine back again, remove the horizontal pipe, and then drop the engine in place. If this seems like a pain in the neck -- it is.

05 This change really holds the kicker in place securely, and is not too much hassle for us, because we seldom use our kicker. But for others, I honestly can't recommend a Tohatsu manual tilt kicker because of what I believe to be an issue with a tilt stopper of poor engineering design. It' a shame, because our electric start model starts first time, every time, and runs like a champ. Also, on the Marinaut, the splashwell is quite deep, and it is difficult to deploy and retrieve the motor. It is for this reason that I can only recommend a Tohatsu kicker with electric trim/tilt.

Top view. On October 8, 2013, I showed the set-up to my mechanic, who told me that this type of motor was not designed to spend the majority of its time tilted out of the water. If the engineers wanted to design it that way, they would have implemented a secure locking mechanism. He nevertheless was impressed with the improvisation, and could see that it securely held the motor in place.