Traveling with Yamaha Tilt Support

Tortuga

We'll be starting our annual trip Friday up to the PNW -- about 3000 miles round trip. I'm wondering about traveling with the tilt support. I have a new Yamaha 90 -- and the manual says not to travel with the engine supported only by the motor's tilt support. They recommend using an external support bracket.

I want the motor to be at maximum tilt because I fear grinding the lower unit when going in and out of gas stations etc -- some have pretty steep entrances.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Matt

CTYankee · Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 11:19 pm Post subject:

I've travelled with the built in tilt support for 7 years and 15,000 miles. Never had a problem.

Dun

Wefings · Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 11:19 pm Post subject:

Use a wood block to rest the motor on[the easiest] or one of the pipe style rests that go over the trim and tilt rams while traveling.Yamaha sells em or you can make em . Tilt your engine as little as possible to maintain 12=15 inches of clearance for the skeg.Oil stays in the crankcase on a 4 stroke .Weight distribution is better .Less stress on the transom.The rests built into the motor are for working on the hydraulics and not trailering .
Marc

ghone · Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 11:28 pm Post subject:

Hi Matt, I am pretty new to trailering, but this topic was a question I had last year. I have a new Yamaha 75 and my dealer told me don't trailer by letting the motor sit on the flip up stops. It is not stressed for it. I think it was Bill and El's Halcyon that I saw the dowel idea first. I copied it. I got a dowel about 18 inches long 3/4 thick. There is a notch on the motor that holds it nicely. I put a bungy cord over the hinge and draped down to hold each end of the dowel and press motor down till the dowel catches in the notch. Go a bit more to transfer the weight and take the pressure off the mount. There is lots of discussion on the site of motor up or down, I think the majority are for down. I have about 10 inches of clearance so that is plenty. George

hardee · Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 12:13 am Post subject: use a couple of wooden blocks

Matt,

I use a couple of wooden blocks that fit up under the tilt and take the weight off the plunger-stop type devices on my twin 40's. they bring the skegs up to about 16-18 inches and the tilt is between 35 to 40 degrees. I would want at a minimum probably 14 inches of clearance, and though I don't have these, I would for long distance, put some red flag or lights there. I rarely travel about 45 miles to a launch site and my usual is about 4 miles. I keep them tilted up until I have the boat off the trailer, down the ramp and into the water. When parked for storage the blocks come out and the OB's are returned to a vertical orientation.

Good luck on your trip, travel safe and maybe we will get to cross wakes while you are in the PNW.

Harvey
SleepyC

Tortuga · Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 2:12 am Post subject:

Thanks for the feedback.

Just so I understand, is the block placed parallel to the ram like this (as I assume it is):

The bracket Yamaha sells is this, though it lists the 115 and up:

If anyone has a photo of a support block in action that would be quite helpful.

Thanks again!

Matt

jennykatz · Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 8:34 am Post subject: trailering

We trailer on a tandem axcel trailer with 14 in wheels with torsion springs(cc-23)
With that said we trailer with eng down in the highest trim with the 2 rams supports just like running in the water We have a least 15 in or so clearance unless we are going up a steep driveway there is no problems so far. We trailered a few hundred miles in fl and no problem

Sneaks

helm · Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 9:42 am Post subject:

This guy sell a ram block like the one yamaha has but I think its only around $40. Still more than a block of wood but for such a long trip might be worth it. My Suzuki manual says not to transport on the brackets. www.m-ywedge.com

Eric

hardee · Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 10:40 am Post subject: blocks go cross-ways

My blocks go cross-ways, (horizontally) just below where the red bar is in the drawing. The are about 12 inches long, and looking at the end, are 2.5 - 3 inches across the base of the triangle, and about 1.5 inches high at the apex, which has been slightly flattened through use.

Sorry no photos in my album that will show that.

Harvey
SleepyC

Don and Brenda · Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 11:59 am Post subject:

I use the wedge over the cylinder, except mine says North River instead of Yamaha for my yammy 115. One thing make sure you put it on the port side. If you accidently forget and put it on the right side you will find a broken off zerk fitting and a dangling ground wire. I just replaced the zerk fitting and reconnected the ground. Lesson learned and that zerk fitting is a bugger to find as Yamaha has a weird thread and most boat dealers around me have gone out of business. One dealer said they have never heard of this problem, however Yamaha has a service bulletin out on this problem

Doryman · Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 2:57 am Post subject:

HERE is a page on the Yamaha website for the above-mentioned supports; at the bottom of the page it says

Dora~Jean · Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:26 pm Post subject:

Hi Matt! Wish we could have spent more time together a couple of weekends ago at Catalina. I guess we both had "our hands full" with passengers - ha!

I have twin Yamaha 80's which are the same as the 75/100's. I damaged my port engines little tilt bracket when I brought it home from the dealer in Dec, 2002, 450 mi trip. Yamaha sent me a new one under warranty, but with no explanation whether to use it or not for trailering. I figured "not" since it got damaged.

I installed Transom Savers right away. There are discussions on the pros and cons of using them, mainly the possibility of the boat bouncing on the trailer possibly causing undue stress on the engine's tilt mechanism. I've had no damage or problems whatsoever since using them, I've travelled well over 15,000 miles so far.

Alternately, I'd go with a wood block or dowel (horizontally) as mentioned, cheap, simple and effective.

You can see barely my Transom Savers in the photo below.

jennykatz · Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 10:34 pm Post subject: eng supports

I've noticed on my friends boat a new 90 hp yamaha that it just has one cylinder for tilt and trim . Whereas my f-115 yamaha (06) has 3 The main one is for tilt whereas the 2 small one are for trim So we use the 2 trim ones for the eng to rest on while we trailer I'm pulling the boat out next week I can take pictures if this thread is still on by next week . so basically the main cylinder is between the 2 smaller ones whereas on new motors they do away with the trim rams ?

Tortuga · Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 2:12 pm Post subject:

In the end I used the old trasom saver I had in the shed. Aside from shaking a slight bit loose as I drove down the Grapevine (the I-5 grade north of Los Angeles into the Central Valley) it served well for the first leg to Portland -- 1000 miles in 2 days with the whole crew (my wife and 3 boys).

When making these kinds of long trips I always strap the boat down to the trailer with a cargo strap on the bow (just inside the bow cleat) and over the stern (right over the fuel caps). And, of course I tighten the bow eye winch and chain it in place. When ratcheted down tight the boat and trailer are pretty much one unit. I think that helps the transom saver do its thing. In the past I've had the boat and trailer move independently which makes it impossible for the transom saver to do much.

Thanks for all your suggestions! After a few days here (Portland) we'll head up to Anacortes and splash the boat. Then, turn around and head to Tahoe for several days before heading home.

Matt