Trailering a tiller and keeping the motor straight

[gofishwalleye]

Save yourself the money and shipping and make the clips yourself out of a length of pvc. I was ruining the transomsaver HRG posted a pic of. Fabricated the clips out of pvc and no more movement. CAUTION...Dangit... dont forget to remove the clips!!! I usually remember when helplesly floating around the marina!!!!!!!!!

[REW]

I can see how the steering stops would work if you had wheel steering on the motor. I can possibly see how the steering stops might work if yu had power steering on the tiller.

But I fail to see how the steering stops would work for a tiller with a conventional handle.

The typical tiller does not use the steering tube does one?

REW

[Hot Runr Guy]

Originally Posted by REW

The typical tiller does not use the steering tube does one?

REW

Kind of. The Mercury CoPilot uses a bar that slides thru the tilt-tube, with a radial clamp on the starboard side. What I made earlier this year was simply a longer bar, with a stop at the port end, so that clips could be used. But no, the standard OEM version would not allow for a port-side clip.
Below is the standard OEM Mercury steering tensioner.
HRG

[MarkG]

2 Things:

Thing 1:
Just a thought......When outboards are tilted UP,,the higher they are tilted the more top heavy they become and tend to want to flop over one way or another.

Depending on how much ground clearance you already have,if you can shorten your saver a bit,(some are adjustable) and still have adequate ground clearance,you may be able to reduce its tendencey to want to turn,if it is not tilted as high. Between that and the steering friction,it may be enough to prevent it.

Thing 2:
If it is turning on you, it could also be bouncing too much. Check for slop in your trim system,make sure it's trimmed down tight enough (without going too tight to overstress anything), and make sure the pads of the saver are fully seated onto the lower unit . When you first install it, if may take a few good bounces down the road to fully seat down on the lower unit where it won't move anymore and you may have to tighten down on the trim a schosh after that happens. Also ,Overall, the rollor mounted savers have a tendancy to be a little looser and more bouncy anyway compared to the ones that are pinned to the frame.

[joetc]

I was a little confused at how the clips worked and after looking at my boat last night (exact same steering system that HRG has posted pics of) I don't know if they'll work. I did pick up a new nut assembly last night since my old one was slipping on the pilot rod so I should be able to tighted down the steering tension more and that coupled with my transom saver might help do it. If not, I might have to design something up myself to hold it.

Joe

[Juls]

I didn't read all the responses so I don't know if this one has been mentioned yet...

http://www.iboats.com/Swivl-Eze-Lock...-view_id.37844

My fishing partner uses this one on his Merc and it keeps the motor straight by the two cylinder shaped doo-hickeys that fit over the bolts that are on the motor's underside.

As the motor lowers it slips the bolts into the cylinders and keeps it stable.

Is your motor listed here? If so, I know this transom saver works the way you want it to.

Juls

I have a 60hp merc 4 stroke tilller without power steering and have same problem...motor flops when trailering. One of the posts said to lower the motor by shortening transom saver up, and I agree. This helped me tremendously..just be careful of clearance. The other thing I did, was took my transom saver to a friend who welded extensions onto the existing savers "V" allowing the lower unit to sit deeper into the "V" of the saver (make sure the rubber is only thing contacting lower unit). The extra depth and stability allows me to suck my motor down and have no flop. By the way, I have a roller trailer and the transom saver is one that has a 45' angle to cross bracket way under trailer. The rubber inside the "V" extended past the metal, thus allowing me to reinforce it, without having metal contanct lower unit. Hope that helps and isnt too confusing. good luck

[tugger]

Another option. The Swivl-EZE transom saver I have contacts the posts on the motor (both sides) so the motor can't move. Check them out...Mine works great!

[craptacular]

Does your tiller have a steering tensioner on it? That should help if its tight.

[jstoudt]

Hi:
I have a 75 Merc. tiller and Mercury makes a orange plastic sleve that fits over the steering shafts on each side of the mount. They are cheap and work great, they keep the motor perfectly straight. I have the power steering on my boat if that makes a difference. But still have to use the plastic sleves.