New to boating, have some basic questions

[ooOoo]

Hey guys, I'm new to boating and have a few beginner questions. Our boat is a 12' Grumman jon boat with a 9.8 Mercury 110 on it. Any help with the following questions would be great.

1. In the picture the cavitation plate sits level with the bottom of the boat when the screw driver has it tilted up as shown. Is this where I should have it for my first trip on the water?

2. What is the thin silver rod that runs into the lower unit?

3. There are 2 claw teeth that look like they should grab onto the tilt pin. When do they grab or is that something I need to make it do? I will be driving on a lake with thousands of stumps under the water surface, should the motor be allowed to kick up if it hits something or should it be locked solid?

4. Does the motor need to be tilted up while trailering the boat or is it fine to let it hang down in the operational position?

Sorry for the noob questions. This should get me going but I'm sure I'll have more questions as time goes on.

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[roscoe]

Yes

that is the shift rod, shifts gearcase from reverse neutral and forward.


motor should be allowed to kick up when in forward gear, locked Dow when in reverse.

motor should be vertical while trailering, unless it will hit the ground. You should have about one foot clearance between motor and ground.

 

[jimmbo]

The 2 claw teeth should only be grabbing the tilt pin(in your case a phillips screwdriver) when the engine is in neutral or reverse, they should disengage in forward. The Silver Rod, is the link that engages/disengages the reverse/neutral lock

In theory the engine's angle to the transom, should be set to provide a prop thrust horizontal, however on small boats like yours with lower power engines, that optimum angle might not be attainable if only one person is aboard. They often tend to porpoise, and the engine often has to be trimmed in closer to the transom. Just a heads ups

 

[ooOoo]

Thanks for the help and suggestions

My wife and I had a chance to take the boat out a few days ago. I made a temporary tilt pin from some 1/4" diameter steel rod with hitch pin clips in the ends to hold it in. The motor started on about the 5th or 6th pull, but needed a bit more throttle to idle. Had I had the throttle up a little more it probably would have started on the first or second pull. After it started it idled perfectly. I let it idle for a couple minutes to warm up and then shifted it into gear and started putting out into the lake. After a few minutes of putting I opened up the throttle and BAM! I hit stump :mad-new:

I shifted into neutral and lifted the motor out of the water for a second and everything was still there. So I put it back in gear and started idling back to the ramp and bumped another stump. I shut the motor off and moved the tilt pin to the highest hole and then finished the short journey back to the ramp.

I knew there were stumps out there, but I thought the water was high enough that I wouldn't hit them. This lake is full of stump fields. We plan to try again soon but in a much deeper part of the lake.

Somebody told me that there is a brass shear pin in the prop and suggested maybe replacing it to be safe.

Even though my use has been limited so far, I love my old Merc