Re: New to boating, lots of ?'s
I would not get rid of the kicker. As soon as you get rid of it you'll have a breakdown and will have needed it to get back to the ramp, and it is indespensible for fishing, if you fish. There is an aftermarket tilt/trim for about $500 made by CMC that works good, and you can get stock Merc tilt/trim setups for a similar price. Maybe you can change the way you load the boat. It sounds like you guys are power loading. What you can do is when you come in to the dock, shut down, and you tilt the motor. Also, there is a technique to tilting the motor. What I do is use my body weight to tilt it rather than tring to use brute strength. I grab the handle area and let my weight drop which tilts the motor. At that point I can reach forward and flip the thingy that holds the motor up. Of course, I weigh 200 pounds and I am tilting a 270 pound Merc 125 horse, it may be a little more difficult for your better half, but have her try different techniques. Then you can run and get the rig, and winch the boat onto the trailer with the winch, that is what it it for. Powerloading ends up creating an underwater shoal of sand from propwash, making it difficult for other boaters (assuming this is what you are doing). Another option it to take the wife to an empty parking lot and school her up on manuevering a trailer. You both should know how to do this, there may be a day where she needs to do it for whatever reason. That way she can get the rig and you load the boat. Oh, and welcome aboard!
