Transom Savers for I/O's?

[OllieC]

When towing, does anyone, or should you use a transom saver on an I/O? I have a Bravo 3 which is a fairly large outdrive. I usually turn it to one side when towing.
Just curious.

Thanks,
Ollie

 

[Bondo]

Re: Transom Savers for I/O's?

Ayuh,... It's completely Unneeded with an I/O....

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Transom Savers for I/O's?

I use something like these:

Sierra Trailering Clips - iboats

Save your $10k drive from hitting the road if a trim hose fails. Its not really a transom saver....a drive saver.

Turning the drive to one side does nothing.

 

[sweet addiction]

Re: Transom Savers for I/O's?

Yup, trailer clips are the way to go. I always used them just to relieve the pressure on the hydrolic system when bouncing down the road but BRUCE58 makes a great point with hose failure.

 

[OllieC]

Re: Transom Savers for I/O's?

I'll just have to remember to remove them before the ramp..... Thanks All!

 

[skydiveD30571]

Re: Transom Savers for I/O's?

I'll just have to remember to remove them before the ramp..... Thanks All!

I incorporated that with the transom straps. As I work around the boat at the ramp... take off one transom strap, put in plug and remove trailer clips, take off other transom strap, and continue on with whatever else. Plus they are usually colored as to be very obvious.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Transom Savers for I/O's?

Spring may finely be on its way at long last the defloperizer thread has started. opcorn:

 

[JimS123]

Re: Transom Savers for I/O's?

Spring may finely be on its way at long last the defloperizer thread has started. opcorn:

I think the term is spelled wrong and used in the wrong context. The correct word is a Floppemstoppem and its the German word for the French word brassier.

 

[maproy99]

Re: Transom Savers for I/O's?

I have an Alpha drive. I use a ratchet strap that runs from the eye bolt to the drive to the other eye bolt. The transom stress is greatly reduced plus my drive has no slack to gently sway back and forth while driving and add countless miles to the entire steering system. And it relives the stress on the hydraulics and the risk if they were to fail. My hydraulics do leak slightly but I have only gotten stuck with my lower unit all the way up, it has never fallen.
However try drifting rapidly towards sharp rocks tied up with a jet boat in full reverse and unable to start the engine because the drive is all the way up while you are trying to add oil without a funnel. Recovered with 5 feet to spare and only banged into the other boat a little hard because someone didn't untie the bow line like they were supposed to.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Transom Savers for I/O's?

My hydraulics do leak slightly but I have only gotten stuck with my lower unit all the way up, it has never fallen.

Umm - so fix it? Why would you drive it knowing that you have a hydraulic leak?

 

[JimS123]

Re: Transom Savers for I/O's?

My Mercruiser Owner's manual recommends a "trailering kit" if the boat is trailered on the highway. My dealer said the same thing and one was included as std equipment when they sold me the boat. Of course, bow and stern tiedowns were also "std".

The "kit" was quite the same as the one referred to above.

 

[BobGinCO]

Re: Transom Savers for I/O's?

I think the term is spelled wrong and used in the wrong context. The correct word is a Floppemstoppem and its the German word for the French word brassier.

Actually, that should be Flopperstopper?ng.

 

[sweet addiction]

Re: Transom Savers for I/O's?

I have an Alpha drive. I use a ratchet strap that runs from the eye bolt to the drive to the other eye bolt. The transom stress is greatly reduced plus my drive has no slack to gently sway back and forth while driving and add countless miles to the entire steering system. And it relives the stress on the hydraulics and the risk if they were to fail. My hydraulics do leak slightly but I have only gotten stuck with my lower unit all the way up, it has never fallen.
However try drifting rapidly towards sharp rocks tied up with a jet boat in full reverse and unable to start the engine because the drive is all the way up while you are trying to add oil without a funnel. Recovered with 5 feet to spare and only banged into the other boat a little hard because someone didn't untie the bow line like they were supposed to.

Please tell me that your trim/tilt leak is located in a place that does not leak fluid into the water(doubt it). If so, feel free to keep your boat in Illinois waters and not in Wisconsin or Minnesota. Thank you.

 

[drrpm]

Re: Transom Savers for I/O's?

It seems pretty unlikely that a hydraulic hose would catastrophically fail at a time when there was minimal stress placed on it. I'm not saying that its impossible but I don't worry about it on my usual short trips. It might be a bigger consideration for a long highway trip. I haven't noticed swaying outdrives on any of the trailered boats I've seen. You would probably have to crack the whip pretty hard to do that and then there would be worse problems.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Transom Savers for I/O's?

It seems pretty unlikely that a hydraulic hose would catastrophically fail at a time when there was minimal stress placed on it.

Could also be a valve that fails or a seal in the trim ram. The point is, you don't want your $10K drive dragging on the road no matter what the reason is.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Transom Savers for I/O's?

^^^ Agree....

It seems pretty unlikely that a hydraulic hose would catastrophically fail at a time when there was minimal stress placed on it.

I had a trim hose bust/start leaking when I was loading up for a trip, lifted up the drive to put on the trailering clips and found a nice puddle of fresh oil... There wasn't much pressure on the hose as it was only lifting the drive, not like trimming out the drive while under full power.

 

[Jonnybbad]

Re: Transom Savers for I/O's?

I like and use the plastic trailering clips also. Gives a guy quite a bit more piece of mind.