Do you trailer with the motor attached?

[john6206]

This might sound like a stupid question, especially from someone who has been trailer sailing for some 25 years.

I’ve never towed the boat with the motor attached. It has always seemed safest to stick the motor in the car and attach it at the launch ramp. This annoyed my wife a bit when we had a gas motor and a hatchback . . . but even then. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sailboat going down the freeway with a motor on it’s transom. I’ve seen people weld a motor mount to the front of their trailer, but never seen it in place.

My brother in law, who has a fleet of fishing boats, asked me why that is. He always trailers with the motors attached, and his motors are much larger and heavier.

Best I could come up with is that they aren’t designed to motor, they are designed to sail. But certainly the designers understand that we are going to mount an outboard to that thing, right?

 

[Tedd]

I always trailer with the motor on.

I was gobsmacked when I first heard that some sailors take the motor off to trailer. If there are cases where the transom isn't strong enough, then I respectfully submit that the manufacturers have no business describing those boats as "trailerable." Trailerability implies that some reasonable trailering-related design requirements have been met, and a transom strong enough to hold the motor while trailering is definitely one of them.

 

[JBP-PA]

If you are worried about your motor bouncing too much, you can get a trailer motor support. You can buy one or make your own.

Amazon.com

 

[WayneH]

On my 21' I towed with the motor on the boat. I had one of those lifting motor mounts so the engine was raised up. Then I tied a line from the engine to a stern cleat. Used this method to run from Houston to Pensacola once a year for 6 years. And a couple of trips from Houston to Lake Texoma.

 

[BigEasy]

I have had fishing / runabout boats on & off for many years. Absolutely impossible to remove 40 HP and greater HP outboards to trailer. Take a look at any boat launch & no one removes the outboard. I use a device called a transom saver to reduce the weight & shock loading on the transom. It is an aluminum bar that attaches to the back end of the trailer with a bracket & rubber bungee that cradles the lower unit of the outboard. The motor is not raised & locked to the maximum upright position. The outboard rests & is supported by the transom saver device. They are widely available in various lengths for approximately $50. If you remove the motor at home for storage, just remove it at the dock & place it in the boat until you get home.

 

[Tedd]

@BigEasy ,

Is the purpose of the transom saver to prevent the motor from rotating or is it meant to support the weight of the motor?

 

[BigEasy]

@BigEasy ,

Is the purpose of the transom saver to prevent the motor from rotating or is it meant to support the weight of the motor?

Guess that it does help to minimize / prevent rotation; however, the primary purpose is to support the weight of the motor and reduce the stress on the transom. After initial installation of the bracket on the rear of the trailer, only takes 2 to 3 minutes to rig after boat is removed from water. I usually remove the transom saver at home, because I prefer to store the outboard in a vertical position to facilitate drainage out of the engine. Removing the 115 HP engine (375 lbs) from the boat is not practical.

 

[rgranger]

I always take a tow strap from the port winch … around the OB then back to the starboard winch. Then put a few turns on the winch to transfer most of the OB’s weight to the winches and off of the transom

 

[HEINZIR]

Most trailerable sailboats overhang the back end of the trailer by quite a bit. So, unlike with power boats, there is no accessible part of the trailer directly under the transom to help brace the outboard leg.

 

[Hayden Watson]

Back when I had a Clipper 26 on a trailer, I removed the engine and attached it to a mount on the stand for the winch. I did this for two reasons.
1. With the motor mounted on the boat, the trailer did not have enough tongue weight and would fishtail like crazy.
2. The motor mount was one of the types that hinge up and down and it allowed the motor to bounce around a lot.

Moving it to the bow solved both problems.

My next trailerable boat was a C25 and it had much better balance with 11% tongue weight and a much stronger motor mount, so I did not need to move the motor to the front.

 

[BigEasy]

Most trailerable sailboats overhang the back end of the trailer by quite a bit. So, unlike with power boats, there is no accessible part of the trailer directly under the transom to help brace the outboard leg.

Good point. On my power boats, the transom was in close proximity to the rear of the trailer or possibly flush with the rear of the trailer. That position certainly makes it easier / possible to attach a brace.

 

[Tedd]

When I first got my boat the tongue weight was far too low. I found that it was actually quite easy to move the axles back. Much easier to do that once than to have to move stuff around on the boat every trip. How easy it is will depend on how your trailer was built, though. On mine, the axles are mounted to a sub-frame that attaches to the trailer frame with u-bolts, allowing the axles to be easily positioned wherever you need them. I will definitely be looking for that feature on any future trailers I buy.

 

[Timm R Oday25]

Several valid points have been raised here . Most of us who trailer our boats use an aftermarket outboard bracket . These are usually just through bolted into the transom. From what I've seen ,at most there are thin (cheap) fender washers inside . A motor bouncing down the freeway at seventy is very much differant than the back of our sailboats bouncing up and down as a unit once out on the lake .Perhaps it's only me, I sure would hate to be responsible for my outboard breaking loose from the mounting and landing on ,or in front of the vehicle behind me.
On our 25 foot boat ,moving the outboard from the transom to the tongue made a huge differance in how the trailer behaved .
Because most of our outboards are 10 horse or less , these make them much more portable .
Some of us are of the opinion that this makes them easier to steal as well .And as we all know .. they aren't getting any cheaper to replace .

 

[Hayden Watson]

When I first got my boat the tongue weight was far too low. I found that it was actually quite easy to move the axles back. Much easier to do that once than to have to move stuff around on the boat every trip. How easy it is will depend on how your trailer was built, though. On mine, the axles are mounted to a sub-frame that attaches to the trailer frame with u-bolts, allowing the axles to be easily positioned wherever you need them. I will definitely be looking for that feature on any future trailers I buy.

That would have been nice on my Clipper 26 but the spring mounts were welded in place and would not have been easy to move.

 

[Tedd]

That would have been nice on my Clipper 26 but the spring mounts were welded in place and would not have been easy to move.

Trailer Leaf Spring Hangers | Trailer Suspension Hangers

 

[Hayden Watson]

Trailer Leaf Spring Hangers | Trailer Suspension Hangers

In truth, on the Clipper 26 I preferred to carry the motor on the winch stand for many reasons.

• It had an 8-hp Suzuki that was easy to hand lift.
• The boat was low on the trailer so the engine could be reached from the ground without problems.
• The bow mount was much more stable than the lift mount on the stern.
• The trailer handled much better.
• It was much easier to flush the outboard with fresh water on the bow mount than up on the lift mount.
• The engine was strapped down to the bow post and did not move at all and I could see it in the rear view mirror whereas I had no idea of what was going on when on the lift mount.

 

[danooxnard]

I trailer with my motor attached to my C22. It is a 9.9 Tohatsu and weighs about 94 pounds. I am using the Catalina Direct 3 spring mount for it. I used a pice of 1/2 inch plywood to make a baking block for the mount. With the moter installed my tongue weight was way off. I only had 100 pounds of tongue weight. I rearranged the heavy items on the boat to move them forward and added a GI 50 caliber ammo can with lead in it to the front of the trailer to get to 15% tongue weight.

 

[john6206]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

I guess I’m going to keep doing what I’m used to for now. The combination of the wing keel, the heavier 4-stroke and getting older means I probably won’t be doing it forever. It seems to get heavier and heavier with every trip!

 

[Project_Mayhem]

I've always used a ratchet strap to help support my 4 and 9.9HP motors. I also got the motors as close to the transom as possible

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

@john6206

Sailboat manufactures when designing the transoms, designed the transoms to carry a max horsepower of 10 hp. Power boat transoms are much differently designed.

The two issues as a former sailboat dealer were the motor mount and carrying the motor on the transom. The outboard motor bracket has to be secured with a backing plate to distribute the load and designed to carry the weight of the motor. The second issue is the motor bouncing up and down which can be stopped by attaching a line to the motor and tying it up to a stern rail, cleat, etc which is properly secured up to the hp rating of 10 hp. Note the four stroke engines are heavier than a two stroke