Well I'm a little less happy with the M-Y Wedge this morning. I'm not sure how or why it happened (as it did fine on a ~3,000-mile tow this summer), but when I checked the trailer at my stop last night, I noticed that the motor was sitting lower than usual (i.e. less tilted up). It seemed stable, so I left it alone (was parked) until I could investigate this morning in daylight. (By the way, the M-Y Wedge is sort of a tall, U-shaped piece of rubber that "clips" over the trim cylinder, after which you lower the motor down onto it and pinch it in place.)
Daylight revealed this:
Somewhat ironic given this discussion/thread yesterday.
As you can see, the Wedge somehow became not clipped onto the trim cylinder, and is (was) now wedged in between the cylinder and the transom. I don't know if it slipped off, and thus was not in column and then deformed, or if it deformed and thus slipped, or what (?). The engine was trimmed down onto it in the same way as it was for my earlier long tow (trimmed down until you feel it resisting and see it "stop").
With a bit of work, I was able to get it out (without putting my fingers in there!). It's permanently deformed now:
Luckily I don't see any damage to the transom, and the motor still tilts up and down as usual. I'll have my Yamaha mechanic check it over just to be sure (although when I called them this morning they said it was probably okay).
So, there I was (am), on the road and no more usable Wedge. I had originally cut a 1" dowel to fit in the two cast slots and lowered the engine down on that, but the shop said it wasn't a good idea and suggested a commercial product (not that they had one to sell me; I bought the M-Y Wedge on my own). Of course I was tripping over that piece of dowel ALL summer on the boat, but now I couldn't find it anywhere :cry
I did have a ~1" x 2" plywood scrap that was just about 4" too long, so I cut it to the proper length to fit into those two cast slots with a hacksaw blade. Then I beveled the top edge to about 45º (plane and utility knife) so the motor would contact it on a larger surface area and not just the "sharp" edge. Once I was sure it fit well, I cut a couple of pieces of dense rubber from a piece I had onboard (slated to go under the fuel tanks), and taped them into position -- just to hold them there until the motor trapped them in place.
I lowered the motor onto the wood/rubber wedge and it seems happy and secure. It doesn't *seem* like it's going to crack the motor casting (I'll have to find out more about how/where they have cracked - maybe it was something that would be obviously "wrong" to do).
On the road again....
Sunbeam :hot
PS: Because of this discussion I double-checked my Yamaha manual (last night, just before I discovered this issue, weirdly). All motors are probably not the same, but the manual for my F80 recommends trailering with the motor in the normal, down running position. It then says that if that is not possible due to ground clearance issues, then to support the motor in the up position with some (non-specified) aftermarket product (and not the tile support lever that the motor has, which is apparently just for when you are working on the engine or etc. and want to support it in the up position).
PPS to Thataway: I thought of something last night, which is that maybe the reason my Yamaha does not "want" to pivot from side-to-side is that I don't have hydraulic steering, but instead have cable steering. The cable is pretty stiff (when not boating), so maybe that holds it in position? Even with the Wedge failure, the motor stayed in the straight-ahead position.
