Trailering

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MagicJr

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I just bought a CDory 22 cruiser and I need to move the boat from the West Coast to the East Coast
I was wondering if there's a general consensus on whether or not you need to use a transom saver
Or is it better to tow with the motor down all the way?
Any other thoughts on trailing long-distance would be appreciated
Thank you
 
Depends on the clearance of the skeg to the road. On my setup, the clearance is closer than I am comfortable with so I raise the motor, stick a piece of 2x2 (more or less) in between the moving parts of the tilt mechanism (at the top), then lower the motor back down until the piece of wood is trapped in the mount. This keeps the motor tilted up without loading the tilt cylinders.

While a "transom saver" will support the motor in a tilted position, I question whether it does anything to actually protect the transom. The loads a transom takes in normal use are much more than you are likely to encounter driving down the road with the motor up or down. I can see situations where it is actually worse than not supporting the motor. A transom saver will protect the tilt cylinders though.
 
The Transom Saver in this case is a strut which goes from the leg of the motor/motors tilted up to the trailer frame, and is spring loaded. (There is also a "Transom Saver" which is a hdp plastic block attatched to the transom to screw the depth sounder transducer into, avoiding multiple holes in the transom if the transducer needs to be moved.

I have trailered across crountry using a Transom Saver strut and with the motor all of. the way down, nad I have trailered with a block of wood between the engine mount on the transom and the engine. of the three, I think the transom saver is better than the block of wood, but no better than the motor all of the way down. These two are equal in my opinion. I don't have any data to prove it. In many boats the trailer is low enough that you cannot trailer with the engine all of the way down. In that case, use the transom saver.
 
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