Transom Saver YES or NO

[wallter]

I've got a 150 yami 4 stroke on by 18' Alumacraft. Do I NEED a transom saver??? Why?

[Skeets]

Yes you NEED one. Pretty much a no brainer.

You have a $10,000 motor why would you not put one on?

They cost $50, pretty cheap insurance to protect your lower unit.

[Northlander]

Yes

[LMITOUT]

I would suggest it. Prevents a lot of unnecessary stress on your transom and also the trim mechanicals of your motor when it bounces down the road. With a 150HP motor, there is a lot hanging back there.

[mechanictim]

If your like me you don't need one,I take the engine off my 16' alumacraft and put it in the trunk of my reliant while travelling.

[tunrevir]

Yes, get one and soon or you will have a nice 150 yammie and no boat to put it on or worse yet you'll make it to the lake fire it up hit the throttle and watch in horror as the rear of your boat tears off just before that huge splash, the bubbles and yes, the rush of the water as you sink. Be sure to close your mouth that was hanging open in utter amazemant that your motor just deep sixed or you might take on water as well.(Fictional account meant for humorous purposes, but you get the point). Cheap 50 bucks in my book.

Tunrevir~

[PerchJerker]

Yes you need one, you do not want all that weight bouncing and flexing on your transom. And tilting the motor way forward so it hangs over the transom doesn't help, in fact it is worse to have the weight going forward.

[Bobby Bass]

Yes, why did it not come with one?

[delmuts]

bobby! some dealers now are using a spacer between the motor and bracket instead of a transom saver! thier theory is that you mainly need to prevent the motor draggin if the hyd. fail. BUT ! your transom is taking the stress and abuse as you trailer. if you plan to keep this boat for a long time,( like many of us do after spending that kind of money!!) use a saver to help protect the boat.

[hitthebricks]

I USE ONE ON MY BOAT AND MOTOR TO HELP TRANSFER SOME OF THE BOUNCING AND STRESS TO THE TRAILER, BUT IT SEEMS TO ME THAT A LARGE MOTOR WOULD APPLY MORE TORQUE WHEN ACCELERATING AND STRESS FROM ROUGH WATER THAN ANY TIME ON THE TRAILER COULD. I ALSO HAVE A YAMMY T8, HOW SHOULD THAT BE POSITIONED WHEN TRAILERING? HTB

[Northlander]

You have a pin that you push in then trim it down onto it.

[delmuts]

you're probably right about the force of the big motor in rough water. but i look at it as eliminating one source of stress to the transom. about the kicker? i have never seen one with it. partly could be due that the kicker is mounted between the big motor,( which has a saver on it, so it is sloid) and the side of the boat. not much room for flexing.( my $.02)

[LMITOUT]

On the water there won't be the sharp impacts that you would see when driving down the road hitting potholes and washboards. Those "snaps" are what cause the most stress and eventually could result in a weak, if not cracked, transom.

[jig n' jerk]

I say its a must. Maybe thats because I am in the process of repairing my fiberglass transom right now from many years of the previous owner not using one. I found out that it is not as hard as most would believe! that's my 2 cents.

[stmichael]

I would have to agree that it is not that hard. Mine is aluminum and to line up the 20 holes from the inside to the outside of the transom was a bear, surprisingly though I hit all but one. Friends were impressed (I could not take all credit, a substantial amount of aiming juice was used) . I should have taken a few pictures of it while in progress, the motor should have fallen off months prior to the repair. I bought this as my first boat and if I only knew what I know now. (I could have gotten it for a lot less, or the seller would have passed on my offer)oh well, live and learn...

Another way to look at it, you strap your boat to the trailer, right? Of course the obvious answer is to keep it from bouncing around. Why not go the extra step and do the same for your motor? Honestly a person does not have proof that it will work all the time, one can speculate that it is going to work. Like aspirin it isn't a guarantee it will take away all the pain, but, the severity of the ailment has been decreased to some extent. maybe not the best analogy, but, it works...I think..

I believe that the dealers/manufacturers should be more proactive and the motors should come with a saver with instructions/reasons why it should be used.

[bigb56303]

well i didnt get one when i bought my boat because the dealer told me i didnt need to, i never had any problems, but i did buy one recently for one all my warrantys are up, and 2 it is a cheap investment, the little bit you spend on a saver is alot cheaper than repairing your tilt trim cylinder and or the transom, with the $ you have invested in the boat and motor whats a few more $ for peace of mind?

[NWBuck]

I have the same motor, and my dealer sold me a "wedgie" that I really like. It is a hard rubber wedge that slides over one of the trim pins. Then lower the motor to put the weight on it, and it completely takes out any bounce. I prefer this to the traditional transom saver because it doesn't deliver the shock from a bouncing trailer directly to my lower unit. Of course, it doesn't take the weight off of the transom, but does completely eliminate any motor bounce. The way I look at it, my Lund comes with a lifetime guarantee on the transom, but the lower unit doesn't.

[cold one sd]

My dealer doesn't believe in them, but his mechanics try to talk the customers into them. They said they don't like to see a boat leave the lot without one. My Lund has a lifetime warranty also, but why push it. I can remember when people used to tilt their motor up, put a 2x4 between it and the trim and tilt and tilt it down onto the 2x4. I was visiting a friend yesterday at his shop and he was rebuilding the transom on his glass Lund. He didn't believe in transom savers either. There was a new one still in the box laying inside the boat.

[Pat K]

A "Glass Lund". That would have to be 30 to 40 years old. I know they made them for a short time, but it was a long time ago.

[iffwalleyes]

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A "Glass Lund". That would have to be 30 to 40 years old. I know they made them for a short time, but it was a long time ago.

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There were some still around in the mid 80's

As far as a transom saver you need something on your rig. I just about bought a boat this spring with a 175 on it but after some careful inspection discoverd that the transom was coming apart. There had never been a transom savor of any fashion on this rig. Too bad too because if that had been good I would have got the boat in a heart beat otherwise. Why doesn't dealers supply them some ask the simple answer is it cost more money for them to do this.

[cold one sd]

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A "Glass Lund". That would have to be 30 to 40 years old. I know they made them for a short time, but it was a long time ago.

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The model was Cherokee and if Lund would have kept up its relationship with Larson there might still be something like it in production. Most people that I know that have them would not get rid of them. Two of my friends are millionaires and and fish out of cherokees. They claim they ride like a Cadillac. I would like to see Lund have another glass boat in their lineup. Just my .02 though.

[EJ]

The wedge does nothing for transom support! I'm sorry, but they will do more harm then good.

EJ

[AQUAJOE]

My opinion 75HP and above on Fiberglass is a must. To reduce the Flex in the fiberglass.

As for aluminum boats I question. I agree with above statements about stress from rough water is way more then you will ever get going down the road. (Drive around the pot holes )

IMO I would seriously doubt the manufacturers of Aluminum boats that can handle big motors didn't take into effect bumps on the road from trailering when they designed and test the transoms.

But if you must I would say 150HP and Up.

[Fishin4Life]

I see that most people say YES to transom savers. I haven't seen a post that says it would do any harm, so I say when in doubt, do it. It can't hurt anything and is so cheap compared to the hassel of fixing the boat later. Even if the boat takes a bigger pounding in rough water, the less stress the better, IMO.

[LMITOUT]

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As for aluminum boats I question. I agree with above statements about stress from rough water is way more then you will ever get going down the road. (Drive around the pot holes

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Not a chance. The sharp impacts are what you are softening with a transom saver and those are occured while on the trailer...potholes or not it's going to be jarred a great deal more than you know when toted down the road (they're all so smooth ya know). While in the water it doesn't see those snaps but rather more gradual torques and stresses. Those types of forces are far from damaging as the transom is built for that. Not to mention that when trailering down the road the motor is trimmed up which creates a greater moment of inertia than when it's in the straight down position while in the water.

Bottom line, it's a cheap investement that's protecting your boat and if you get one you don't have to debate whether it's worth it or not every time the boat is loaded and pulled down that glass smooth road.