Hi All, 

So I have done some homework and seen the endless arguments about whether or not a transom saver is good, useless, or actually causing harm to the lower unit of your motor. I happen to have a 15' Alumacraft with a 92 25hp Mariner on the back. The Mariner doesn't have an electric trim, so it is pull the pin and lift when I want to raise the motor. The guy I bought the motor from says he always towed it in the down position, but it sits too close to the ground for comfort in my opinion. Thoughts on whether a transom saver is the right move in this scenario, to avoid hitting the skeg on the pavement? If so, does the transom saver hold the entire weight of the motor, considering I can't lower the motor onto the saver with an electric trim?

Thanks for all your advice,

Dillon

I tow mine with the motor down but I have enough clearance to raise the jackstand all the way up and not have the skeg touch. You could always put the pin in a higher hole for some added clearance. Your motor doesn't weigh all that much, I wouldn't be concerned with the need for a transom saver.

It should be towed with the engine vertical in my opinion. You may need a drop hitch. There should be plenty of clearance between the skeg and road. I have to use a 3" drop on my tracker and a 6" on my 14' boat. I just have a 1/2 ton ram and it's way too high for those low tongue trailers.

check out the my wedge

Im not sure which alumacraft boat you have, but if your like mine, (tracker topper 14) I recommend transom saver. Why? Over time when you tow the boat, all of stress from bumpy road and such might develop around weld points and crack.

 

I've got a 2005 Lowe 1448/25 Mercury 2 stroke and it has plenty of ground clearance to tow with the motor down. But I will not tow without my transom saver. Pot holes and bridges will make lightweight boat/trailer jump around too much. The transom saver keeps the weight over the transom instead of pulling back on it. 

I'm another who won't tow without a transom saver.  One may not be needed as much if you can travel with the motor in a vertical position but if it's tilted that creates quite a bit of leverage on the transom while bouncing from road imperfections.  

i tow mine with the motor down/verticle and use a rope around the back to limit the bouncing. 

For a small motor you can make a pretty decent homemade transom saver with some scrap lumber and a couple of bungee cords. It doesn't have to be a metal tube. Wood is pretty strong under compression.

15 hours ago, Allen Der said:

check out the my wedge

His motor does not have hydraulic tilt and trim, so this wouldn't work.

 

@dtag31 How close is too close for comfort when the motor is down?  Pics might help.  You can use https://postimages.org/ to upload and paste the direct link here.

I want to thank everyone for the helpful advice. I'm at work so I can't snap a picture of the motor right now, but the skeg is probably about 8 inches off the ground. Coming out of a steep driveway onto a flat piece of road can make for some darn close clearance. I didn't want to run it in a higher hole without the transom saver... just wanted to make sure that I wouldn't be making some horrible mistake in a small aluminum boat like mine. This is my first boat, so I am trying to learn as fast as possible and do everything the best way possible. I don't have an endless amount of cash for boating, but I have plenty budgeted for the boat to invest in things that are best practice. 

Thanks a lot!

8" seems like plenty of clearance.