While my rig is tucked away in the garage until the H2O liquefies again, I was wondering would it be O.K. to trim the motor down so that it lightly rests on its skeg rather than keep it hooked up to the transom saver or have the trim lock engaged with the motor up?

This could save me about a foot or so of garage space  and keep me from banging my shins on the trailer tongue but I don't want to stress or damage the trim unit or transom while it sits there for another couple months or so.

Its a 150 Johnson and I usually store it up in the locked mode (that is after I've drained all the water out of it after winterizing it).

Thanks

I'd tip the motor down.  Can't you drop the trailer at the tongue so the skeg does not touch the floor?

Think about a tire losing pressure.  It would put a lot of pressure on the skeg.  My skeg, with the trailer hooked up, and the lower unit down has several inches of clearance.

They display boats on showroom floors on trailers sans transom savers.  Just remember to tilt it up when you trailer it.

Unfortunately even with the tongue all the way down the skeg still touches. Your insight gave me an idea though; I could just jack up the trailer a few inches at the axle and block it up very secure with 6 x 6's. Heck I need to check/service the wheeling bearings before spring anyway so may as well do both at the same time.

Or now that I think of it, I guess I could rest the tongue on a 2 x 6 sans the jack.  That could raise the transom enough to get the motor trimmed completely down.  Doh, why didn't I think of that sooner?

Thanks Rhino

you will want the motor trimmed as far down as you can get is so any water in it will drain and not freeze.

I'll need someone more experienced to work with me on this, but with the motor trimmed all the way down, I seem to recall that the hydraulics on the tilt/trip pump are at their maximum stress, unless the pressure relief valve is released.  I'm not sure if trimming the motor down and then leaving it all winter with the hydraulics under pressure is a good idea - but then, I'm no expert.

I'll need someone more experienced to work with me on this, but with the motor trimmed all the way down, I seem to recall that the hydraulics on the tilt/trip pump are at their maximum stress, unless the pressure relief valve is released. I'm not sure if trimming the motor down and then leaving it all winter with the hydraulics under pressure is a good idea - but then, I'm no expert.

Yes that is what I was afraid of too  :-/

You don't have to worry about any stress that might be on the hydraulic system with the motor trimed up, it should be minimal.  Also, the motor should have small bleed holes that drain any water out of the exhaust cavity when it is trimed up.  The problem comes in if those bleed holes happen to clog and let the exhaust cavity collect water.  If it freezes, you most likely just bought a new lower unit.  A motor that's resting on the skeeg is not going to bother a thing, just don't go cranking on the steering wheel or forget and move the boat.

I've been storing my boat with the motor trimmed down since I've owned it. My mechanic said there's no issues with it. I always store the boat with the transom straps and the bow strap released and slack just so everything's "at rest". This does allow the boat to rock a little when bumped, and the skeg sometimes bumps the floor lightly.

I've actually moved the boat around in the garage by hand a few times and had the skeg bump the floor lightly. I just hit the trim button on the bow a few times to keep it from dragging. My skeg is in near perfect condition and I've never had a problem.

Also, when returning from the lake and I unstrap the boat and trim the motor down, I always get a little water that runs out of the prop exhaust onto the garage floor.

You don't have to worry about any stress that might be on the hydraulic system with the motor trimed up, it should be minimal. Also, the motor should have small bleed holes that drain any water out of the exhaust cavity when it is trimed up. The problem comes in if those bleed holes happen to clog and let the exhaust cavity collect water. If it freezes, you most likely just bought a new lower unit. A motor that's resting on the skeeg is not going to bother a thing, just don't go cranking on the steering wheel or forget and move the boat.

O.K Thanks W2S!

That alleviates my concern with any stress that might be on the trim unit over the several month storage period.  (Thankful my garage is under the house and doesn't get cold enough to freeze in there.) 

Good to know on the bleed holes anyway.   I'll check that they are open for good measure.

Thanks everyone!  8-)