Tilt in gear - what's the thinking behind that

[IanH]

My Mariner 9.9 can only be tilted when in forward gear.

What the thinking behind that?

Ok. I can see that it would prevent me starting the OB when tilted up, but doesn't that then mean that coming into shallow, I'm tilting the engine up, say to shallow water drive, with a potentially moving prop? Would rather nudge up to the shore in neutral.

[cptsideways]

In reverse it will simply lift itself out of the water I assume....

[jezza2011]

Isnt it to allow it to move up if you hit something with the leg?

[captnjack]

You can't tilt at all while its in neutral or off? That doesn't sound right.

Normally you'd tilt to shallow water drive by grabbing the cowl and lifting to the next notch. So your hands aren't really near the prop which should be in neutral while your standing up to grab and tilt.

[JamesF]

Isnt it to allow it to move up if you hit something with the leg?

In forward gear yes. But IanH is implying that it doesn't do the same in neutral.

I agree, that sounds very odd — we used to beach by switching off without pulling out of gear, and the wear and tear on our props has improved considerably since we started beaching in neutral instead. We might not have been able to if the lock only came off in gear.

[lockieboi]

I had a mercury 9.9 and it was the same.

Would lock down in neutral and reverse and be free to tilt in forward.
I assume its so if you hit something underway the damage will be small or avoided. Not sure why It locks in neutral though, maybe it was the only way to do it so it will lock in reverse. There's a part bolted to the gear linkage half way down the leg which makes this happen.

[Boats&Outboards]

Its designed so your able to use the shallow drive functions without having to drop back into neutral. Its a good feature if used correctly.

Peter @ Boatsandoutboards4sale ~ www.BoatsandOutboards4Sale.co.uk ~ 07930 421007

[roohairy]

They lock in neutral so the engine doesn't 'jump' on the transom when you try to start it over energetically after it sat in the shed full of old fuel all winter!!!

[Downhilldai]

Should only lock in reverse. Adjust the neutral lock to achieve this.

[IanH]

It's not a fault of the engine. Its by design.

Tilting Outboard

• Stop the engine. Shift the outboard into the forward gear position.
• Take hold of the top cowl grip and raise the outboard to the full up position.
• Pull out on the tilt lock knob and move it to the lock position. The outboard cannot be lowered while the tilt lock knob is in the lock position.
• To lower the engine, move the tilt lock knob to the unlock position.

The forward position is governed by interlock, so its more than just words in the manual. However I do understand that unofficially this interlock can be temporarily defeated, but I'm not in to defeating safety features for convenience.

However, just read that shallow water positions can be done in neutral. I have not had chance for practice yet to see if this covers my needs when coming along side the slip although I would rather do this in neutral with engine running rather than undertaking it with no power then having difficulty restarting the engine.

Taking engine out of shallow drive seems then to require it being taken to full tilt to release, which of course you would not want to do with engine running.

So I guess that there is some method to their madness and hopefully someone will say that you can drop engine out of shallow drive without having to pass through full tilt.