2 Questions !

[MeMe]

1. I've never really had a definitive answer on what position the engine should be in when towing. (there's not enough clearence to tow with the engine down) I don't have an engine support but can fashion one from wood if needed. The engine is a Yam 70 PTT with a built in support bracket. Can I rely on this alone, should I trim right in once the engine is on this ? I'm towing 150 miles from Manchester to Abersoch tomorrow so would appreciate some feedback. Thanks

2. Upon removing the sun canopy the previous owner allowed a rust stain to form. I've used Zodiacs Revival which has done a great job of removing most of the dirt however, a stain remains. Any ideas or experiences ?

[Phil Davies]

A good question, the answer for which I learnt the hard way. I have a Honda 30 on my Avon Searider 4.0m which doesn't have power tilt or an engine support bracket,which is a serious design flaw. I too don't have enough clearance to trailer the boat with the engine in the running position so I used to tilt the engine fully up and then lower it onto a length of wood and made it fast with a ratchet strap secured to trailer chassis. Problem was the wood broke one day and the engine dropped onto the road requiring a new gearbox, prop etc. with damage totalling £1,150!! Luckily covered by insurance but they weren't very keen to pay out. I now trailer it fully tilted but use the tilting bar/bracket to hold engine up and ratchet it down against it. I also hang a block of wood underneath in case the tilt bracket fails because I'm told it's not designed to withstand the stresses of transit. I don't seem to have an alternative, however, unless anyone knows of one. Honda don't make a support of any kind for this engine.

[MeMe]

Thanks for that. It's quite disconcerting really. Lets hope we see a few more posts. The North West Ribsters should be able to give some good advice - come on chaps !

[jwalker]

Rust stains. Try Jenolite (it's phosphoric acid). You can get it from car accessory outlets. It'll take rust stains out of clothing too.

[Bilge Rat]

Hi MeMe

My Evinrude has a niffty steel bracket on each side of the mountng with a bar that must run through somewhere inside the engine casing, this means when i'm trailering i turn the brackets around and lower the engine down onto them which supports it, there's also the piston to fall back on if the brackets did both snap off, this seems to work very well indeed, not really sure if this is a general evinrude thing or was added by the prev owner but it works a treat.

Sorry cant help with the sun canopy thing, as you know i dont no too much about poofy sun canopys :-)






R

[Richard B]

My Yam has a bracket arrangement which sounds very similar to Bilge Rat's. I know that the previous owner, Alan, has trailed the boat hundreds of miles on this bracket without any problem, and looking at it's construction I'm completely happy. As stated, the PTT ram is always there in case of failure. I'm reluctant to jam in bits of wood in case this lifts the engine up and off the support.

Now, i used to have a rig a bit like Phil Davies, albeit smaller, but had the same conumdrum - no PTT ram, no substantial support bracket and not enough clearance to set it in the down position. So I constructed a sort of support shelf which extended from the back of the trailer. This took the weight of the o/b and provided a good location for the lighting board. I've posted a picture of it before, so I'll see if I can find it...

These two threads will give a bit more detail...
http://rib.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1842
and
http://rib.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1591

[MeMe]

Sper help chaps, thank you. I'm setting off in a couple of hours with an e.t.a Abersoch 18:00 in time for GT's and beer. Inshallah !!

Wish me luck although I've put innseveral safety measures which may find he rest of the rig desintergrating but at least the engine will remain intact !!