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Docking: Motor Up or Down?

Kahlua0517

Kahlua0517

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When docking your pontoon boat in a lake do you tilt the motor out of the water or leave it down?  Mine has a SS prop so I've been told to trim it out of the water due to possible electrolysis from the SS prop. 
 
When our boat stayed in the water, the motor was kept up and out of the water.
 
My brother had a boat with an I/O in the same marina and the first season after he had installed a SS prop the zinc anodes disappeared rather quickly and the skeg began to disintegrate.  He then switched to magnesium anodes but that only slowed the deterioration.   The only real solution was a Mercathode system.  For us outboard motor users the tilt up seems to be the best solution.
 
Keep ours up due to algae growth. Those that let theirs down, motors look like crap. Ours still looks like new after 3 years.
 
+1 on semper's post. Was told by dealer to keep it out of water to prevent algae and stuff getting into intakes.
 
I thought the down position was better for the motor, guess it is all right to take it out of the water
 
My dealer's chief mechanic said "stainless steel props like being out of the water," so up it is.
 
Always up and out of water.
 
Hold it, is this solely for the SS prop?  Or is this better for my Yamaha engine as well
 
My prop is aluminum and dealer still said leave it up.
 
I keep mine out due to having a lift but even when drifting I usually trim it out of the water.
 
Dealer recommended keeping it down, said it's less of a strain on the pistons. I've had it down for two seasons now, and other than some growth by the end of the season it looks fine. When I get in the water to brush down the toons' I brush the lower section on the outboard.
 
I keep mine trimmed up while docked.  As Semper said, it keeps the algae off the motor.  Most of the folks at the Marina where I have mine docked keep theirs trimmed down and their motors look real messy.  Then again, some do not cover their boats when docked and their boat looks like hell after a few years.  If the temps drop when I still have mine docked (down into the mid 30's or so, I will trim the motor down in the water) but that will only be for a short time as I plan on pulling mine out of the water sometime in November. 
 
Staeng8 said:
Dealer recommended keeping it down, said it's less of a strain on the pistons. I've had it down for two seasons now, and other than some growth by the end of the season it looks fine. When I get in the water to brush down the toons' I brush the lower section on the outboard.
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Are you using an aluminum prop?
 
Staeng8 said:
Dealer recommended keeping it down, said it's less of a strain on the pistons. I've had it down for two seasons now, and other than some growth by the end of the season it looks fine. When I get in the water to brush down the toons' I brush the lower section on the outboard.
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Dealer did say to use support arms/tabs/brackets (L shaped on both sides of motor that flip up) not just the pistons when stored in up position.
 
Sounds like there are pros and cons either way
 
Down ,I have already been hit once this season in my slip .Don't want to give the morons an extra 3 ft sticking out beyond the dock.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Always up in my opinion.  No matter what prop your running.  Use the trailer tilt brackets that come wiht the motor to keep the stress over the hyd cylinders.  A dockmate a few years ago left his down and the next time he was on the bay, the engine overheated.  after tilting up the motor, the intake vents were clogged by zebra mussels.

Just my $0.02 worth
 
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