Mercury 115 FOURSTROKE Trailer Bracket

A conversation among Whalers
BamaBoater
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Joined: Sun Nov 22, 2020 8:44 am

Mercury 115 FOURSTROKE Trailer Bracket

Postby BamaBoater » Fri Nov 27, 2020 5:07 am

I have 2019 170 MONTAUK with a Mercury 115-HP FOURSTROKE engine. The engine operating manual says to travel in the vertical position. The dealer told me to travel with the engine up [later clarified to be in the full-up position], with the bracket engaged. The engine is too close to the ground [when] down.

Is there a bracket so the engine can be be partially down?

[I need to keep the engine tilted up somewhat] when the Bimini top is laying down, [otherwise] the engine rubs against [the Bimini top].

[Separated from another thread on another topic--Moderator.]

ConB
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Location: Suttons Bay, MI

Re: Mercury 115 FOURSTROKE Trailer Bracket

Postby ConB » Fri Nov 27, 2020 5:08 am

The Montauk is a great boat. I travel with my engine partly up with a chunk of wood filling between the lower unit and the mounting bracket. A little down pressure on it.
!987 Outrage 18 / 2011 Yamaha F150
1969 13 / 30hp Johnson tiller

jimh
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Re: Mercury 115 FOURSTROKE Trailer Bracket

Postby jimh » Fri Nov 27, 2020 5:12 am

There is a popular accessory sold specifically for Mercury outboard engines to allow them to be set in a tilted-up position while trailering called the M-Y WEDGE. See

https://m-ywedge.com/

I have never used an M-Y WEDGE because my Evinrude engine has a built-in trailering support bracket. I think the M and Y are for Mercury and Yamaha because those engines do not incorporate a tilt support bracket. But the M-Y WEDGE does seem to be very popular with Mercury outboard engine owners.

I don't think the "bracket" you have on the Mercury is really designed for travel. It is intended to keep the engine at full-up tilt when a boat is left on a mooring and the engine gear case needs to be kept out of the water. I would not travel with the engine in the full-up position and supported only by that bracket. The basis for the success of the M-Y WEDGE is that it nicely solves this conflict.

BamaBoater
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Re: Mercury 115 FOURSTROKE Trailer Bracket

Postby BamaBoater » Fri Nov 27, 2020 8:24 am

Thanks Jim.

I believe the dealer told me to trailer it in the full up position.

Basically, one needs to raise it enough to just make sure it doesn’t rub the asphalt and the wedge or piece of wood, would keep all the pressure off the hydraulic cylinder.

jimh
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Re: Mercury 115 FOURSTROKE Trailer Bracket

Postby jimh » Fri Nov 27, 2020 10:14 am

BAMABOATER--I suppose you can use some wood or you can use an modestly priced accessory like the M-Y WEDGE. To protect a $10,000 engine for trailer by buying a $40 gizmo does not seem like an excessive cost.

The real concern for trailering an outboard engine which is not mechanically restrained from tilting down while traveling on a trailer is that the hydraulic system in the engine trim-tilt assembly will not be able to maintain the engine in the position it was set and the engine will tilt down by itself while on the trailer. It is really rather common, particularly in older engines, that the trim-tilt hydraulics lose their seals and permit the engine to tilt down from a set position.

When trailering the trailer may encounter some rough pavement, and the bouncing motion the engine may have to absorb rather high forces acting on the tilt axis. The use of a mechanical device like the M-Y WEDGE (or the built-in trailering bracket on engines other than Mercury or Yamaha engines) will precent the engine from tilting down from its original position. That is why a device like the M-Y WEDGE is so popular with owners of Mercury engines. The M-Y WEDGE also acts as shock absorber for any motion exerted onto the engine.

In trailering the engine may also encounter upward forces. If the engine moves upward then any wood wedged in place will be possible to fall out. For that reason when wood is used the wood is often held in place with ropes that tie the wood to the boat hull. Exactly how the rope is attached to the wood at one end and to the boat hull at the other end are inventions left to the user to work out.

Whether you want to make some hunk of wood and attach ropes and find somewhere to tie-off the ropes on the hull and bother with installing and removing the wood and ropes before and after trailering probably depends on how often you will be trailering. If you only trailer the boat once or twice a year, then a cumbrous solution is not a burden. If you trailer the boat every time you use it, a simpler and handier solution like the M-Y WEDGE may be more useful.

fno
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Re: Mercury 115 FOURSTROKE Trailer Bracket

Postby fno » Fri Nov 27, 2020 10:43 am

I too use a 10" x 12" piece of 3/4" plywood to support my 225 HP Mercury engine while trailering my 210 Outrage. It works well. I cut it to size with a jig saw, sanded the edges and drilled a 3/4 hole on one end for a piece of 3/16' nylon parachute cord and a cheep carabiner. The rope is to secure the board to a transom eye in the unlikely event that the board falls off (It never has). I do not want a $5 piece of wood to go thru someone else's windshield. The board has never fallen out and the method does not require any restraints. After the boat is in the water I toss the board in the back of my pickup and it has never disappeared from there. Keep in mind that the wooden block or board was first described to me as a "redneck solution" but as is often the case it has worked well in the 2 boards and 15 years of trailering and boating. If I were inclined to purchase and use a M-Y Wedge I would also install some sort of eyebolt and secure it while trailering but I have better uses for the $40.00.

StarwindMango
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Re: Mercury 115 FOURSTROKE Trailer Bracket

Postby StarwindMango » Tue Dec 15, 2020 4:12 pm

Late reply, but I use a M-Y WEDGE to support my 140 HP Johnson 4-stroke in a "partially up" position while trailering. It works excellently, and is extremely easy to install. I like that it is made of some sort of rubber, adding a little cushion on our rough South Carolina roads. I have had one of these devices on each of my last three boats as it takes a lot of stress off the hydraulic mechanism.

BamaBoater
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Re: Mercury 115 FOURSTROKE Trailer Bracket

Postby BamaBoater » Tue Dec 15, 2020 7:42 pm

I ended up using a piece of 2 x 8 lumber. It worked for a short trip to my brother's barn for the winter.

jimh
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Re: Mercury 115 FOURSTROKE Trailer Bracket

Postby jimh » Wed Dec 16, 2020 8:23 am

StarwindMango wrote:...I use a M-Y WEDGE...works excellently...is extremely easy to install...it is made of some sort of rubber, adding a little cushion...takes a lot of stress off the hydraulic mechanism.


Thanks for the first hand report on the use of the M-Y WEDGE. All the features you mention are probably influential in the success of that product. The M-Y WEDGE seems to be a very good solution to trailering engines in a partially tilted-up position.