TOPIC: trailer/motor brace

Anyone have experience with the trailer to motor braces? I'm thinking of fabricating one for my Shell Lake with the 100 hp Johnson hanging on the back. It hangs pretty low to the road and seems like a lot of weight for a bouncy highway trip.
Cal

cal, my shell lake rocket had a 75 v-4 Johnson on it when I got it and it had a bar made up to support the motor. it tilted the motor up so the power head was kinda balanced on the transom and the lower unit was tied down so it would not tilt any futher. if it worked , I have no idea. frog

I think it is avery good idea for a brace. Without a brace, the weight of the motor acts just like a fulcrum on your transom, constantly working it back and forth. The ones I have seen, mount on the rear cross member of the trailer on a pivot and then has a yoke that fits just below the cavitation plate on the lower unit. Then you take a bungy cord and wrap the lower unit to the yoke. I think they work pretty well.

I have made a few myself and one thing is very important, making it secure on the trailer so that a big bounce will not let it come lose. I use 1" square tubing with 5" of 1/2" bar stock for the lower. Drill a 1/2" + hole in the trailer frame. Bend the bar stock at a small angle. You put it in hole first, then raise it to the motor ( V block ) and bungee it securly to the motor above?? the cavation plate. This way the rod can't pull out of the mount hole unless you detach it from the motor. I had one that fit on the rear center roller and attacted with a bungee. Hit bump, bungee failed, brace hits pavment, Wham, Bang @@@@ ) O well, you get the point. This just seems to be the simple way.

Thanks guys, pictures to follow sometime today. Great minds run in the same gutter. I welded up some 1/4" stock that was laying around, bolted it to the trailer cross member with a 1/2" carriage bolt/nylon lock nut, drilled a 1/2" hole through it, got a 1" black iron pipe and a trailer hitch pin. Had to bend the pipe to fit around and under the transom. Did this by laying the pipe on the garage floor and blocking one end up on some 4X4's and drove my jeep up the pipe. Perfect bend angle! I welded on a "V" to fit somewhere by the lower gear housing, put some carpet padding on the V, drilled some 1/4" holes to hold a heavy duty bungee. Looks pretty strong, at least I can sit my 230# carcass on it without it moving so I think we're good.

I'm going to make one myself and I think I might use the holes for my first roller that I do not have anyway. My trailer is longer than my boat by a few inches.

A wise person once told me that you probably do as much damage to a transom when trailering than when bouncing across rough water ! Made sense to me, so I've always used a brace since then Cal.

My most recent one pins to a cross brace (home fabbed the cross brace out of 1" angle iron). Joe (Ferguson Poole Marine) had them on sale for a price the discount stores couldn't even beat, so it was a no-brainer for me. I used tie down rings to secure the cross bar, and killed two birds with one stone.

Mark, pretty sneaky way of showing us your beautiful work

That brace will be great and secure too. Awsome boat and outboard there Mark.

I've bought things from Joe at Ferguson Poole Marine and I got things from him at a much better price than here. Napa here wants to charge you an awful amount for shipping. From now on you know who I'm calling first.

another A+ for Joe at Ferguson Poole Marine .. he saved my but this past fall for a long obsolete starter i needed... wont hessitate to call him again...