Should you tilt your outboard motor out of water between uses?

[valhalla360]

Dingy dock is a special situation.

Otherwise, yes, getting the motor clear of the water on a regular basis (say overnight) will largely eliminate growth and corrosion on the leg/prop.

We will stick the muffs on and flush the motor for 5-10min about once a month when at a dock with fresh water. Daily would be better but at some point, the hassle is not worth it.

[wingssail]

Of course once we learned the dingy dock etiquette we have left our motor down while at the dingy dock.

When tied to the main boat we leave it down, or up, no particular habit. I'd say usually down.

However we always raise the dingy when our last use for the day is over and in that case we tilt the motor which allows us to swing the dingy onto the deck if needed during the night. (Raising the dingy on our boat is very easy and quick, so raising it is like putting your car in the garage, we just do it.)

We never flush with fresh water, and in 20 years with this motor it has not caused a problem. (this is not for a philosophical reason, we just never had the "muffs" or the spare water, or a fresh water hose outside)

Nor do we run the motor dry or disconnect the fuel line unless, of course, the motor is being removed from the dingy.

And our dingy, when raised, is hanging quite bow-up to facilitate draining water out and the fuel tank is in the bow of the dingy, yet the fuel has not flowed past the float and flooded the motor.

This 2 stroke Merc 15hp is 20 years old and still starts readily, usually on the first pull, and it starts on the third pull after 6 months of storage, even though we didn't run it dry when putting it away.

I'm afraid that some of the "must do" procedures are not necessary.

[argonauta1]

Well said Nauti-Nauti. One encounters too many dinghies with motor tilted at dingy docks. Also bad etiquette is tying up too close thereby using too much space at a crowded dock.

[Mark Johnson]

Originally Posted by TheNomadicAspie

Just bought my first boat, and was reading the dinghy manual. It says to turn the outboard motor up between uses and also to flush it with fresh water for minutes.

If I'm using the dinghy several times a day, do you still tilt it up, and do you still flush it with water? I imagine that would use just about all of the water in the tanks.

What do you guys do?

This practice is fine, except at crowded public dinghy docks. Here, inconsiderate folks who kick their motors up, often puncture the expensive RIB next to them.

This is common knowledge down island, and on occasion, I have heard of people who failed to follow this practice (leaving motors DOWN) getting their own dinghy sliced up from failure to follow dinghy dock etiquette. .

[Stress Recess]

Just be sure to lower it if the temperature drops below freezing, especially you guys with out drives. Water collected in the exhaust can freeze and. Damage the lower unit, which can be very expensive.

[Nicholson58]

We rigged a harness, typical in the Caribbean, for lifting at night. We use a spinnaker halyard. This is even easier than the dinghy davits. Sorry about the rotation.

[Captain Bucknut]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

So....you’re that guy.

[sailores35]

Tilt up when tied to boat, but Never at dinghy dock, common courtesy.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Mark Johnson

This practice is fine, except at crowded public dinghy docks. Here, inconsiderate folks who kick their motors up, often puncture the expensive RIB next to them.

This is common knowledge down island, and on occasion, I have heard of people who failed to follow this practice (leaving motors DOWN) getting their own dinghy sliced up from failure to follow dinghy dock etiquette. .

Yet another advantage of not having a deflateable as a tender

[sparrowhawk1]

Originally Posted by Lionshooter

My tilt lock has been broken for over 20 years so it can't be tilted. The prop and skeg get a lot of crap growing on them that must be cleaned regularly. As far as I can determine, that is the only reason to tilt a motor.

I had an outboard with the same problem, found a block of wood that would hold ob tilted up. Just a little bit of growth on the prop can make a huge difference. It's also a good idea to have a lanyard on the block of wood.

[Lihuedooley77]

We also leave plenty of slack on the dingy painter to make extra room for other dinks tying up to a dinghy dock.

As to the outboard, we bring it up at night, and keep the painter short when tied to the stern of the vessel. It cannot warp around to nick up the gel coat, also not likely to be hit, or some party time imbibers, passing between the your dink and your vessel.

Good plan of most here, thinking about others when mobbing a dinghy dock. Outboard down.

[Mickeyrouse]

We’re using a Mercury 5 HP I bought new in ‘02. If the motor’s not running, it’s tilted, except at crowded dinghy docks. No significant lower unit degradation, and runs like a champ, if I remember to run the gas out of the carb after use.

[BlackHeron]

We tie the dinghy up to our 35' sailboat at midships, where we board it. It is just much easier there for us compared.to the transom, especially since we have a center cockpit boat and have all the monitor windvane self-steer rigamarole mounted on the transom and other paraphernalia on the stern rail. We don't even have a swim ladder on the transom.

We only have the dinghy behind when towing, but never with the outboard on. It's a Porta Bote so we tow on a very short painter of about 6-8 feet otherwise it fishtails. Close up we can't even feel it back there, even when sailing.

No worry about the prop hurting the mothership with the motor up.

[tbeargladd]

This is more than obvious that everyone here is talking in regards to being day dockers, stating if your dingy is at the dock for the day you should leave your outboard down which to me sounds very respectable. I am in San Diego, Ca and and dock my dingy for very long periods of time so if you are going to be away from you dingy for more than a day you should tilt you engine out of the water. Two reason, one it doesn't allow the carburetor to keep fuel in it and makes it easier to start once you return (no 20 times pulling the start cord), your engine should start with 3 pulls on the starting pull cord. The second reason is you keep saltwater growth from fowling the prop. With this being said, when leaving your dingy for a long period of time (week-2week period or more) you should disconnect your fuel line and allow the engine to burn all fuel in the carburetor that way the carb is dry then tilt the engine out of the water. You then have no fuel or get any flooding in the carburetor. Once you return to the dingy re-connect the fuel line, pump the bulb and pull your cord to start the engine and it should start every time. I follow this regiment with an 8hp outboard on my 26' Columbia MKII sailboat and I never had a problem starting the engine.

[sveinung]

In higher latitudes you leave it down so the raw water loop doesn't freeze in the winter. Growth is obviously less of a problem then, but you want to keep the water water.