Traditional Transom Saver vs Trim and Tilt Cylinder set ups

I was looking for info on what the difference was between using the traditional transom saver that spans between the lower unit of the boat motor and the boat trailer and the units that fit between the motor and the Trim and Tilt Cylinders.. I was seeing the company that is making the product from #DD26Fishing products so I reached out to them for their input and I was very impressed with their response so I thought I would share ..
DD26 Fishing,
I have been seeing your DD26 motor mounts and I am curious how they are better on the transom then the transom saver I have used for years ? I have a 619 Ranger DVS with a 225 Pro XS… I am always concerned out protecting my motor and transom so I have always used the traditional transom saver… I look forward to your reply…. Oh… I have just repowered my Ranger with a 2020 225 Pro XS 4 Stroke…
I look forward to your response….Dave Koonce
Hi Dave, thanks for reaching out. Let me first start by saying you’ll see guys that swear by the trailer to lower unit method. Then you’ll see guys that swear by the motor tote method. Both are right and both are wrong. My job isn’t to lie to anyone. There is no perfect solution, but the idea is to try and reduce blunt force movement in both applications. With the lower unit to trailer solution, the trailer acts as a brace to keep the lower unit from hard downward forces. The challenge with that is the engine is held up while the force of the transom still has downward and backward motion. So the transom, hull engine and trailer and not necessarily moving as one. They are working against each other in many aspects. This does put stress on multiple parts of the boat set up. Also, many of the crossmembers on the trailers actually flex up to 6-8 inches. That again allows different parts of the boat/motor/trailer to stress against each other. (trim down more than you normally might once with that type of transom saver and watch the cross member with the roller. Does it stay stationary? Yours may or may not depending on the type of trailer, but most flex more than you think, hence the reason you have to strap it on so it does not fall off. When you hit a bump it flexes and then the engine bounces up and it pops out. That method does provide a level of limiting the downward force which is good thing, but as you can see, not perfect either. Additionally that type does unfortunately wear on your lower unit a bit and can cause some issues there too. The Motor Tote version like ours also has good and bad. The key thing with ours is getting all pieces from Trailer/transom/hull/engine to try to move as one. By keeping all parts as unified as possible, your trailer actually becomes the best possible shock absorber there is. Most guys don’t pay enough attention, but the tire pressure is one of the best ways to protect your boat no matter which method you choose. Our unit has automotive grade bump stops that absorb impact and downward force. They are the same material and type that keep your gas tank from smashing up into your truck frame. That’s a huge stress relief as well. The motor totes also have a circular force if you will. When the engine wants to move downward, the base of the motor tote diverts that force back towards the transom which neutralizes the original backward pull on the transom. That’s a big deal. That’s where the guys who say, it’s not a transom saver, it does nothing are 100% wrong. Physics not opinion on that one, dead wrong. It does help reduce force. If you think about it in this stupid analogy, take a carton of eggs. Tape it up so the carton can only move as one piece. Strap it down securely to your trailer. When you drive the trailer will absorb almost all the impact and your eggs will survive better than you think. Now take the carton, don’t shut the lid all the way, don’t strap it down and see how it does when all pieces are not moving as one…… Stupid but very true in terms of the importance and benefit of all pieces being secured, letting the trailer buffer the impact instead of the pieces working freely and/or against each other.
Bottom line, there isn’t a perfect solution and probably won’t ever be, but your boat/hull/transom takes a tremendous amount of pressure out on the water. Think about the impact when you go airborne and we’ve all been there. The fiberglass is flexing, the engine is being grabbed extremely abruptly and there is major force on the transom. If you can keep things stable and unified on your trailering set up, you’ve greatly reduced your stress to much less than your boat takes in the water. We’ve worked with the engine companies, the boat companies and in all honest there is only one person that hasn’t said that ours are some of the best they have even seen and recommend. That one person has a vested interest in another solution……. So, honest answer, there isn’t a perfect solution, but keeping things locked down as one unit is a big plus. Your boat will move slightly on your trailer, again with the trailer to lower unit method, that’s not a good thing with it pushing your engine upward wearing on your hydraulics. With ours that movement is uneventful and non-impactful. Sorry for the book, but you asked and there isn’t a simple explanation. Hope this help and you appreciate the honest response.

Honestly I have never heard of a motor being damaged while transporting on a trailer. I use the type that goes between the motor and hydraulics. Well because you are suppose to use something right?

cross members of a trailer flexing 6″-8″ uhhhhh??

I’ve heard some of the newer trailers don’t have leaf springs, is that what he’s referring to?

Otherwise most of what he’s talking about is going to be absorbed by the leaf springs and tires. 8″ seems like an awful lot for a steel cross member to flex. Can others confirm this?

Ripjiggen wrote:

Honestly I have never heard of a motor being damaged while transporting on a trailer. I use the type that goes between the motor and hydraulics. Well because you are suppose to use something right?

They’ve always been called “transom savers”. Are we saving transoms, motor hydraulics or both?

Ripjiggen wrote:

Honestly I have never heard of a motor being damaged while transporting on a trailer. I use the type that goes between the motor and hydraulics. Well because you are suppose to use something right?

A friend of mine that passed away recently specialized in welding aluminum. He did work for a few boat dealers and repair shops in the area. He patched an occasional lower unit that had been cracked or had a hole worn in them by transom savers that were being used wrong. People were putting excess pressure on the bar to keep the motor from turning from side to side while trailering. This would crack the lower unit from vibration and bumps transferred to the lower unit from the trailer. The holes were caused by people using transom savers that had worn out rubber buttons and metal screws were rubbing against the lower unit.

SuperDave1959 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
Honestly I have never heard of a motor being damaged while transporting on a trailer. I use the type that goes between the motor and hydraulics. Well because you are suppose to use something right?

They’ve always been called “transom savers”. Are we saving transoms, motor hydraulics or both?

That is more what I meant. I don’t disagree that it could just never seen damage or heard of it at all. I guess maybe when there is damage people may not admit they were not using a transom saver. Like was stated above I would think there is far greater pressure put on the whole system when on the water. I’m not advocating for not using one by the way.

Having always had a HD welded aluminum boat, the transoms are 1/4″ thick welded aluminum. I’ve never felt like the transom was in any jeopardy. I use a My-Wedge hoping that it takes some of the pressure off the hydraulic seals for my trim. FWIW, I have never used anything on the kicker motor other than the kickstand on the motor.

My old boat had a transom saver. 21 seasons on the same one. The rubber “V” that fits the front of the lower unit was cracking so I put a rag in there so the bolt wouldn’t hit the lower unit. There was some paint worn off the lower unit probably from dirt between the rubber and lower unit. I think you can buy the replacement rubber. Instead, I bought a new boat. Lund officially has no opinion on what to use. The manager of the dealership said most guys are using M-Y wedge, so that’s what I’m using. I called Yamaha tech support and they didn’t recommend one over the other but said you should use one of them. I also bought the M-Y wedges that go on the hydraulic steering rods to keep the motor straight while trailering. I had to trim them to fit my setup. Better than the plastic ones.

Piece of a 2×4 works great.

Isn’t this conversation usually saved until later January?

Let’s talk a little about the $170 for the DD26’s, my Lord!

Just so you guys know.. I have been looking for someone to give me a good honest answer that actually made sense to me about what product style worked better or worse…

I have listened to many people tell me what they used but most people could not tell me why in a convincing manner….

I liked this guys reply .. he stated right off that there is pros and cons to both…. but also stated in a way that I understood what pros and what cons and why for both…. I have never had this before…

Now some of the stats may or may not be exaggerated really makes no difference in the explanation, but what it does do is a good job in comparing the two styles !!

I have been using the traditional transom saver all my life…. and never had anyone convince me to change… I may be tipped to switch now after this explanation he gave…

Although I do not believe either way is right or wrong…

SuperDave1959 wrote:

Let’s talk a little about the $170 for the DD26’s, my Lord!

Apparently you don’t have a Mercury…$240!!!!

Dave,

I have used both and appreciate their candid response. Their “egg carton” analogy seems like a pretty accurate assumption. I have looked into this product and more likely than not will be my direction. I too have been searching for the true answer, so thanks for posting. It’s pricey, but what isn’t these days. For those of us who look at our rig as a long term purchase, it may be worth the cash. Currently, I use the Yami saver.

Dave you must be bored. I think your just trying to start an argument so the mods got something to monitor. advocate.

I use the Yamaha white and red rubber thing that came with the Skeeter. So far so good.

Pool noodle, lengthwise between the trailer crossmember and the lower unit.
Not very effective and I lose a few of them, but they sure are cheap.

Certainly marketing spin from a guy trying to sell a product. I am not saying their product, or any like them, are bad for your boat but I find several of his responses a bit slanted.
1) States that there are pros and cons to each but only list cons for the lower unit to trailer type and only pros for his product. Subliminal message being sent?
2) Uses an extreme over exaggeration, claiming a trailer may flex 6 – 8 inches, to try to bolster his product. I have never seen a trailer that would flex more than a fraction of an inch. Plus how often have you seen a lower unit bouncing up and down 6 – 8 inches if it was completely unsupported. If it does not move that much unsupported it will not move that much supported.
There are at least a couple of factors that prevent much movement – a) manufacturers don’t build out of sheet metal, and b) the motor tilt cylinder provides support in addition to the saver. Using my setup as an example – the transom saver is 34.5 inches long and the saver attaches to the motor 30.5 inches from the tilt/trim pivot point. Assuming that the trailer flexes ½ inch (which I think is a lot since the movement on mine is unperceivable), and a bit of simplified math, the angular deflection at the pivot point is approximately 0.4 degrees. Even at 1 inch flex, the angular deflection is approximately 1 degree. Pretty much acting as one?
3) States “The key thing with ours is getting all pieces from Trailer/transom/hull/engine to try to move as one.” However, then goes on to state that they have a shock bumper built in. A shock bumper will allow the motor to move slightly thus not truly “moving as one.”?
4) Attempts to use a physics reference – There is still a circular (e.g., rotational) force with their device. There is a lever arm between the top transom bolt and where the force is transferred back into the transom. And there is a lever arm between the top transom bolt and the bottom of the transom. This too is physics. Their device does absorb shocks, and takes some pressure off of the hydraulics, but to imply that rotational forces magically disappear (neutralize) when using their product is misleading.
5) The egg analogy is only really applicable if you do not strap your boat to the trailer (or your trailer flexes 6 – 8 inches and your tilt hydraulics are on working properly). To me it does nothing to promote their product over a lower unit to trailer type.

Again I am not against his product or any other type of product that helps relieve shock from your hydraulics/transom. There is a lot of marketing hype in his response (you would get a similar amount of marketing hype from a manufacturer of a lower unit to trailer type of saver). I do not think there is a wrong answer, nor will I snicker if you buy his product, but I would not consider his “detailed” answer as proof that style is superior to others.

^^^thanks for verifying that my initial presumption of him being full of it regarding cross members having 6″ to 8″ of flex.

It’s impossible. If trailers flexed even half of that think of how fast you’d burn through tires? If a cross member is flexing a half a foot or more it’d have to be pulling the outside frame in and putting the wheels on angle…if you’re axle isn’t strong enough to stop this bowing, which then would be putting a lot of stressful torque on the axle.

A trailer having cross members that flex 6″ to 8″ would basically be a boat trampoline and be extremely dangerous in my opinion.

I really do like all the replies…

And remember.. It’s your money.. you should spend it the way you want, and what makes you feel best !!

Interesting you posted this when you did. I have had the traditional transom saver on my WX2100. Until this weekend. Somehow I lost it. I took it off prepping the boat for launch. I set it down to do something I thought was more important. I guess I never picked it up and put it in the truck. When I reloaded it was no where to be found. I remember setting down right next to where my trailer was parked. Someone must of saw it and made their own.

So when I got home I research a replacement. I decided to go with one of the motor only mount ones. I liked the My Wedge but I settled on the same style but a version that supports both sides of the motor evenly. I think I can just toss this one in the splash well when I launch.

I believe the trailer to motor style can cause some issues with different things moving in different ways. But my Skeeter sits very secure on the trailer so I never though that was an issue. The newer to me style should work fine too. Imagine the stress on your transom blasting 1 1/2 footers at 40 mph. Trailering doesn’t seem as bad. Trailering = Lower frequency/longer duration.

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gizmoguy wrote:

Imagine the stress on your transom blasting 1 1/2 footers at 40 mph. Trailering doesn’t seem as bad. Trailering = Lower frequency/longer duration.

Fundamental difference here is motor is under load and applying force to the transom while running and while trailering motor is neutral therefore allowing to wiggle on transom.

The traditional transom saver has hydraulic pressure holding motor against the transom. Force on the transom is in the same direction as if motoring in forward. Boat and motor (force on transom) are now static loads on a trailer.

Lastly, on the water the entire boat feels the force of waves whereas trailered the boat is stationary and If allowed, the motor can bounce forces in both directions.

Yes I took statics, dynamics, and strength of material engineering classes.

Well, the only person that I know personally that has had hull damage at the transom got it from engine force during hole shot and not trailering.

SuperDave1959 wrote:

Well, the only person that I know personally that has had hull damage at the transom got it from engine force during hole shot and not trailering.

Probably because that person didn’t use a transom savor! Motor rattled the transom so much on the road it was damaged on hole shot!

Pat McSharry wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>SuperDave1959 wrote:</div>
Well, the only person that I know personally that has had hull damage at the transom got it from engine force during hole shot and not trailering.

Probably because that person didn’t use a transom savor! Motor rattled the transom so much on the road it was damaged on hole shot!

Nope, he uses double piston supports.

Had a motor mate on my bass boat and loved it, it saves on wear and tear on your hydraulic steering, I have seen first hand 2 times were there was lower unit damage with a conventional transom saver, 1 due to the pads not being replace and one were the transom saver came off the trailer roller and dug into the blacktop and put a nasty crack in the lower unit. I have a 70 hp tiller, I have yet to find any manufacture that makes a newer style for smaller motors.