Water Level
 

How low water level to low. The water level in the cove where my boat house is down to about 4ft. I have not put my boat back in the water becase of it. I have a 28ft twin Baja and are worried about the drive hitting bottom. Is it ok to drive the boat with the drives way up until I get to deeper water?

No its not. Very hard on the u-joints and transom assembly. Dont do it. Walk your boat out to deeper water with the drives up and motors off.

heck thats everyday boating for us :D you can run with the drives at the limit switch an thats about it. It will adversely affect performance and gimble life though. Probably better running with tabs buried, with the drive up it forces the stern down about as much or more than the level drive depth.

I am only going to be idling. Would that hurt the joints?

yup...wouldnt do it.


And not all boats have limit switches. I dont have a "trailer" switch on mine....the drives will keep going up with normal trim until they max out the trim rams.

You can trim it up pretty high at idle and it won't hurt anything. If you feel a slight vibration, lower the trim till you don't feel the vibration.

4ft should be fine.

You could call Sea Tow and they can give you a lift to deeper blue:angry-smiley-038:

I agree with Griff - and I do it all the time. I've never had an issue with the drives.

Its a boat - enjoy it, chit breaks all the time. I see your from Dallas - where is your boat house.

The Merc. operation & maintenance manual says the power trim system "Trailering" feature allows the operator to raise and lower the drive unit for trailering, beaching, launching and low speed ( below 1200 RPM engine speed), shallow water operation. Also states never trim the drive unit UP/OUT using TRAILER switch while boat is underway at engine speeds above 1200 RPM. Use extreme caution when operating with drive unit raised. Severe damage to the drive unit may result if unit is raised beyond the gimbal ring support flanges at engine speeds above 1200 RPM. In other words you should be fine for idling out in shallow water. I have been doing it for the last 20 years in 3 different boats I have owned and have never had any drive issues because of it.

Cedar Creek Lake.

is it ok to leave your drive way up on your trailer?

I own my first boat and just assumed thats how it should be done. :eek:

I raise mine when I trailer, but if it is just sitting I lower it back down - less stress and strain on Bellows, etc....

You should lower it when its just sitting. Do you have to?...I guess not. But it certainly is less stress to avoid the high angles as much as possible weather sitting or driving.

I usually put it back down when in storage. If its freezing temperatures you should always leave it down.

This is an interesting thread because some of my hangouts have low water and I jack the drive up pretty far. Right now the boat is at the mechanics getting a lot of work done to the back end that after reading this, may have been attricuted to me driving with the drive up. The mechanic said that water got into the bellows, which screwed up(rusted) the gimbel and CV(maybe UV?) joints, which then in turn bent the driveshaft. Sound possible?