Ahhh.. That makes sense. So it's for cold weather/frozen climates pretty much? I've heard people recommend it (in any weather) because of the hydraulics or something and it never really made sense to me. Thanks for the clarification.

John

ya i was wondering why it made a difference if i left the stern drive up or down also. it sits in a barn for the winter so i dont have to worry about water.

Other reason to keep the drives down is to keep the 2 bellows from devolping a hooked set. With the drive up, the bellows are curved. Just a little more harder on them to be stored in that position for extended periods of time then possibly failing once the drive is lowered. Or so they say. Not sure about the hyds, but with the drives down, no load on the cyl (granted not much there anyway) and the piston rods are not exposed to atmoshere. Retracted they are in submerged in trim oil. Plus the rods won't get a scale buildup if they were extended, then ruining the seal once retracted. Only reason I could come up with, but you see them stored up all the time.

US1 - You brought up a couple more reasons that I hadn't contemplated. The hydraulics being the reason never sat well with me, considering there is so much more pressure on them when running the boat. However, the bellows and exposure of the shafts to elements do make a bit of sense.

Thanks,

John