Motormate outboard locking units

With spring upon us, boats are coming out and being prepped for use. What could be the most overlooked item may one of the most valuable. I am referring to your outboard locking unit. I recently purchased my dream boat and did not have any type of outboard support. I took to the internet and general boating forums trying to find the best unit for my setup. The options vary from the traditional bar style transom savers to outboard locking units. After several days of research and posing the question on multiple forums I decided to purchase the Motormate locking unit. Here is what I used to make my decision along with an impressive list of tour pros who use the Motormate system, like Ott DeFoe Aaron Martens, Casey Ashley, Randy Howell, Gary Yamamoto, Randall Tharp and NPS' own Brent Ehrler. I figured if it works for them 40,000 miles per year it will do fantastic for my 1,500 miles per year. As I looked into the various options I was exposed to several things I was oblivious to. The bar style transom savers seem to have the most negative opinions from what I gathered in my quest. The vast majority of what I saw was a concern about vibration at the lower unit. That, along with the boat, trailer, outboard and bar saver not forming a solid connection, enabling all parts to move in opposition to each other could cause for a total breakdown of the device, allowing the lower unit to hit the ground. There also appeared to be a misconception that the bar style units relieved weight from the transom, when in fact, that 450lb mercury still weighed 450lbs. The most popular style of trailering device was the lock out units. Several well respected brands have such a device. However, further research suggested that having an inline bracing tube, as opposed to the T style bar were inherently stronger. This coupled with it's beefier design left little doubt in my mind that this would be the locking unit for my Gambler/Mercury setup. Some people posed the question of weight relief and stress to the transom using the lock out style units, but again, the bar styles do not lighten the load. The ease of use is hard to describe due to it's simplistic nature. It really is as easy as 1: Pull the locking pins 2: Place Motormate at desired mounting location, release pins. 3: Lower motor down onto Motormate. For more information and to see which unit fits your setup go to www.motormateusa.com They are also available at TackleWarehouse