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I just put my boat in the water for the summer, and the question came up, whether to leave the motor in the down position or in the tilt up position. I know evenrude suggests to leave the motor in the down position for storage. So I left it in the down position. I'm worried about zebra muscles attaching to the motor and possibly clogging up the intake. What do you guys do?

I leave it in the up position both to keep it clean and to keep the anodes (and after that, engine) from corroding early. I'm not sure why Evinrude says to store it in the down position, because these motors are oil injected 2-strokes so there's little worry about oil movement inside the engine.

I do however put the motor lock lever in place and lower the motor on to it to keep the lifted weight pressure off the pneumatic system. The only time my motor is down is when it's being used.

Thanks mastreb. I think I will leave it tilted up from now on.

If you leave your motor down per their instructions you"ll be back twice as soon to buy a new motor from them,that keeps them in business.

I believe the down position storage is refering to dry land and not in a slip. I would not leave my motor down in the water for any length of time.

I left Evinrude down for one week and now what use to been a nice new looking white lower-end is stained yellow thanks to the Chesapeake Bay. I know, save your comments, they say it's getting cleaner. Is there anything that works good to get it clean again?

If in doubt, look at the lower units of the I/O powerboats, which stay in the water. If that's how you want your OB to look, then fine, but I keep mine out.

Oh, and I agree that Evinrude's use of the term 'storage' applies to on the hard or in a rack, pickled for the winter, rather than in between uses when it's in its slip.

I leave mine tilted up. I'm in salt water. This motor needs constant vigilance against corrosion.

Ixneigh

I leave mine up if it's in a slip. Have found more than one marina with current leakage between boats and that speeds corrosion by a lot!!

~Phillip

Hmmm, interesting thread. I slip my boat and normally leave the motor up. However, I slip at a high mountain lake and was told by one of my more experienced slip neighbors to leave the motor down during October since in will keep any residual water in the engine from freezing. Marina requires boats be pulled out by the second or third week of October. I have done this for the last two seasons and it has left a slight stain on the lower case...but maybe better than the alternative???

Water freezing in the lower unit where the prop shaft originates is a really good reason to leave the motor down when stored outside. The PO of my boat stored it tilted up, but with the prop shrink wrapped. I didn't think much of that practice then, and even less now. I take the prop off and store the boat with the engine in it's normal (vertical) orientation. No need to worry about water trapped in there.

Voice of experience. Don't know what size motor you have. I keep Honda 7.5 longshaft stored in the garage on a bracket upright. Motor is 30 years old and looks brand new. Don't know what conditions are in your area but the heat here in Nevada will bleach a rock. Freezing will also do a number. Also though you may not hear a lot about it there are a lot of Outboards stolen from marinas. I know of two incidents here. Fair Winds and Full Sails...

Thanks everyone for you input. I think I'm gonna go with tilt up and letting it sit on the transport bracket.