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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ericman" data-source="post: 436727" data-attributes="member: 11909">I have an 89 Mercury 35 hp tiller, manual start, hydraulic assist. The hydraulic assist worked okay. . .if it was warm enough. Come late duck season, it was basically frozen and I couldn't raise the motor enough to lock it in the up position to maneuver it out of the weeds and prevent it from hanging up in the ice. I also had built my transom up to help prevent waves from coming over, probably 2-3 inches too high. The motor worked okay IF it was all the way down.NOW I have a CMC after market tilt, which allowed me to set it back the 5 inches from the transom and an inch lower than my raised transom. Now the long tiller handle is easier to deal with being a little further back and now I can run the motor raised up a bit. It planes out quicker (boat is rated for 75 and now it planes out with 2 guys, coolers, guns and 120 decoys). PLUS, with the hydraulic assist disabled, it has the "kick-back".So, I agree, for those of us running in rougher conditions. This is the way to go. One complaint though. The aftermarket lifts operate really sluggishly when it gets cold. I'm told I may need to put synthetic hydraulic fluid in the lift to make it run faster.</blockquote>