The friction on my nissan o/b never really worked well... I eliminated the issue completely by installing a couple of tiny dinghy cam cleats with fairleads on small blocks of teak and I then epoxied this onto the bulkhead - One each on each side of the motor. I ran small 1/8" or 3/16" lines with a stopper knot through the holes on the o/b 'handle' and into these cams via the fairlead. It worked like a charm...

This Secured the motor straight as an arrow, but it could also be released completely in a fraction of a second when needed. The lines came off tthe motor for starage right away as they were only help by the stopper knot - I highly recomment this route.

I'll look for some pictures to post... I'm pretty sure I took some at some point... I must have!