Stepped Hull
 

A friend of mine has a 29 Fountain. He says when making a turn the drive should be pulled in. He says the video that came with the boat says the same thing. I thought the drive should be trimmed out. Is the Fountain differant then other stepped bottoms? I always keep my drive trimmed out when turning,but it isn't a Fountain... Thanks.

I am sure you can safely turn a stepped boat with the drives trimmed in if you back way off the throttles.

But I would not try that at high speed. With the drives trimmed in you are creating stern lift, this increases the risk of spinning out due to the stepped surfaces.

My video said the same thing, but I think it was made before all the models had steps. I've always heard NOT to trim the drives in on a stepped hull boat when turning.

When I first put my stepped 32 Fever through its paces, I tucked the drives going into a turn, not having heard anything about step-hull handling.
I just remember thinking "THIS . . ain't . . RIGHT !!", and "feels a little spooky".
Started trimming up instead. Felt a LOT better.
Then I started reading this forum. . . .

I checked out the owners video I got back in 2000. Shows a mix of stepped and non-stepped 35, 38 and 42s and says to trim in to 'tighten' the boat up. When we took delivery of the 35, the test driver from the factory showed us the same thing...trim in a little, tabs down a little, pull back on the throttle and the turn. While the video doesn't say it, I think by trimming out, your loosening the boat up further which makes you susceptible to a spin out with so little of the boat in the water.

Most of the time I'm running 3200-3500 RPM and I just turn the wheel. When we had our 29 single, I mostly trimmed in to lower the bow and drop the RPM and then turn.

I think the video is still correct for stepped hulls.

Bill

What I have always heard (and practiced) with step bottom boats is keep the drives neutral to out and apply throttle in the turn. Not a lot of throttle, but enough to keep the effective cg from transferring forward.

If you tuck the drives and let off the throttle, the boat has a tendency to become light on the back end which is more likely to cause a spin. If the drives are neutral to out, and a small amount of throttle is applied, it will actually plant the back if the boat in the water allowing for faster turns.

I also agree that unless you are doing high speed maneuvers (over 60 mph) you are not going to notice much difference either way.

I turn hard at 60mph with the drives out.