Trim ? any help
 

I know this will sound dumb to most of you but I just want to be safe with my fam/freinds and have fun with my boat and learn how to do this right.
So try not to bash me to bad LOL.
How do you know when you are over trimed or trimed out just right ? I would realy like to learn how to do this the correct way.
All I have been doing is starting out with the drive all the way down (my k-plane are not hydraulic) and getting up on plane.
Then I hit the trim switch a little not to much because I am afraid of over triming or causeing any damage to drive because I brought it up to far.(is that posible)
Any suggestion would be very helpful and respected thank you.

Dose any one know of any DVD's out there on how to operate a performance boat properly and safely ???
not that my boat is a real performance boat lol

I get to a point in my Trim that I no longer gain speed or carry the nose higher so I quit going at that point.

Thank you for the reply !!!
with all the chop I have a hard time telling when I am not carrying the nosie any higher. I guss I have to get out early befor all the chop and pratice. Thanks again :drink:

Most boats require that you be trimmed all the way in to get up on plane. Once on plane, you can start experimenting with adding more positive trim. How much can you add and when? Generally speaking, the faster you go, the more trim a boat will tolerate. As you've already heard, you'll know when you have too much by one of several symptoms:

- The prop "blow out" and you gain lots of RPM's and no more speed, or
- The boat starts to porpoise with the bow bouncing up and down, or
- The boat really starts to pound because you've exposed the belly to the oncoming waves, or
- The boat starts to "chine walk" or become unstable because you've got too little hull in the water.

The opposite problem can be too much negative trim. You'll know this because:

- The boat starts to "bow steer" and steering becomes over sensitive, or
- The boat will not attain maximum speed because you have too much wetted surface, or
- Waves are coming over the bow.

Unfortunately, proper trimming is a skill only attained by practice - and every boat is different. Many of us trim mainly by feel and only use an indicator as a guide. I'm only able to do that because of hundreds of hours of seat time in hundreds of different boats. Oh yea, and I had some good coaches too!

Hope that helps!

I did that twice last weekend oop's :grinser010:

Wow this is great info thank you very much Too Stroked.
You are right I guss I just need more seat time in the boat thank you for pointing me in the right direction and if you are ever on lake Erie or the Niagara river and want to take a Pachanga for a ride let me know coach !!!! :drink:

Glad I could help. I certainly needed some help when I was just starting out - many years ago. I'm in the process of teaching my 17 year old son the finer points of high speed boat handling in my 22' Progression. Although he's been boating with me since he was 8 months old and he's pretty darn good, teaching him how to coax the last 5-10 MPH out of my boat is giving me (more) gray hairs. And guess what? That last 10 MPH is all done with trim.

Sometimes you've just got to learn by making mistakes. I just want to make sure nobody gets hurt when he makes one. It was so much easier when I started learning in a 60 MPH boat. When you make mistakes at just under 80 MPH, things get a bit more serious!

BTW, you might want to check out the Western New York Offshore Powerboat Association in your area. Lots of great folks in there with lots of experience!

[QUOTE=Too Stroked;3170101
BTW, you might want to check out the Western New York Offshore Powerboat Association in your area. Lots of great folks in there with lots of experience![/QUOTE]

Thanks I will check that out !

My son is 3 yrs old so I have aways to go befor all that. I am sure we will be there when he is 17. He loves the boat he wants to drive now !!! I dont do to much when he is on the boat with us besides float around and when we are driving my wife hold's him in the bolster with her and he always has his pfd vest on. I find it can be alot to handle at time's trying to pay attention to my son, jets skies and the other boater's but I enjoy it very much.

I know what you mean about the mph that's why I dont have a 80mph boat yet. (key work is yet)
I bet that 22 is alot of fun !

trim
 

if you are looking for speed,use a gps and trim till you see best speed.you will know when you over trim.sometime what trim setting that worked yesterday,but doesnt work too well today.you really have to be able to look at the water and juge you trim angle and adjust to the condition.so many time people run ther trim angle for speed and not for comfort.

Would it be safe to say when someone is trimmed for max speed and hits a big wave that can cause a trip and a stuff?

Everyone says "overtrimming" can cause this, but I assume it's more of over trimmed for the conditions, not the boat......ie it's not trimmed beyond where it gains speed.

A gps is on the list to buy. I want to be able to set the trim for max speed and go for a good ride. When my son is on the boat it's all about comfort I dont want to be banging around with him on the boat .

I would like to avoid the trip and stuff .Thats why I asked all of you pro's for your thoughts on this topic. I dont think I have to worry about that to much my boat is heavy and its no 80mph boat.
Thank you for all the input guy's !!!!! :drink:

Somebody should probably note that kiting a boat off one wave, then landing on the stern to cause a stuff is more correctly dealt with using trim tabs that drive trim. Trimming the drive in has a somewhat limited ability to control the attitude a boat flies through the air at after launching off a wave. This is even more true in ocean conditions where waves are further apart.

Trim tabs on the other hand can be very effectively used to “trip” a boat back down just as it comes off of a wave crest. (You just can’t do that with drive trim.) When you see somebody really driving a high performance boat correctly in rough water, the bow will not be randomly aimed at the sky. You’ll see a nice, level ride attitude almost no matter what kind of wave is encountered. When you see somebody pointed at the sky – and they have trim tabs – that’s because they either didn’t know how to use them or didn’t have them set properly. Just like learning how much trim to use on your boat, proper use of trim tabs is one of those things you have to learn through experience.

Thanks for the input, that makes some sense to me.

Do you have "Trim Indicators"??? So you know where your drive and tabs are? if so, go out when it's smooth water and trim the drive (with the tabs level or up) until you get max speed, then mark the indicator, there will never be a time when you need to trim higher than that mark. then when the water has a bit of chop run the boat hard and trim the drive until it feels good and then start reasearching the tabs, when going fast both tabs need to be at the same level, whether it be up or down they have to go together. this type of testing is best done with the wife and kids on the dock, just you and one or two of your buds (buddies :) ). as stated before seat time is the best teacher and it's usually by learning what NOT To do...

Thank you for your input that souds like great advice ! I do not have trim indicators and my tabs are not adjustable . I will remember that for my next boat !