Trim, Tabs, and bigger water questions
 

So most of my boating is in on a river, so there is not much to worry about.. Only use tabs IF your boat needs them to get on plane(almost never)., and trim the boat to a nice level but with out spinning props out.

then if WOT, some more trim until you get it kinda loose, and maxing the speed/ rpm where it need to be.

For my boat, 7ish on the indicators, and tabs up, or level with the hull (6.5) is good for WOT. and trim at 2.5-3ish, tabs up or level (6.5) for cruse speed

I know if you are in some Chop you can trim down making the bow cut more, but this also will cost you some speed and MPG.. but a smoother ride.. same with adding tabsreally can bog the boat down and beary the bow making it smooth, but costing you 10mph almsot and sucking some fuel as well. but it does technicaly work.

What are you guys running when you are out there in 3-5 footers in the gulf / ocean? tabs and trim settings?

I have been out there and played around but never pushed it to hard to get up on them and runt the boat over 30-35ish. i know i need to to get up on top of them. so curious where to start? now i just kinda keep on off the plane casue i dont want to stuff the damn thing, or beat it apart. but I would like to see how she acts and get more experince out there.

DO you want to keep the bow high? with alot of trim? or do you want to keep trimmed down?

I would think you want it pretty flat but asking to greater my knolodge as much as I can from behid the keyboard.

Unless your running real hard, here is a good general rule to follow.
Following sea- Drives level, tabs level, down just a touch if she feels loose.
Head sea, drives tucked in a bit, tabs level, if she feels loose, drop a little more tab.
Unless your running real hard, thats a good starting point.
If your running hard to the point where you really need to throttle the boat, level flight is the goal.

tabs level, I assume you mean level with the bootom of the boat. not up/ negative and not down/posative.

thats at 6.5 on my tab indicator.

whats the best way to know where LEVEL is on the drives? tabs where easy to find, strait edge on them and then make note where that is.

what do I nee to level on the drive with the bottom edge of boat? cavatation plate? nose cone?

The propshaft angle compared to the bottom of the boat

got ya. figured so, will check that and make a note and see whats up, I assume its about the same as where I have been crusing.

Just to add a bit to what Johnny said, too much tab can lead to a trip and stuff. Too little tab can lead to kiting the boat. (And that's all with the trim neutral.) And none of this is cast in stone. As he said, those are good starting points. Feel - developed with experience - will tell you where (and how much) to adjust.

Close Tom, too much tab generally wont lead to a trip and stuff, not enough tab will, when the boat stands up and the ass catches. Too much tab and it will bowsteer, and the transom may hop, but unless you have 380s mounted way low, they wont catch like everyone thinks they will.

See I would have though you wanted some positive trim to keep the nose from going under, but it sounds like it more to keep the bow down so you down kiss a wave with the ass end and stuff the front is more important.

I goat a bottle of touchup paint and a level. With the boat on the trailer jack on the floor. Level to boat using the jack, then levle the tabs and drive cavitation plate. Put a small dot of paint beside the spot where your indicators are. Then you know where level is at a glance. Like they said, that;s a starting point.