how to porperly use a power tilt/trim ?

[illumastorm]

i just bought a different boat and this one has a power tilt/trim for the motor. my older boat doesn't have that so i really don't know the proper way of using it. other then using it to raise the motor for towing on the trailer and lowering it when in the water i am lost as to the way it gets used while running in the water. anyone able to tell me how to use it or if there is a site i can go to read up on it?

thanks

[Ellesar]

Using the tilt is used for getting in and out of the water, or any other time that you want to raise the motor. A good example would be fishing shallow water, you don't want your engine to drag the ground so you raise it.

Trim is used while the motor is actually running. Usually above a certain RPM the motor won't transition from trim into tilt. This prevents you from raising the motor too far out of the water while you are under way. On most newer motors there are a couple of pistons on the back of the motor that control the switching between "trim" and "tilt". When those pistons are fully extended, the motor goes into "tilt" mode.

When you launch your boat and get it in the water you will tilt the motor down until the trim takes over (its an automatic thing but you will notice it because the rate of downward travel will slow down when the trim takes over). You want to trim it all the way down to take your hole shot. When you hit the gas and get up on plane you will start trimming up. This will lift the bow out of the water and create less drag and friction on your boat allowing you to go faster with less effort. You will continue to trim up until the trim maxes out or your perforamce degrades. The "right" amount of trim is different for every boat hull and set up. My boat likes lots of trim. Some don't and too much trim can cause control issues like porposing or less speed.

When you are coming to a stop, I usually start by trimming the motor back down. The pushes the bow back into the water and helps with the stern wave that wants to swamp the boat as you come off of plane.

While you are traveling you may use your trim. This depends on the type of boat you have. The aluminum boat I had last year didn't really require me to touch the trim except for take offs and stops. My current boat requires me to do a good deal more. High performance bass rigs often require maniuplation of the trim for lots of reasons. If Ive got a lot of trim and I'm encoutering waves, I need to trim it down so that the bow can cut the waves better. This smoothes out the ride and does't throw me all over the place. If I'm making a turn I need to trim it down so that the chines can help "bite" into the water and prevent the boat from "skipping". I also need to trim it down in turns so that I maintain adequate water pressure.

Not knowing what type of boat you have and hold old the motor is prevents me from telling you exactly how you might use yours, but the above should give you an idea of how it all works.

[illumastorm]

the boat is a 1987 15' fiberglass bass boat, model is a jason, the motor is a 1986 johnson 60hp VRO. i can understand the getting it up on plane but i didn't know how to use the trim/tilt to make that happen fast. it was taking it a long time to get up compared to my older boat, i think i had it backwards of what you said, and had the motor tilted on takeoff and then put it more level after it got up but you said put it all the way level on take off and then tilt it some after it gets up on plane, is that right?

[Ellesar]

Yes you should have the motor trimmed all the way down (another way of looking at it is that the motor should be tucked in). That gives you the best hole shot. Once you are up on plane start trimming the motor up (or out) which will cause the bow to rise leaving less of the hull in the water.

Doing it the other way would definately make it slow to plane. The force would have more of a downward component and less of a forward horizontal component, which means less force pushing the boat forward and getting it up on plane. Once you are on plane the amount of drag created from the friction of the water on the hull becomes your biggest hinderance. By changing the angle of the motor in the water, the angle that the boat rides on the water changes which lifts the hull and reduces the amount of hull in the water. This reduces drag which allows you to go faster.

[NBR]

I get set up as follows: Tuck the motor all the way under and give it full throttle. As it comes up on plane I back the throtle off a bit and trim out slowly until I don't have any steer torque. My rig has a sound at this point that I just call sweet for lack of a better description.I might go faster or maybe a bit slower with out change. If the boat starts to porpoise then I must give it a bit more power or tuck the motor under a bit.

If you are throwing a big rooster tail you are trimmed out to far(common). If you have a GPS and a tach you can get a feel for best performance  in rpm's, trim and speed. A speedometer will also do this  but the GPS is better.

My boat is a 19' glass  with a pad hull and a 150 so you will find some or many differences. I fooled around with they way I got going for a long time until I came up with the above. I was looking for a stable ride, no steer torque, a comfortable trip on the lake and not for top end speed. I do run a stainless prop.

[illumastorm]

thanks for the info guys, ;D we just got back from the lake and i tried the way you said, had the motor trimmed all the way down and i didn't even have to give it full throttle, close to just half, and it popped up on plane very fast! i played around with the trim while running and i noticed the more i trimmed it the higher the bow got and the more it wanted to bounce up & down, i found the place where it just leveld out and ran smooth & solid and it was great. the motor doesn't have any of those aftermarket wing things right above the prop and i was wondering would it be worth the price to buy some?

[Ellesar]

It depends on what your boat is doing. Those things generally help with 2 conditions. The first is your hole shot, or getting up on plane. Sounds like that isn't an issue for you. The other is porposing. Porposing is when the bow starts bouncing up and down like you described. If you can't get adequate bow lift without porposing, those devices can help. But if you are able to get good lift, even if you can't trim it all the way out, you don't really need one. Its not uncommon for some boat hulls to porpose when fully trimmed out. As long as you are able to get it to perform well I don't think you need one.

[NBR]

I have a "Leading Edge" foil on my boat to help with the hole shot. My experience is that a foil does not help with porpoising. When my boat porpoises I need to give it more power or trim it under just a bit. I find porpoising very annoying so when it starts I either give a little more throttle or if I don't wanr more speed I tuck the motor under just a bit.

If you are getting a good hole shot I wouldn'y bother with any kind of a foil!

[South FLA]

I don't think anyone mentioned WATER PRESSURE, its very important to keep on eye on it when trimmed out, you'll notice that sometimes during turns you lose too much and if you have a long sweeping turn then you can blow your engine........