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Trimming the Motor

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 8:47 pm
by Lesau
Do you guys trim it up to the point that just a small amount of the tubes are in the water? That seems too high to me, but looking for best efficiency.

Re: Trimming the Motor

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:05 pm
by captain28570
Without a fuel management gauge it will be hard to tell.

My fiberglass boats liked a little trim to get best MPG"s. The faster I went the more trimmed I needed. Less boat in the water when trimmed up.

But my Tritoon acts different. I have a digital gauge so I can watch the MPG's.

I trim mine up just a hair while cruising. If I lift the bow more the MPG's start going down.

When I get near WOT I trim up around 30 percent or so to get it out the water more then I trim down a little and it gets the best speed that way.

I think trimming to much actually makes the stern squat more creating more drag.

A lot of water moving between the toons. Mine seems to do better with almost no trim. But I have lifting strakes on all toons.

Re: Trimming the Motor

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 7:05 am
by guy48065
I've always suspected that analysis is correct for pontoons that plow rather than plane in the water. Most pontoons simply can't plane (I don't know about the 150HP+ tri-toons...maybe?) so you're actually levering the bow up (and pushing the stern down) by raising the thrust angle. That takes energy and it's wasted in just prying the bow up.

Re: Trimming the Motor

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 1:10 pm
by Lesau
Thanks guys, that is what I was thinking. I tend to trim mine so the bow is a little elevated to avoid the possibility of water over the bow, but that is only really an issue when the water is rough.

Re: Trimming the Motor

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 4:16 pm
by zoom650
As I trim, I watch my speed. If speed drops, its trimmed too far up.
Air around the prop?, then trimmed too far. (You'll hear this.)
If the nose begins to porpoise, trimmed too far up.

Re: Trimming the Motor

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 7:25 pm
by Rick McC.
zoom650 wrote:
Wed Sep 05, 2018 4:16 pm
As I trim, I watch my speed. If speed drops, its trimmed too far up.
Air around the prop?, then trimmed too far. (You'll hear this.)
If the nose begins to porpoise, trimmed too far up.
This. :thumbsup

Re: Trimming the Motor

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 9:22 pm
by playcraftray
captain28570 wrote:
Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:05 pm
Without a fuel management gauge it will be hard to tell.

My fiberglass boats liked a little trim to get best MPG"s. The faster I went the more trimmed I needed. Less boat in the water when trimmed up.

But my Tritoon acts different. I have a digital gauge so I can watch the MPG's.

I trim mine up just a hair while cruising. If I lift the bow more the MPG's start going down.

When I get near WOT I trim up around 30 percent or so to get it out the water more then I trim down a little and it gets the best speed that way.

I think trimming to much actually makes the stern squat more creating more drag.

A lot of water moving between the toons. Mine seems to do better with almost no trim. But I have lifting strakes on all toons.
+1

Re: Trimming the Motor

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 5:27 am
by steve1313
I'm like ZOOM. I watch speed. At WOT, I can gain as much as 1.5 mph by adjusting the trim properly, which is usually just before porpoising starts. I have a tritoon with lifting strakes, which lets the boat "plane". on a pontoon, I think it would be very difficult to actually get much planning.


Although I have get fuel management readings, I never pay any attention to that number with respect to trim. Frankly, the fuel managment numbers are not very important to me because I'm not really concerned about fuel burn. When the fuel gauge nears empty, I just fill it up again and I certainly don't do anything with the thought of conserving fuel.