Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I searched the site for this answer but can't seem to find it.

My new toon has a trim guage on it and power trim. I'm not sure if I know what I'm doing and had a couple questions. The orientation guy pretty much said set it halfway between the lowest and the mid range setting. He said that was the most common setting for most conditions. My question to you experts is how do you know? Is it "sound" of the engine...ride...etc...or do you just figure it out eventually with experience? I am a total newb so if you could give me an idea of "how" you know you have reached the proper setting I woud appreciate it! Thanks in advance!

Each boat is set differently. I just set mine on engine sound. Start raising the trim until the motor races as the prop slips and then lower just a bit to eliminate prop slip. Mine is about 2 needle thickness above the 1/2 mark on the gauge. But when all the way down the gauge shows 1/4. Hope this helps.

I agree with jmrs. The sales guy told me to trim it up until I detect the prop is slipping (you'll hear a change in the pitch) and then back it down just a bit. My trim gauge shows it as being above 3/4 up when this occurs. This point may change depending on the weight of the boat with people & fuel as well as how you have the weight distributed.
I usually never trim it up unless I go above about 3,00 rpm, but that's just me.
There's as much art as science in doing this. In my Four Winns, I never had to look at the trim gauge because I'd been running the boat so long I could tell; kind of like not having to look at the tach on a stick shift automobile to know when to up shift.

Since it depends on how your boat is loaded, this is what I do.

You need a digital speedometer - GPS

Bring boat to cruising speed (3/4 rpm for me) with trim a little below halfway point on guage. Slowly bring the trim up while watching the speedometer. Your perfect trim is when you register the highest speed. Mine is just after the halfway with a heavier load but with a lighter load it is a little less. Amazingly just before or just after the "sweet spot" I will lose 2-3 tenths on my speedometer.

I find this easieer than trying to hear the prop slip.

Hope this helps

Sounds as if you have strakes with your tritoon. A straked boat needs the engine trimmed up to get the boat's nose out of the water--for speed and efficiency. It's generally a "feel" thing.

My old standard twin toon just kind'a plows through the water. Nothing I can do to the trim will really improve it much. I generally just run the engine parallel to the toons.

Bamaman, that's what the dealer told me when we bought our Suncruiser two log toon in 1999. Trimming wasn't going to help like it does now with a lot of the tritoons with strakes, which my benni has.
He said the only reason to trim it up was to either put it on a trailer or get whatever might be fouling the prop.

Here's a link to the same question I had a little while ago that may also help you.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12524

Cheers!

My sweet spot is just below the halfway point. If I trim any higher when I hit the rollers from other boats I tend to want to cavitate.

I find Trim alot more useful now since I added the 3rd pontoon. About the only thing I used it for before was to control my trolling speed a bit and to lift the front a bit by timing the throttle just right when crossing wakes and rollers to keep water from coming up on the deck. With 3 pontoons its a WHOLE different world, It has a very tight trim range where its happy, but when its happy it hauls! trimmed down too much and it plows and looses ALOT of speed, too much and pushes the rear of the tubes down and allows the cross members to catch the wakes............ I really need to get that underskin on.

I dont have a trim guage on my boat but my ideal setting is all over the map based on load. If I am alone, the motor is rather. What I do is count to three while its raising from the lower position and when I reach three, its at the ideal position for a light boat. When its more loaded down, the count is about one second. I have a straked boat and trim is very critical to reaching max speed. I intend to install a trim guage this winter.

I can always tell my ideal setting is when I am at top speed, the sterring wheel will not try to turn on its own. Its right at the small window between it trying to slightly turn on its own and not turning on its own. I can also tell by the rooster tail it throws up in the water.