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First outing

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KLM

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Took my new benny out last week. 2275 gcw with sps yammy 150. 3/4 fuel tank with myself only. Top gps speed is 38mph at WOT 6000rpm. Cursing at 3000rpm at around 16mph. Does these numbers look ok? I have the reliance prop. Don't know the pitch though.

Also noticed the trim gauage don't match up the actual trim level. Like 3/4 down on gauage but the motor is actually all the way down.

I am still learning how to trim the best.

Otherwise it was good and fun.
 
Congratulations
 
KLM 

 Congrats! Just curious What hole is your motor mounted in? 
 
My boat is pretty close to yours. I'm pushed by a 200, but I have a strong hunch my boat is several hundred pounds heavier.

A couple of suggestions.

-Your dealer should be able to make some minor calibration adjustments to the trim gauge for you. 

-Your best trim gauge is your ear. It's way better than the needle. I find that, when cruising, I very frequently turn my head so my ear is toward the engine, cover the other ear which is now in to the wind, and just instinctively listen to the motor. I don't know how to use words to describe how the motor sounds when it's trimmed most efficiently, but there is definitely a sound. The RPM's are not jumpy at all. The boat is as on-plane is it can be which makes the sound of the water against the pontoons go way down. There is a very distinct sound when the prop starts to pull air down from the surface...you don't want that. 

-The most efficient that my motor runs, is at about 3800 and 22mph. If I am covering long distances, that's my sweet spot. Yours will likely be similar in RPM...but maybe 20ish mph. 

- When I cruise for greatest comfort instead of greatest efficiency, I don't plane and I most enjoy 1100rpm with the motor trimmed 1/4 on the gauge (that's where my prop is parallel to the surface of the water. 

-If I'm going to get somewhere, but not going to go 22...then I accelerate until the boat is on plane and with the motor trimmed just-three-short bumps-above all-the-way-down and pull off throttle to the point where the boat just barely stays on plane. That's about 2800rpm and about 13mph on my boat.

Like you already expressed, it's trial and error and takes time. Your numbers sound about right. I just wanted to give you the challenge of memorizing what your motor sounds like when it's doing different things. And give you some of the little tidbits I learned last year.
 
Congrats on getting out! Where are the pics? I'd say you are pretty close. Probably some trim adjustments and you'll have it dialed in.
 
Looks like my picture posted successfully. Can you tell which hole the engine mounts to?
 
Yes looks like 1 open from the top , Thanks 

Good looking boat!!
 
Sweet boat!!!!

I dial in trim more by feel than sound.  I'll have to pay attention to sound this summer.  If you suck, air, it will be obvious.  Beyond that, changes in sound sound pretty interesting to me.  I'll have to pay more attention to that in the future.

For me, its the pitch of the boat (or rise of the bow) at different speeds that tells me half of the story.  The other half comes from feeling slight changes in speed of the boat.  If you start porpoising at high speed (you'll know what I mean the first time it happens in case you don't), trim down a tad at a time until it stops, and you are optimized. At lower speeds, trim doesn't seem to have as much of an impact. 

The ONLY time I use my trim gauge is in the last few seconds before beaching the boat.  I have an imaginary line on the trim gauge where I know the prop is high enough that the motor won't suck in sand or the prop hit bottom.  That still gives me some forward thrust coming in, and if I gun it a little as I hit the sand, it helps keep the bow higher to ride up further on the beach.  I see a lot of people coast up on the sand, and AFTER they come to a complete stop, they hammer the motor pretty hard.  That just makes prop-wash holes.  Ever fall into one walking out to deep water?

I have another imaginary line on the trim gauge that shoots the bow out of the water when I hammer the throttle from a standstill, but that's more for fun than anything.  It's fun to see people's faces that are sitting as far forward on the bow seats as possible when the bow suddenly jumps up a couple feet.  I'm thinking that's an Express Package thing, since it rides bow-high to begin with.  That and the power of the 150.  I don't remember my 115 ever launching the boat like that. 
 
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By the way, at 1/2 on the trim gauge on my boat, the prop is out of the water.  Another reason I don't pay much attention to it. 
 
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