Triming a pontoon

[Jim_R]

Mine did the same thing. The dealer dropped it an inch, same problem. It actually ended up being an incorrect size/pitch prop issue. We went bigger and steeper, it got the boat into the sweet spot and stopped the slip.

I'm with PDX, in talking with my Bennington Dealer I learned that they take out each individual boat and size the prop to reach recommended RPM at WOT. They say they have had significant differences in pitch required for identical boats with identical engines - seems counter intuitive, but I guess even things like the toons being 1/2" farther apart at the front of one boat relative to another can make a difference.

 

[PDX Hosedragger]

Every boat is different. The gauge is merely a guideline for your reference and can't be relied upon to be identical in position to another boat. Find your sweet spot and stick with it. I think the guys with the bigger HP motors will agree that trim will have a little more impact on performance. My range varies from being best performing all the way down at slow speeds, then gradually tilting up as I increase rpms. At WOT I can feel a huge difference trimming it up, you can hear the motor sing and it feels like the boat lifts off when it's trimmed just right.

 

[lakeliving]

So here is the update. Now that I know what I'm doing I am able to throw the power down trim up and get to speed. Providing the gps speedo is correct I hit 34 with the wife and dog on board two different occasions. I found the sweet spot to be a little under the first mark on the trim gauge, or 1/4 down. Today we added 2 more adults, choppier water and I was almost hitting 30. So I am very happy with those numbers with a 115.

 

[Ben & Suzy]

Well there ya go........simple as that. Enjoy your new boat!

 

[Martman4]

I believe that tilt trim should be gauged by using GPS at the usual cruise rpm. So that if you do most cruising at 3800 rpms then using the GPS trim until you get maximum speed at that rpm. If you are over trimmed up the boat will lose speed and if you are over trimmed down the same result. Find the sweet spot. Of course loading and sea conditions will change everything.

 

[keithkz]

On my boat I of course start with the motor trimmed all the way down. Once I am on top of the water (which doesn't take long with lifting strakes) I hold the trim up lever for about 1.5-2 seconds. For me, that is my sweet spot. On my trim gauage that's about at the first mark up from the bottom...maybe not quite. I always trim back down a little when taking hard turns so as not to get the prop out of the water.