Motor Trim

pontoon101

Cadet
Joined
Jul 8, 2016
Messages
10
Hello all,

I'm new to owning a pontoon and I'm not exactly what is the ideal trim for the motor? Do you trim it all the way down for optimal performance, or do you bring it up an inch or two. Also, I noticed when I trim the motor all the way up so the prop is out the water it appears to have a very very very slow drip of oil/gas, it's a 90hp mercury 2-stroke. How do you prevent this or is it normal?
 

MH Hawker

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jul 13, 2011
Messages
5,516
normal with a 2 smoke, and you will find the sweet spot as you use it
 

HotTommy

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Mar 15, 2013
Messages
1,025
I have not found that trim made any difference on my boat. If your boat has planing strakes it may be different.
 

ahicks

Captain
Joined
Sep 16, 2013
Messages
3,957
On a pontoon, in a perfect world, the prop shaft would be parallel with the direction of travel. If the back of the shaft were pointed down from that point, the engine would be wasting power by trying to lift the back of the pontoon, which effectively tries to push the front of it down. If the back of the prop shaft is pointed up, the engine is wasting power trying to lift the front of the boat, which doesn't work well unless you have a LOT of power (waste of power even trying to do that)!

So, on a pontoon anyway, you're probably going to be running the engine just slightly "up" or out, from full down.
 

MH Hawker

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jul 13, 2011
Messages
5,516
trim on a toon dosnt really do a lot but i t is handy when beaching
 

Silvertip

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Sep 22, 2003
Messages
28,758
The seat of your pants and your ears tell you when you have achieved optimum trim. Start out full down, go full throttle and then play with the trim. When optimum trim is reached you will hear the rush of water sort of diminish (not go away -- just sort of smooth out rather than splashing). You should also feel the smoothness in the seat of your pants. When that point is reached there is no need to trim up higher as you gain nothing. You will also see a slight speed increase at optimum trim. Just make sure you are going full speed before beginning the trim search. And just so you know,l trim setting is not set it and forget it. How the boat is loaded and water conditions affect trim.
 

lmuss53

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Sep 9, 2008
Messages
1,227
What Silvertip said with one addition. When the tilt is in the right position, you will feel the steering come to a neutral feel. Don't come up much higher or you will start to get some prop slip. If you get prop slip in the turns, drop it down in a bit. You don't want to be fighting torque in the steering, if you are it is down too far.
 

Sea Rider

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
12,345
- Distribute toon's deck weight evenly as usually loaded.
- Trim OB at 90?, usually second/third hole out transom if with manual trim.
- Go for a wot run on flat calm no wind water cond.
- Anticav plate and cowl's logo should ride parallel to water level when on plane.
- Check out transom if having water splashes against or over transom.
- If so, raise OB to next hole, use wooden shims under OB if needed till this situation is resolved.
- If having prop aereation issues on slight choopy water cond or close turns, lower OB a tad.

Happy Boating
 

jakedaawg

Rear Admiral
Joined
Jun 26, 2012
Messages
4,275
What Silvertip said with one addition. When the tilt is in the right position, you will feel the steering come to a neutral feel. Don't come up much higher or you will start to get some prop slip. If you get prop slip in the turns, drop it down in a bit. You don't want to be fighting torque in the steering, if you are it is down too far.

That also depends on the trim tab setting.
 
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