Listing Problem

My boat has developed an odd behavior. It lists sharply to the left when I plane out. Which is weird because I would have thought that uneven weight would have caused the boat to tip more when you're going slow. And once you plane out, shouldn't the lean tend to go away, or at least diminish? So maybe the issue isn't weight distribution, but a problem with my trim tab?

Before I go any further, my boat is a small 15' fiberglass bowrider with a 90hp mercury.

And I'm not 100% sure that the little fin behind the engine is called a trim tab, but whatever it's called, could that be the problem? How do you properly calibrate them?

I can tell you that there are no problems with the hull, no abnormalities at all. The only new thing is a depth finder transducer hanging off the back of the boat. But it's very small, I can't imagine something that small could be tilting my whole boat as much as this boat tilts when I give it gas.

I'll try to take some pictures and/or video of this thing in action next time I go out, maybe something will look out of order to you guys?

Back in this boat's previous life, we used to pack it up with passengers and cruise around the lake all day long. Passenger weight was regularly off balance, but it never cause more than a slight lean.

Re: Listing Problem

You know, it almost feels like my hydrofoil is twisted, so the faster I go, the more it pushes my boat over. But, when you look at it out of the water (and I do often, I keep my boat on a trailer when not in use), everything looks totally normal.

Re: Listing Problem

a whale tail could cause that...but unlikely.....take the tail off......and go for a ride......

it is also possible you have waterlogging issues......does the boat list when sitting in the water?

the tab behind the prop.....is to counter the thrust of the prop....unless its waaay out of whack....it wont cause the issue you are talking abolut

Re: Listing Problem

I do plan on taking the tail off next time I go out. We'll see how that goes. There's no water logging, I know this because theres very little wood left in the boat It doesn't list at all when it's sitting in the water empty. I need to play around a little bit and see what different weight configurations cause listing. The little tab is only slightly turned off from the centerline of the boat. It doesn't seem like something that would cause as much listing as I have. And about that transducer, honestly it seems like that would break off before it would toss the boat around the way the boat gets tossed. So I dunno. I guess I'll have to do some more experimenting and followup.