Getting the Trim right

[Begester]

Hey there,

I've got a 1989 SeaRay 220DA Sundancer w/ a 5.7. Lately I've been experimenting with my drive trim settings somewhere other than all the way "down." I know that a great deal of the trim is effected by the amount of weight, and we often run with 6-8 people + food/gear on our day-trips on the lake. I've noticed that when the trim is all the way down, it takes longer to get on plane and rpms are higher BUT when we are on plane, the boat is much more stable and I can make a few minor adjustments with my trim tabs and I hardly have to touch the steering wheel until I slow down. With the trim slightly "up" the boat comes to plane quicker but seems less stable. Does anyone else notice this on their boat? Is it bad to run with the trim all the way down?

Thanks for the help!

 

[scoutabout]

Re: Getting the Trim right

That's a nice boat you have there. I'm surprised, though to hear you get on plane faster with trim up rather than down. My experience has been that full down trim will get you on plane quicker, but then you want to bump it up at bit to reduce the wetted surface of the hull. This will tend to lift the nose slightly which reduces drag and (surprise, surprise) increases full economy and speed.

I know the handling feel can change as you bring the trim up but I've never felt the boat was necessarily "less stable" unless I was fooling around and really trimming up. At this point you can induce porposing (and worse depending on the boat).

The other thing I notice about bringing the drive up a bit off the stops is that noise and vibration through the hull is reduced.