hey guys, i recently purchased a boat with a volvo penta I/O. i have been around mercrusiers in the past and am a little confussed with volvo's designs. My motor is an AQ231b (a gm 305) and the outdrive is an aqumatic 285 (yes a 285 not 270, 280, or 290) and the prop is counter rotation.<br /><br />1. i realize that the lower unit only uses power or hydrolic assist on the way up and uses gravity on the way down. which also translates to the unit must be all of the way down and locked in order to use reverse. right? if the unit is not locked down the prop in reverse will pull the outdrive up.<br /><br /> with that being stated, how do you back up off of the trailer or back up if you have beached the boat? in those situations you cant really put the outdrive down (damage to the skeg) but you need to use reverse.<br /><br /> can you trim the outdrive at all? all the way down to come out of the hole, and then up just a bit to keep the bow up. i have tried this and the outdrive just bounces around. I end up using the trim tabs to correct. the problem with this is i dont like constantly messing with the trim tabs. i like to keep it simple. Would a hydrofoil help out? bring me to plane quicker?<br /><br />2. is there a "cupped" prop availible for this counter rotation application? i have a hard time finding props as it is, but have never found a "cupped" prop and would like one.<br /><br />3. the power steering seems a little too responsive. is there any way to tame it a little? i would like to have a little more resistance.<br /><br />4. BIG QUESTION: on a mercruiser application, you can take the throttle control and raise the rpms without engaging the drive in forward or reverse. Is that possible with vovlo? on my throttle control i have one button to engage forward or reverse, but nothing to just raise the motor's rps. this becomes a pain in the rump when you are trying to start the motor on the trailer on the ramp and you need a little more gas in your carburated motor (dont forget that the outdrive is up to protect the skeg so in any direction it will move around).<br /><br />thanks ahead for your help. i am becoming irritated with this type of outdrive and i hope it is because i am just not familiar with it.