How to use tilt/trim

[Alvin Roberts]

Boy do I feel dumb asking this question....I bought my Nitro boat this past July. The only other boat I have had any experience with is my dad's 1986 16' Bass Tracker. It has a 35 hp Mercury engine with no tilt/trim. My boat is a 1996 Nitro 170TF with a 115 with tilt/trim. Here's my issue...I guess I don't know how to properly use the tilt/trim. I haven't had much opportunity to run it. I normally troll all day in small oxbow lakes around home or idle along. But a couple of times I've had a chance to run it some. I start out with the motor trimmed all the way down. Then slowly run the throttle all the way up and it will plane very quick. Then I've noticed that I can trim the motor up and it will speed up and get smoother. My issue seems to be slowing back down. When running wide open and you want to slow down fast, what do you do with the tilt/trim? I tried trimming the motor back down as I was pulling the throttle back and it seemed like the boat kinda kicked up on one side, sorta leaning and was pulling left. I guess I need some help on proper tilt/trim.



Seemed like on dads boat it was wide open, stop, or anywhere in between and it did fine.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

You've got it right. Just stop with it trimmed in the running position and then bump the throttle after the boat settles in the water. This will keep the momentum wake from coming over the back. Before you take off, trim down, hammer the throttle and trim up as your bow falls over. Sounds like you already found the sweet spot to run.



TOXIC

 

[Alvin Roberts]

Thanks Toxic. I'll try just stopping without messing with the trim next time. I guess that's what I was doing wrong. Just seems to get unstable if I try to trim the motor back down while slowing down.

 

[Berry Lindley]

If you get backwash stopping without trimming it down just play with when you trim it down. Seat time helps a lot.