Hunting - Fishing - Lone Star Outdoor News

Trimming a boat while under way is a non-issue for many anglers who simply don’t have the power tilt option, let alone a jack plate or trim tabs, on their craft. It’s safe to say that many boaters who do have the trim option don’t exercise it, out of ignorance of the feature or fear of doing it incorrectly.

But for those so equipped and in the know, achieving the correct trim while running their rig is simple and smart. The term “trim” refers to the boat’s relationship to the water’s surface, the angle it assumes as is passes through and over the water. The term applies to both lateral (side to side) and longitudinal (bow to stern) angles. Although the former can be an issue if the boat is carrying a disproportionate amount of weight on one side or the other, when under way at running speed, boaters wanting the best performance and ride from their rig are most concerned with achieving the proper trim from bow to stern.

To find a rig’s optimal trim or angle to the water once on plane, most anglers never move past the concept of trimming the engine down until it reaches plane, then trimming it up until hearing it cavitate, and then trimming it down little by little until the cavitation stops. To be honest, that’s not a bad technique for finding a decent trim.

So many factors influence a boat’s relationship to the water at any given time, a driver can’t simply say a particular boat and motor package’s trim angle at 3500 rpm is best at one position or another because it was true one day.

Water, wind and weather conditions vary, as does the weight of the boat, constantly. Yes, a boater can dial in a range of trim guidelines at various rpm for a rig that normally carries about the same load in particular water conditions, but getting just the right trim always takes some tweaking to find.

When trimming a boat, the operator is adjusting the angle of the outboard’s propeller, and therefore its thrust, against the water at the stern. That angle affects how much and where the boat’s hull contacts the water, and at what angle.

The term “up on the pad” is often heard associated with higher performance fishing boats; it refers to a flat area on the hull just forward of the transom, called “the pad,” which, when the engine is properly trimmed, may be the only part of the hull actually in contact with the water at high speed.

When a boat is on plane and properly trimmed, the least amount of hull is in contact with the water, and the boat travels as efficiently as possible, at that particular speed, through the water.

Although weight distribution is a factor in the boat’s fore-to-aft angle as well, it can often be compensated for, and the proper trim achieved while under way, by using the power tilt function on the boat’s outboard or stern-drive engine. The trim on smaller outboards and those without the power tilt option can be set with an adjustment rod on the mounting bracket, which holds the lower unit at a particular angle with relation to the transom. Once set, however, that angle cannot be changed while the boat is under power.

Varying that angle to the transom is what the power-tilt function does as well, but with the ability to make precise angle adjustments while the boat is under way. And that’s key, for the only way to find the proper trim angle is while the boat is moving and up on plane.

Most often, an engine’s power trim adjustments are made with a rocker switch mounted on the throttle control arm in a position handy to the operator’s thumb. On high-performance craft, the control may be mounted on the steering wheel to allow the operator to keep both hands on the wheel while tweaking the trim.