Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

i took my pontoon out on the lake this weekend and was going across the lake pretty smooth water. Wanted to see if i could get a little more speed out of the engine so i trimmed the motor up a little and RPMS went way up and boat seem to loose speed. i trimmed the motor back down seemed to be all right after that. do i have an engine problem or did i do something wrong? this was first time on the lake with this boat.

Most likely just trimmed to much, No problem as long as it came right back when lowered.

Just in case you're an absolute boating newby (we all were at one time), When you trim up the motor is tilted so that the prop is facing more to the surface of the water. When you trim too far the prop loses it's "bite" on the water and spins pretty freely, which of course brings your RPMs way up.

You may also see this in turns (depending on your boat) as the wake (trough actually) of the pontoon on the inside of the turn washes into the prop (your prop "falls" into the hole already cut by the toon and loses it's grip on the water)

Actually you found the way of finding that Sweet Spot! Trim up until your prop starts to loose bite and you hear the engine race a little and drop it back down until its grabbing again. That's where you want it! You'll find your trim range will differ at different speeds, too. A large trim range at idle speeds and as you accelerate, that trim range narrows. Hey, welcome to the forum~

thanks i guess im just used to my baja i could trim it all the way out and just gained more speed.

I usually run my trim where it'll ventilate just slightly when coming out of the hole. When at a fast cruise in a straight line, it'll be running at its most efficient trim.

If I was going to take a tight turn, I'd tap down the trim just a little. Like was said previously, different speeds sometimes require different engine heights.