depth to raise motor

[djmodifyd]

So, I've been out enjoying my new boat for a while now, thanks for the tips so far everyone!

Now, my next boating newbie question:

What depth do you all recommend to start raising (trimming) the motor up as to not scrape the bottom?

I figured I could try measuring but that it wouldn't do much good as the boat moves around in waves and different weight in the stern of the boat would change things

I've been raising the motor up at 4 ft depth on my depthfinder...is that overkill? A good number?

Have a 23ft premier sunsation with a honda 115 if that helps at all!

Thanks!

[Drago]

Here's the deal. If you can depend on your depth finder and you are confident that the depth will not change abruptly, 3 feet works for me. Some depth finders can get a bit erratic at very shallow water. Also, it can depend on the type of bottom. My bad experience was as the water got shallow, before I could note the change in depth, I encountered a submerged road bed!! Nice mild damage to skeg as it scraped over the old concrete. Had I been paying close attention to the charts on the Huminbird screen, I would have known about the road bed.

One piece of advice I'll toss out is to beware of points of land jutting out into your lake. That's where you might find the most abrupt depth changes. I also ran over a submerged but floating tree in 20+ feet of water and pulled it several feet before it let go. Fortunately, no damage there. Also, if you are anchored in somewhat shallow water that could have stumps, make sure to clear the area if a distant storm will send big waves your way since your boat will move deep and shallow in the swells possibly causing contact with stumps that were safe before the swells reached your location.

[djmodifyd]

Here's the deal. If you can depend on your depth finder and you are confident that the depth will not change abruptly, 3 feet works for me. Some depth finders can get a bit erratic at very shallow water. Also, it can depend on the type of bottom. My bad experience was as the water got shallow, before I could note the change in depth, I encountered a submerged road bed!! Nice mild damage to skeg as it scraped over the old concrete. Had I been paying close attention to the charts on the Huminbird screen, I would have known about the road bed.

One piece of advice I'll toss out is to beware of points of land jutting out into your lake. That's where you might find the most abrupt depth changes. I also ran over a submerged but floating tree in 20+ feet of water and pulled it several feet before it let go. Fortunately, no damage there. Also, if you are anchored in somewhat shallow water that could have stumps, make sure to clear the area if a distant storm will send big waves your way since your boat will move deep and shallow in the swells possibly causing contact with stumps that were safe before the swells reached your location.

thanks, so 3 feet from the bottom of the pontoons..where the transducer is? So 3 feet on my depth gauge? Guessing thats a "real" 4 feet or so?

Sorry for being such a newbie!