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My 2011 V335 has trim tabs and of course tabs to control the outdrives. The center tab controls both outdrives. I was told by the previous owner that he only used the trim tabs to control plaining level. I find my boat almost frequently runs port side high despite operating (fiddling with) the trim tabes. I'm wondering how others trim these kinda large and heavy boats. I do trim the outdrives out a bit which lifts the boat out of the water a bit at cruise (3600 rpms). My general goal is to achiever max speed at cruise. My boat is on a lift and next time I go out I'll have my wife on boat when it's on the life so I can see what the tabs are doing. As an aside, my son was following me in another boat the other day and mentioned my list to starboard. This is somewhat complicate by what seems like the boat is sensitive to wind and current, both of which are generally in ample supply where I boat (Ca Delta).

How do the rest of you guys use the combination of trim tabs and outdrives?

I have seen others mention sluggish and uneven trim operation, but I should have that claeared up tomorrow.

Thanks everyone,

Greg

Hi Greg
I have a 09 358 and I trim the legs to .6 on the vessel view which eliminates having to use the Tabs my also has a slight list to the starboard when parked.
Hope this helps
Steve

Thanks for your replay. As I suspected, my trim tabs response to controls unevenly with the starboard tab being sluggish, resulting in port side high with even tab deployment. Fiddling fixed trim. I did find that a combination of tabs and outlive trim seems to work best for the conditions I was in yesterday.

Next I'll research how to remedy this, but it's not a high priority give some other things have going on I'll post soon.

Regards,

Greg

With my 318 I'd start out with outdrives and tabs both down. Once on plane, lift outdrives and then use the trim tabs to balance the boat by feel.

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

So I just trim the drives down to get on plane and use the trim tabs to balance the boat for the load on board. We normally have to raise the starboard side with the tabs as the seating is starboard heavy. If the water is good, I will trim the drives up once on plane to get more hull out of the water. It is usually about 2.0/2/2 on the smartcraft gauges for the best speed. We cruise around 3800 which equates to roughly 30-31 mph and the flow sensor reads about 1.1 mpg.

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Jnizi

2007 Vista 338 "Better Yet"
Previously:
2007 Vista 258 " Just Right"
2005 Horizon 230

Thanks everyone. I like the idea of tabs for balance and outdrives to raise the hull a bit, always with max speed/rpm being my guide.

Greg

As others have indicated here and in other posts, run the outdrives full down to get on plane. Depending on the boat and with a heavy load, you might run the trim tabs full down also to help get on plane. Once on plane raise the trim tabs all the way up. The boat should accelerate some. If you are going to cruise at anything faster than the minimum planing speed of about 20mph, then try trimming the outdrives up some. This should give a bit more speed and rpm, and usually will reduce the amount of trim tab needed to level the boat. Raising the outdrives too much will usually cause the bow to porpoise. If so, run the outdrives back down a bit to stop the porpoising. Use the trim tabs to level the boat. If you have a fuel flow monitoring system tied to your GPS, it should give you gallons per hour, miles per gallon, and total fuel burned. I learned that my 268's best fuel economy (2.1-2.2 mpg) came while running the engine a little faster (3700-3800) than I originally thought I wanted to (3500-3600). This gain has usually been around 5-10%. One or two tenths of a gallon doesn't seem like much, but it does add up. I also learned that slower speeds (2000-3000 rpm and not quite or just barely on plane) cut my fuel economy as much as 50%!

Larger and taller boats are more likely to be affected by a crosswind. For example, a crosswind from the right will push the bow to the left. To maintain a course, the captain turns the wheel into the wind (to the right) which causes the boat to lean just like you are in a right turn.

If you are using one switch to control both tabs and the tabs move at different speeds, you can get into asymmetrical trim conditions that can cause some uncomfortable and sometimes hairy handling characteristics.

_________________
Surface Interval: A scuba diving term for that time between dives to relax and prepare for life's next great adventure.

Current boat: '02 FW 268 Vista
Previous boat: '95 FW 190 Horizon

hi.
my boat vista 238. i start out w/ drive trim down fully and tabs up fully... depending on load and contidions. if the bow is listing right or left this is what ido... i use the trim tabs w/ the right button to raise the port off the bow and left button to raise the starboard of the bow to level. if i am real heavy i will trim tabs down fully to get on plane and trim tabs up as much as possible along the ride.

zif