Re: Explain trim to me....please!
Trim also involves tilting the engine, as referred to in the "tilt n trim" phrase. If you think of your prop and the midsection it's on as a big lever, you can see that the farther the unit is tipped out from the transom, the more it will try to raise the bow. The closer it is tipped in toward the transom, the less force it will have to raise the bow.
So, when you take off from a slow speed or a stop, you'll trim the engine in to minimize the amount the bow rises as it transitions from plowing through the water to planing or riding on just the rear portion of the hull. Once the boat planes, you can trim the motor out and away from the transom to raise the bow and put less and less of the hull in the water, where the friction of the water tries to slow the boat. You can trim to a pretty much unlimited number of positions, within the travel allowed.
Somewhere in those trim settings is the sweet spot for your boat and motor combination...a setting that produces the best speed and ride for the current conditions. When your boat's outboard is trimmed just right, you'll seem to just skim across the water, but in a stable way, with no porpoising or plowing.
If you have a tilt and trim control, you can set your boat to its optimal running configuration, regardless of the load in the boat or the water condition.
Back in the bad old days, when such things didn't exist, outboards had a series of holes you could put a rod through to control the amount of tilt the engine had. It was always a compromise, since you couldn't change that angle while you were underway. Some of us are still stuck in those days.
I hope that helps.
