Trim Up or Down for best hole shot with skier?

[Captain Caveman]

I'm new to owning skis (have done it many times myself) and have a 16ft aluminum boat and old 35hp motor. I can get tubes on plane but am having trouble getting skiers up. I know that the boat is too heavy and the motor too small for the application, but wanted to see if changing the trim would make a difference.

I've got a manually trim so it's not a quick experiment. Should I trim up so that more boat is out of the water or will that just make the boat stand on its heals?

 

[tysonnathan]

Re: Trim Up or Down for best hole shot with skier?

with power t&t, i trim all the way down for the hole shot, then once on plane begin to trim up. for you, maybe a notch above all the way down sould be a good place to start....
also, with my small outboards, i take a piece of string and tie it to the trim pin and to a place on the motor... i have lost a pin while trying to adjust... no fun.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Trim Up or Down for best hole shot with skier?

All the way down for hole shot. Then if success move it up a notch at a time till you find the best position. Make sure you have the motor height correct as well to minimise drag and the weight distribution of your gear in the boat will help with marginal set ups.

 

[StuBone278]

Re: Trim Up or Down for best hole shot with skier?

Yeah we kneeboard and I've skied behind my 1436 allweld w/ 4-stroke 20hp. Not the lightest setup, but it works well. Its very hard to get going with 3 ~145 pound people in the boat and one on the kneeboard. Best I find is to adjust people around the boat. 2 people in the boat works best, one driver/one spotter, with one sitting up on my fishing deck at the front-mid portion of the boat.

 

[thedillybar]

Re: Trim Up or Down for best hole shot with skier?

Trim all the way down. Put as much weight as far forward as you can for the holeshot. Once the skiier is up, if you need more speed move some weight towards the back.

Did this for years getting up on a slalom ski w/ an under-performing 16ft 120hp I/O.