Tilt & Trim or not?

[MI3GTO]

Folks at what point do you feel a T&T on a outboard becomes a necessity. Is it a must have for certain sea conditions? Just how important is it to have? Does it come into play at a certain boat size/engine power?

I fully understand the way it works and the physics but am wondering just how necessary it is and is it so critical to safety/speed/economy that it justifies adding a T&T unit to a non T&T motor?

Who runs without a T&T and what do you find?

[Nathan k]

Trailering a boat at low tide is a pain without out power tilt

[clydeoutboards]

2 basic questions

does it go on the plane. if so trim is v v handy
can you tilt it easly? if not then tilt is a must!

Dave

[SPR]

Using trim , will gain a few knots / save a few litres - trim up then throttle back.

I used to use a 25 HP without PTT , heavy to lift and we were doing beach landings !

I would recommend if you can afford, and i personally would always buy a engine that has PTT, if the size allows it it, I think they start fitting at 20HP?

regards

[kubcat]

Just lookimg at our rib's that do have electric tilt and trim.

Zodiac 4.7 with a 50hp I was driving today didn't respond much and except for shallow water operation, could easily do without.

5.6 m Dockitjet rib with 200hp is very responsive to trim. Definitely needs it.

Ribtec 8.9 m with twin diesel sterndrives doesn't make much difference. Need to keep them most of the way in to stop porpoising.

I guess what I am saying is that it depends on the boat and what you do. Try a few different settings of manual trim and see how your boat responds.

[wavelength]

in rough water power trim is brill and wouldnt like to be without it now although we used boats without it for donkeys years. Beach launching...well thats what we used to do before the Irish sea became a victim of over-fishing and there were "plenty more fish in the sea" Nobody that launched throughout the year in often marginal conditions would have power trim. Coming back in the surf onto the exposed west facing beaches here the few lads that had power trim found the motors just did not come up fast enough when you were about to hit the beach on a dumping wave. With manual trim the reverse lock was off on the aproach, the motor was of course still right down against the pin and gave grip and steering, ready to yank it outa the way as soon as the power was cut.
Ah happy days...probably now got a boat full of water from the next wave that hit the beach. Thigh boots full to the brim, cod and your thermos floating around inside ready to float out over the transom. Gotta heave it up the shingle as far as you can on the next wave that swills up the beach, the things we do for pleasure

[Nos4r2]

PTT completely transformed my SR4.

[Ribochet]

Power trim is a very important component in effective boat handling in the rough stuff.

http://www.rya.org.uk/sitecollection...wer%20trim.pdf

[MI3GTO]

Interesting stuff so far yet still undecided. My 30hp has no t&t so only option is a CMC unit but the cost + import + vat is Ouch! Unless anyone is selling local that is ootq

[willk]

You might be better off looking at an upgrade. Donegaldan had your exact combo and swapped the 30hp manual tilt for a 50hp PTT. He's not looked back.

[PeterM]

I reckon if you can afford or save for it - do it . Once you have it there is no going back and it really can change the way a boat performs depening on your load / sea conditions etc

[9D280]

My old SR4 / 25 Hp- manual trim was adjusted depending what I was doing:

Cruising it was out on the second outer pin (outer if was guaranteed flat water & not many stops) or second from fully down if on rescue boat duties.


Only just got the PT retro fit onto the Merc, and not had a good chance to "play" with it 'coz the first 2 trips were running in, but initial experiments are hinting that I'm glad I did it - you can hear the engine note change at constant throttle setting by trimming up when on the plane. Handling in lump is also vastly improved when it's in the right place.

As for lifting, looks like I'm going to get lazy.....