How to Trim the Adjustment on an Outboard

When you trim the adjustment of an outboard, you increase or decrease its tilt, so that it pushes the boat through the water differently. Trimmed down, the front of the boat, called the bow, is lower than the rear of the boat -- the stern. This is causes the bow of the boat to plow through and dive into the water. Trimmed up, the stern is lower and the bow is higher. Trimmed properly, you can compensate for the boat's loading and improve the boat's overall efficiency.

Instructions

    • 1

      Launch the boat into your favorite body of water and move away from the ramp. Move to a location where you practice trimming the outboard while under way. Ideally, this includes several miles of open water, where you can operate without disturbing other boaters.

    • 2

      Inspect the area on and around the boat's throttle handle for a small rocker switch -- the trim switch is marked "Up" and "Down." Remember that, when you press "Up," the bow of the boat will rise. Press "Down," to lower the bow. Push the throttle handle forward until the outboard reaches its maximum rpm.

    • 3

      Press the "Down" side of the trim switch. The bow will move lower in the water. Note the change in the boat's speed on the speedometer: As the bow moves lower into the water, the speed will decrease.

    • 4

      Press the "Up" side of the trim switch, and the bow will rise out of the water. Watch the speedometer -- as the bow rises, the speed will increase.

    • 5

      Stop pressing the trim switch when the speed begins to decrease. Press the "Down" side of the switch until the speed rises. The outboard is now properly trimmed.