T - 6 Acceleration - Four winns 248 Vista Owner's Manual

Always look behind you and to both sides of the boat
before slowing down. Tell your passengers your inten-
tions to allow them time to make adjustments to their
balance or positions.
Slowly pull back on throttles, glance back and see if a
large following wave is approaching the transom. If so
give the engines a little throttle as the wave arrives to
keep wave from rolling over the transom.
Once you have spent enough time practicing maneu-
vers and have a feel for how the boat handles, you will
be ready to run in open waters.
T - 6 ACCELERATION
Before accelerating to bring you boat on plane,
be sure that the area in front of your boat is
clear. The bow will rise out of the water mo-
mentarily before you plane and may temporarily
obstruct your vision.
If you have never had your boat on plane before, choose
a calm day for your first on plane experience. Never
boat beyond your ability and experience.
Before bringing your boat "on plane", check the entire
area to make sure you have a clear, safe path. As you
throttle up to accelerate, your boat will increase its angle
of trim, causing the bow to ride high. From a maximum
angle, the boat will level out to its planing attitude with
continued acceleration. This maximum angle is known
as the "hump". Because visibility, handling, and perfor-
mance are reduced, it is advisable to get "over the hump"
as soon as possible. A few seconds at full throttle should
get the boat over the hump and into its planing attitude.
After getting over the hump, accelerate until reaching a
comfortable plane, then throttle down to cruising speed.
This also will provide for better fuel efficiency.
T - 7 TRIMMING YOUR BOAT
A. Trim Tabs
Trim tabs are used to add lift to the boat's stern, thereby
changing the boat's attitude (see Figure T1). This lift
can help the boat get on plane faster and remain on
Vista™ Owner's Manual
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plane at slower speeds than if no tabs were used. Used
independently, tabs can also correct listing conditions
caused by crosswinds, unbalanced loading and quar-
tering seas. Trimming your boat properly involves two
separate procedures, trimming or tilting the lower unit
and setting the trim tabs.
When you are sitting dead in the water, your drive should
be down and the trim tab switches are in the BOW UP
position. Accelerate until you get onto plane. At this
point your boat will be plowing through the water with
the bow down too far. Trim the lower unit up slightly
until the bow comes up. If you trim the lower unit out
too far, your boat will porpoise or the propeller will cavi-
tate, and the bow will slam up and down on the water.
Your boat is trimmed correctly when it is just short of
porpoising or propeller cavitation, under ideal running
conditions.
Trim your boat to compensate for seas, winds, or un-
even loads.
Head Seas Trim drives in more than usual.
Use tabs to keep bow down
and go at a slower speed.
Following Seas To prevent taking seawater over
the bow, trim drives out and
keep tabs up to keep bow up.
Listing Due to Use tabs independently to
Quartering Seas, adjust for list. If listing to star-
Beam Wind, or board, press port bow down
Uneven Load switch. If listing to port, press
starboard bow down switch.
Remember that most boats react very slowly to trim
tabs. Often boat owners do not give trim tabs time to
work. Press the trim tab switches for only one second
at a time and then allow some time for the boat to react.
If the boat is still listing after a minute or two, press the
trim tab switch again for a one second interval. The
labels on the trim tab switches indicate what you want
your boat to do, not what you want the tabs to do.
It is a good idea to take your boat out onto open water
shortly after you get it and experiment with the trim
tabs. After you get your boat onto plane, set the tabs in
various positions and note how your boat reacts. This
will give you a feel for how the trim tabs work.
Section T
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