As you come out of idle and your nearing the wake zones bump the throttle rasing your RPMs as you trim it ALL THE WAY DOWN to the lowest setting. So that 12 degree transom actually is designed to maximize tail lift for the hole shot. I see. Give it Wide Full Open throttle until the rig gets on plane then start trimming up for more speed at the conditions that the lake allow. Your max speed will be at at max RPMs trimmed all the way up. Once your on pad your engine tourque is pulling right your adjusting left with the wheel. So your now doing a balancing act like walking a tight wire. Only seat time will teach you how to get the most outta your rig. This is what I do now. But I have to say that I never noticed the "tight wire" thing you mention. I've read about it elsewhere, too. I trim up until the engine RPM's rise and the engine tone changes, then back down 'til it grabs again. Then that's where I run. At that setting, there's no wobble, no "chine walking," and no pull to the right that I can notice. It tracks straight and smooth. At that setting, the rooster tail is about as high as the top of the motor, and all the water spray is coming off of the tapered areas on either side of the transom. I'd say no more than 4 feet of the hull is touching water. If I pay no attention to engine tone and rpms, and let it ventilate, I can trim up until the rooster tail is a good 12 feet high. Still stable and straight. Now, this is with the 4-blade Piranha. With the stainless 3-blade, it would start porpoising somewhere before the sweet point of trim. But that prop has some gouges and bends in the tips. If it weren't damaged, I'm betting porpoising wouldn't be a problem with it, either. Where do you live and what lakes do you fish? Once you have it together we can get together and play. I will be fishing the Bass Boat Mag Cops fer Kids Tounry in May on Table Rock if you have her put back together by then. Will be back for the Champion Owners Tourny (you should fish it) in October 12 on Table Rock. I've never had any desire to fish tournaments. Might do one sometime for the experience of it. I just love to fish. Uh-oh.... get anybody on this list talking about lakes... I live in the southwest corner of the southwest corner of Iowa. Folsom Lake is just 15 miles from home. Only about 20 acres, but has a good ramp. To get to it you get off of I-29 at a rest area, and the ramp is on a road off the back of the rest area. No other way in with a boat. Great bass water if you don't have the time to go very far. Lake Manawa is 30 miles. It's a Missouri River oxbow, 750 acres, and only 8 feet deep at the deepest. It's just on the city limits, so it's heavily fished for its crappie and walleye. I like to hit it in July and August to hunt wiper. Every so often you get a nice largemouth on the line. Viking Lake is a no-wake state park, about 100 acres, but far enough from the cities that it isn't hit real hard. It's a great largemouth lake, if you can adjust for the time of year. Arrowhead is a no-wake county lake, about 50 acres, that is overlooked. It's loaded with great largemouth and yellow bass. The yellows are undesirable for the lake, but get a big one of them on your line and you've got a great fight. Good eatin', too. I had one straighten the hook on a big jig one morning. My favorite is Three-Mile Lake. It's exactly 100 miles from my garage to the ramp. 900 acres, half of which is flooded timber. It's generally been ranked in the top 100 bass lakes in the country. In early season, if you use larger top-water plugs, not only do you consistently tie into big bass, you might get a surprise from a tiger muskie. If the bass don't cooperate, you can switch to crappie for the skillet, or go hunting for wiper. A 15-pound wiper on your line is worth the trip all in itself! I'm just 3 miles from the Missouri River. I've been waiting until this boat is restored before fishing it. Our section of the river is known for 80+ pound flathead and blue cats. Maybe this season the water will be at normal level. Hasn't been for the last three years. Then there are several good lakes within 100 miles on the Nebraska side, and below the Missouri state line, but I haven't fished any of them yet. But I will. My parents live in Baxter Springs Kansas, and we have a time share at Branson. I've had this boat on Table Rock once. We put in on the north end of the dam. Got into some great smallmouth fishing up the first arm to the north. I'd like to explore the headwaters of Bull Shoals from there, too. But one of my real favorites is Stockton, further north. I love that lake! My son-in-law, who has been helping me with mine, just bought a 1977 Champion. Exact same boat, different color, except his has a 150 Evinrude. He's helping with mine because he enjoys it, he wants to know how to do it. He's also hoping his won't need the same treatment. So far as we can tell, it has no hull damage. He needs a new intake manifold and carbs for his Evinrude. Amazingly easy to find on EBay.