How to properly trim a Ranger Comanche?

rangerman

New Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2010
Location
Batesville, AR
#1
A few months ago, I bought a 1998 Ranger 519DVS Comanche. I have been experimenting with the trim to see where the boat rides the best at. I realize that the trim is meant to be used differently in different water conditions but I still don't know enough about high performance bassboats to know exactly how to use the trim (my previous boat was a simple setup as it was a 1974, 16 foot Ranger with 85 hp Johnson). If I have this correct, you take off from the hole with the motor trimmed all the way down and then raise the bow up when in smooth water to allow less drag to save on fuel mileage, etc...and keep the bow lowered for rougher water so the keel can slice the waves??? I was on Norfork Lake in Arkansas a few weeks ago and the water was rough...by rough, I mean there were a lot of waves from boat traffic and that's the roughest water I normally ever deal with. I don't ever really deal with waves from wind like everyone talks about on the bigger lakes. The bow was bouncing up and down constantly, back and forth. I figured it was because I had the bow too high for the water conditions so I lowered it but I felt like I had to keep it dragging in the water too much to make it level out...and burn more fuel...is this ok? If I was doing it right, I can't say I'm very impressed with the ride of this Ranger. However, I have a bad back and deal with alot of back pain anyways. My main question is, does anyone have a boat similar to this brand and size...if so, where do you run your trim gauge in smooth water and where do you run it when there are waves from boat traffic on the weekends?