Trim Extenders Made Easy

[bmas13]

I have a 225 ProXS on a Nitro 898 and was thinking about getting trim extenders to get the rpms up and to get more bow lift (need all the bow lift I can get). I was talking to a couple of guys at a tournament and they recommended this to me and it worked like a charm (for $6). I went from 5850rpm to 6150rpm and got a LOT more bow lift. Here's how I did it.

1) Where the trim rods come into contact with the motor mounting bracket there are two bolts. Remove them.
2) Put 1 stainless steel flat washer and 3 stainless steel lock washers (3/8") on the bolts; if you can get more on, do it...that's all I could fit onto the bolt and still get the nut to thread back on.
3) Put the bolts back into place and trim the engine down so as to put pressure on the lock washers and flatten them out.
4) Put Lock-Tite on the exposed threads and replace the nut (90% tight).
5) Trim the engine back up and make sure that everything is straight and tightn the nut the rest of the way.
6) Put the boat in the water and check out the difference.








Modified by bmas13 at 9:38 PM 11/19/2006

[bmas13]

I'm kinda surprised that no one has chimed in on this. Is this something that everyone knows about and does to their rig?

[kensafishin]

Can it be done on a Yamaha?

[bmas13]

I don't have any experience with those engines. However, knowing that you can purchase trim extenders for a Yamaha engine, I'd imagine that if there is a bolt at the contact point of the trim rods, you would be able to do it. If so, it's a really simple project.

[shawn706]

How'd it affect your hole shot?

[arjone01]

hey, his partner here chiming in (he's out of town). It had no affect what so ever on the hole shot. It still takes one and a half boat lengths to get on plane (or 3.5 seconds). However we are pushing the max HP for that hull (225) and we have ventilated one plug from the prop. We have been experimenting with a 26 tempest and we still get a great hole shot by ventilating the prop. At the moment we are running a 25 tempest. So whatever the case its worth a try to experiment because its easily removable. But it works great. We got alot more bow lift after installing this and it only costs 3$ max to do as opposed to rite hite's version which is great as well don't get me wrong, we're just on a tight budget.
(innovative rednecks)

[Rayburn Rat]

You can buy the Yamaha trim extenders from Bass Pro. My Yamaha threads would not be long enough to add additional washers, besides the tolerance stack up would be different thus adding more pressure on one side or the other. You need at least 2 exposed threads above the top of the nut. For $24 I would not chance it. It did make about 1 MPH difference on my boat. Hope this helps.

[stranz3529]

Rayburn Rat...which Hammer do you have?

[Luke]

i did this on my old Johnson Motor and it worked ok make sure that you put some sort of threadlock of some type on them the ones on my old motor kept viberating loose

[Rayburn Rat]

Stranz, I have a V-Max 150 HPDI. Noticed you are in the Marines. You guys are great! I work for a very large Defense Contractor making you guys a little safer so you can make us all safer!

[Big Erk]

I run a Merc 225EFI. I have done this and see only one problem. When trimmed all the way down the bolts are actually resting on the tops of the trim cylinders. This could cause damage to them. The next time you get a chance trim your motor up and you'll see what I'm talking about. They'll be a small crescent shaped dent just below the ram rods. If you use this method be sure not to trim all the way down. When your trim is bottomed out, come up just enough to see you motor move. That way all the pressure is on the trim rams and not the top of the cylinder.

[Matt Mc]

I done this on my 150 promax several years ago. I used a different method though.

[sheeterhdip225]

I was told not to use them on Yamaha. It pushes the motor outside the support.

[bmas13]

I noticed the 'crescents' today. They shouldn't cause any problems should they?

[Big Erk]

I don't believe they will (I haven't heard of any problems) but better to be safe than sorry, I always blast off trimmed up just a hair. Doesn't hurt holeshot at all.

[ezque]

Could somweone explain the principle behind using trim extenders? For whatever reason I just can't grasp the concept. Thanks in advance.

[arjone01]

Bow lift. It matters for boats that need to get up and out of the water. Some boats are designed to have more hull lay on the water and glide on that as others have to get the hull out enough to run on the pad. When you add these you get a higher trim angle. Think of it this way, prop's turning and it wants to keep the motor upright and balanced. When you make the angle greater it doesn't effect the motor angle as much as the boat angle. Pushes the bow up higher thus getting more hull out of the water causing less drag and more speed. You can go too far then the motor is actually pushing the back end of the boat into the water causing more drag and slowing it down. Hope this helps. Evinrudes have an advantage over Merc. on this because their angle geometry is much greater (goes under further trimmed down and higher when trimmed up) so you can cheat and get that higher trim angle with a Merc. because you'll never catch me with a Never Rude on the back of my boat . But both are great engines.

[pbmang]

That would honestly scare me that the extra torque put on the bolt/washers would cause them to fail. At the very least I would use grade 8 hardware and still pray everytime I took off

[Big Erk]

C'mon pbmang, where's your sense of adventure?

[arjone01]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by pbmang &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">That would honestly scare me that the extra torque put on the bolt/washers would cause them to fail. At the very least I would use grade 8 hardware and still pray everytime I took off </TD></TR></TABLE>

You'd be surprised at how well these distribute and balance the weight so that they won't fail. Been through some rough water on KY Lake as well as the other guys who showed us how to do it. They've done it for quite a while now. It wants to push the bolt straight back anyway. Thats how you get them on. It doesn't torque it side to side like you think it does. All the force is straight back.