Drive not raising properly???

jpaschich

New Member
Jul 16, 2007
24
Just bought my first bought and took it out for the second time ever. Each time when bringing the boat in I have approached the dock and once in place (held by passengers, tied up, whatever) I kill the engine. Next thing I do is raise the drive, in which case the display says the drive is raising/raised. I hear the motor raising it too (or should I say trying to). Since I'm new and paranoid, I physically check to see if it's raised. It's not. I put the key back in and turn it a quarter turn, try to raise the drive and get the same results - hear the motor trying to raise the drive etc. Of course analog display says it's already raised. Luckily I have a transom switch. This does work.

Am I doing someything wrong? I'm still breaking the motor in so I cant really run it too hard but how can I be sure the drive is being raised/lowered while driving? It feels like it is but then again I am so new that I dont exactly know what it should feel like.

Sorry for making this so long... just wanted to try and explain myself as best as possible.

Thanks!
 
After reading your post it appears maybe no one told you how the trim switch button works on your throttle/shifter control. I know when I got my first boat no one ever expalined that to me and it took me awhile to figure out why my drive wouldn't come all the way up except when using the transom trim switch.

When you first press the red button on the shifter/throttle lever the outdrive will only come up halfway. Then if you press it in further (it takes a bit of effort) you will feel it kick down another detent and then the outdrive will raise to the "trailer position". The extra detent is a safety feature so you don't trim your outdrive too high when you are running the boat on the water. There is no extra detent on the transom switch and from the sounds of it you get the drive to come all the way up when you use that. You can tell when the drive is fully up just by listening to the noises. Generally you will hear a "thud" as the drive comes up all the way and the sound of the hydraulic pump changes as well.

I hope this helps out.
 
Welcome to the forum, nice first boat!

I am a little confused about a few things here. First, when my key is off the trim gauge will not move. Second, when I reach the top of the trim range I don't think the trim motor runs at all. I thought the trim limit switch disengages the pump at this point. That is how it actually stops the triming up. The only way to go further up is by using the trailer function or button.


Dave's advice is right on with regard to using the trailer function of the trim switch.
 
You're the man Dave S. You were right - I just had to push on the trim button harder than usual. I still wonder why the trim gauge was reading as if it were in the trailer position even though it wasnt.
 
jpaschich said:
You're the man Dave S. You were right - I just had to push on the trim button harder than usual. I still wonder why the trim gauge was reading as if it were in the trailer position even though it wasnt.

I am glad that was the problem. On my 260 DA, my trim gauge seems to be affected by the actual position of the boat as well. If the boat is sitting still the gauge reflects a much higher trim angle. If I am comming on plane with the bow up the guage reflects a lower trim angle. This was confusing to me at first since the gauge on my previous boats (without Smartcraft) reflected actual trim. I don't know if your gauge works the same way as mine does on the 260DA but that may be what you are seeing. As you become more experienced on getting the boat trimmed while underway, you probably won't look at the gauge much..........at least that's my experience.
 

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