This article was contributed by Jeff Lee, webmaster of
SportFishing Virginia's Eastern Shore.
Jeff fishes offshore from Wachapreague, Virgina and has logged hundreds
of hours on his boat Squid Roe. Here is Jeff's take on trimming an
Albemarle 24:
"After 5 years with this boat, I'm still learning. So far, my best
results have been to start with motor down and tabs up. Once I get on a
plane, I raise the outdrive and the RPMs start to climb. I keep raising
it till the RPMs start to go back down and adjust back to the highest
RPM level (while leaving the throttle alone.) After all this is done, I
use the tabs to do the same thing -- maximize the RPMs. I am still
amazed at how much tab it takes to get the optimum ride. Of course, I
don't have the jackshaft, so the motor in back puts a lot of weight in
the rear. Mind you, all this adjustment is done before the inlet. Once
you get in the ocean, you have the additional fun of adjusting for sea
conditions. I may be a little more sensitive to this than other people
because I think I am slightly overpropped (F5 stainless and 5.0 GTi).
I'd love to hear how other people do this."
