Tested Twin Trim Modulation System today

[Harry Brosofsky]

John came by today and installed the Twin Trim Modulation System on my boat this morning and we ran the boat for about 1.5 hours in 2' seas. The system is basically a black box about the size of 2 decks of cards side by side, and has 4 wire bundles coming form the box. The existing trim wires are disconnected and the box is wired inline with the original system...install took about 20 minutes total.

With the system installed, the single/twin switch is inoperative. Instead, the right trim rocker now controls both motors up and down (think elevator in an aircraft). The left rocker now controls both motors simultaneously, but in opposite directions (think ailerons in an airplane).

On the water, learning the system took just a few minutes. In the past, I used the left rocker and the single twin rocker in the twin mode (pitch), then flip to single and trim one motor up or down to level the bow side to side to the horizon or into the waves as necessary (roll). With the Twin Trim Modulation System, I used the right trim to adjust the bow for the speed and waves (pitch), then use the left trim to level the bow side to side or into the waves as required (roll). Since the left trim now controls both motors in opposite directions, the trim changes are twice as fast. Momentary blips now make significant changes to the side to side attitude.

I also played with trimming the boat into turns and this really significantly decreased the turn radius without scrubbing the speed. The boat rolled into the turns more easily (330TEs already roll in to a degree), making the turns more comfortable...no feeling of being thrown to the outside of the turn.

The really neat thing is that the trim now works the way you think it should...if the boat needs to roll right, roll the left trim up (think of rolling from a flat palm to a thumbs up). For left roll, roll the left trim down (think of rolling your thumb from a flat palm to a thumbs down). Also, since the motors are working in opposite directions, the overall pitch of the boat does not change perceptibly, so there's no need to readjust the bow up/down after each adjustment to the side to side level. On motors with both trims on the same throttle (like Honda), it should be even easier...both switches under one thumb.

Overall, I was VERY impressed. For a 330 and probably the 320 as well , the twin trim will make trimming quicker and more intuitive. For the smaller boats it will really be an asset to maintaing attitude in rough seas.

Harry

[BigPineBoy]

Harry, Your post is very interesting. Do you have any pictures we can see? I have a 29cc and am very interested in what trim tabs can do for it. I ran my 29 for the first time in the Keys today, pretty flat water, the boat runs better down here than in the mid atlantic, but it still has a bit of a bow high attitude. Thanks in advance.

Bill
BigPineBoy

[jfraleigh]

Harry
Thanks for the ride...... next time we bring bait poles tanks and beer
Not so much rain

John

[v70catboat]

Here is more information

http://twintrimusa.com/ProductInfo.html

It seems that this system trims both engines at the same time but still not sure that the system does anything different that what you can do by trimming the engines individually.

[Trident]

Hey Harry,
Sounds like a better mouse trap. A couple of things I am curious about. Since we generally run the trim pretty high, am I correct in saying it is the roll into the turn that keeps the motor that is trimming up from breaking loose?
Would mounting the one rocker horizontally make it even more intuitive?
For newbies is one thing but, for those of us accustom to the original set up, worth the change?

Glenn

[jfraleigh]

The roll of the boat is usually more than enough to keep the inside prop buried, if it does break loose you give the roll switch a bump back and it will hook right up or you can bump both motors down with the other switch which will hook the inside hull up and bring you around quicker.
The whole principle behind this is the only 4 options you now have are up/down or left/right and this system is the ABSOLUTE FASTEST WAY to get you there.
This takes the agility of a cat to a completely new level.

And it's a lot of fun,

John

[Harry Brosofsky]

Harry, Your post is very interesting. Do you have any pictures we can see? I have a 29cc and am very interested in what trim tabs can do for it. I ran my 29 for the first time in the Keys today, pretty flat water, the boat runs better down here than in the mid atlantic, but it still has a bit of a bow high attitude. Thanks in advance.

Bill
BigPineBoy

Bill,

It is not trim tabs...it a new control system for trimming the motors and/or EXISTING tabs. On my boat it is just running the motor trims, as Worldcats DO NOT NEED trim tabs. You may want to look at redistributing the weight on your boat.

Harry

[Harry Brosofsky]

Hey Harry,
Sounds like a better mouse trap. A couple of things I am curious about. Since we generally run the trim pretty high, am I correct in saying it is the roll into the turn that keeps the motor that is trimming up from breaking loose?
Would mounting the one rocker horizontally make it even more intuitive?
For newbies is one thing but, for those of us accustom to the original set up, worth the change?

Glenn

Glenn,

The system actually makes the trim work more intuitively...with the stock setup, if the left bow is down, you trimmed the left motor down (or right motor up) to level the bow (the trim works in a diagonal), but with the TwinTrim, you simply roll the left trim switch whichever way you want the bow to move. For me, it took all of 2 minutes to get used to it.

I assume you have the same setup as me...one trim on each throttle and a single/dual switch at the base of the binnacle. In that case, you will have to think a little about using the right trim switch as you come on plane, because if you are like me, you used to leave the single/dual switch in dual, trim with the left trim, then switch to single and make fine adjustments. BTW, you can replace the single/dual switch with a small joystick and control both pitch and roll angles simultaneously...it's about $100 more I think.

Basically, if you use the right trim to get the motors in the ball park, you then use the left trim to roll the boat level. Once levelled, you can make fine pitch adjustments with just the right trim. No more back and forth with the single/dual switch, no more trim working opposite the way it should.

As for the turning, when you roll into the turn, the motor on that side comes up and the motor on the outside goes down, so yes, it does prevent ventilation of the prop to an extent. Basically, if you are goping to be in a prolonged turn, you roll into it with the trim until you hear the props start to whine a little, then roll out very slightly. A=gain, for the 330, this is really less of a player than with the smaller WCs, because our boats already roll in to a certain degree.

Harry

[Cattywampus]

Harry,

Does this mean that you are going to keep the Twin Trim System? How much does it cost?

Jim

[Harry Brosofsky]

Retail is $600. The unit that John had on my boat was a demo unit...long wires without terminals so he can put the correct terminals on for any test. The production unit for my Zukes is coming in a few days.

Harry