Porpoising

[mdowling73]

I can tell you that I used to have a 20' Regal that was stern heavy and had a outboard bracket to make things worse. It porpoised like you wouldn't believe. I ended up putting transom wedges in and it was a HUGE improvement - completely fixed my issue. Trim tabs helped a little but if the motor is constantly pushing the boat upwards (as it does with a stern heavy boat), I think it is going to porpoise. With the wedges, I could finally trim the motor down to where it needed to be. Then, I used the trim tabs to adjust any listing. For me, I prefer getting the motor to the right trim (to match the way the boat sits in the water). Adjusting weight that you already take with you is great, but I never liked the idea of just adding weight.

That said, I always hated the way the wedges looked, and the outboard bolts looked like they were under a shear load that I never really liked or got comfortable with. When you add wedges, the holes in the outboard are not parallel with the holes in the boat, and the head of the bolts will not be perpendicular with the inside of the transom or motor bracket (what ever the case may be). Something to consider.

For what its worth.