Water will enter through any small cracks or holes, and the foam inside will act like a sponge absorbing the water. If you have any damage, small cracks or fiberglass is showing on the body of the boat, particularly the part that’s submerged under water you might have a problem with the foam inside your hull being waterlogged. Once the boat gets leveled, that is when you would stop angling the trim tab downward. In other words, by angling one of the trim tabs slightly more or less than the other, this will cause one side of the boat to rise.įor example if your boat is leaning to the left, you would angle the left trim tab downward, which will then help raise the left side of the boat.

Depending on how fast you are going, the surface area of the tab and the angle at which you have the tab deflecting, will all determine the size of the lift. Solution: When a trim tab gets aimed downwards, it will cause the stern to rise and reduce the hull’s resistance. Trim tabs are used to provide a lift to either side of the vessel to compensate for changes in weight distribution, speed, and the different water conditions. Each trim tab can be controlled independently and activated by the captain controlling the ship. Trim tabs get mounted at the transom, which is found at the back of the boat, on both the left and right side. If you have passengers on board, have them slowly move about to help even the load. Take a look at the position and location of the gas tank, battery bank, and other equipment onboard to see if those items are also more one-sided. Solution: Try moving your gear around and distribute the weight evenly, and store heavier items in the center of the ship.

If your boat is leaning will at rest, this is often because of a weight distribution issue, either from storing gear or passengers more to one side then the other. Let’s go over some of the reasons that will cause your boat to lean to the side: 1. For example, is the boat only leaning to the side while you are in motion and using your throttle? Or is it happening while the boat is sitting at rest? To help determine what is causing the boat to lean, it is important to note when the lean is occurring. The two most common reasons for a boat to lean is due to an unbalanced load, or the trim tabs need some readjusting. I was browsing through some boater forums this past weekend when I came upon someone asking why their boat would be leaning to one side while they were underway, and some of the comments had me wondering how common this problem really is.Īs it turns out, there are a few different reasons why your boat might be leaning to the one side.

Storing a jon boat on its side