Carver 396 Motor Yacht 2003, Owner'S Manual

Page: 154 / 234

O
PERATING AND
M
ANEUVERING
S
ECTION
6
142
3808 4/99
Carry a pad and pencil with you during this first outing.
Write down any questions that come to mind during the
cruise so you can discuss them with your dealer.
Follow the procedures outlined at the beginning of this
section for fueling and starting the boat's engines.
This may be the first time you have been in total com-
mand of your new boat. Proceed slowly. Have fun but
remember that the objective of the cruise is to learn
more about how your boat operates and handles. Oper-
ate at different RPM settings. Try different trim angles.
Monitor the gauges. Practice backing down and turning
slow speed tight corners that simulate docking maneu-
vers.
Your boat has a “planing” hull. A planing hull skims
“over” the water rather than “through” it. To do this,
however, your boat first has to reach a certain speed,
called "planing speed."
When you first accelerate from a dead stop, the trim
angle of the boat increases, causing the bow to rise and
the stern to drop. If you continue to accelerate, the boat
eventually achieves plane, which means the bow slowly
drops to a more level attitude.
It is important to get on plane as soon as possible and
avoid speeds that cause the boat to plow through the
water with the boat in a bow-high attitude. A bow-high
attitude obstructs your vision and limits the boat’s
handling and performance capabilities.
Once the boat is on plane, you can back the throttles off
to a point where the hull is still planing but the engines
are operating at a fuel efficient speed.
Your boat is equipped with a set of electric / hydraulic
trim tabs. Trim tabs help the boat get on plane by
allowing you to adjust the attitude of the boat for vari-
ables such as load, passengers, seas or wind. Under
normal conditions your boat does not need adjustments
to the trim tabs to achieve plane. Use the tabs at plan-
Operating at Planing
Speed
Trim Tabs