It’s normal for a boat to have trim tabs or some trim system. When people look at jet boats, they like to ask the same question.
Do Jet Boats Have Trim?
No, for the most part, jet boats don’t have trim.
Why Don’t Jet Boats Have Trim?
The reason jet boats don’t have any trim is that they don’t need them.
Trim on a boat is design to fix the shortcomings a regular boat has.
On a regular boat, the propeller sits much lower than the actual boat. When the boat takes off, this causes the boat nose (bow) to rise and block the view. Using the trim on the boat fixes this bow rise so you can see where you’re going.
On a jet boat, the impeller and intake are located inside the jet boat. Since it’s not lower than the boat, there is not much bow rise at all. If you have no bow rise, you don’t need trim tabs to fix it.
But Some Jet Skis Have Trim?!
Yes, some jet skis do have trim on them, but it’s not fair to compare a jet ski to a jet boat in this regard.
A jet boat is much bigger and heavier than a jet ski.
With some jet skis having such big engines and not weighing much, it’s not uncommon for them to launch out of the water. Trim taps are needed for this in racing so you can keep the jet ski planted when taking off.
A jet boat weighs much more and jumping out of the water when launching is not something that happens like it does for a jet ski.
Since a jet boat is longer and weighs more than a jet ski, it can handle the rough water better.
Another reason why jet skis have trim is to make up for the lack of weight. Jet skis are used to pull people on tubes or wakeboards. Some people like having a wake, and since a jet ski doesn’t weigh much, it doesn’t put off much of a wake. So the trim tabs are a substitution to this problem though it doesn’t work well.
When it comes to making a wake, you want more weight. Many jet boats offer ballast tanks instead of trim tabs as it works better. These ballast tanks fill with water to give the boat more weight and create a bigger wake.
Could Trim Tabs Help With A Jet Boat?
Yes, trim tabs could help in some cases with a jet boat.
If the water has a lot of chop, being able to put the bow (nose) down would be a little helpful.
That’s about it.
To be perfectly honest, any boat that is stuck in water with constant chop means it’s in a bad storm. Any boat in a bad storm is not fun, no matter if you have trim or not. Trim doesn’t magically fix the rough conditions you’re stuck in or help with the wind that pushes you around.
Trim is like having an umbrella with the vents that allow the wind to blow through. Sure, it’s nice to have, but you’re still stuck in a storm, and your umbrella will still get pushed around in the wind even with those vents.
In this situation, what is more important to have is a bimini top to keep the rain off of you. Depending on where you are and the severity of the storm, it would be more worth it to wait for the storm out under the bimini top than to fight the wind while trying to dock. No matter what boat you have, docking in a storm could be more dangerous than waiting for the rain to pass.
You must also understand the size of your boat too. I would not take any small boat out in the ocean, especially if a bad storm is coming. Ocean waves can get big. It won’t matter if you have trim or not if the waves are bigger than your boat.
If your boat doesn’t have a bimini top I highly suggest you get one. They’re not hard to install and well worth it for the hot sunny days and the few times you get stuck in the rain. Here is the bimini top I like to get on Amazon (ad).
Trim Is A Solution To A Problem Jet Boats Don’t Have
The reason we have trim on boats is to fix the problem that other boats have.
Jet boats don’t have this problem, so trim is not needed.
Not having trim means it’s one less thing to fiddle around with when driving. Someone new to boats will have an easier time with a jet boat because of the lack of trim.
So many new boat owners don’t even understand or get why you have trim and often do it wrong. Getting someone new to trim a boat properly is like trying to teach someone how to drive a manual transmission car. Sure, they’ll get it, but it will take a good bit of time to learn.
Where a jet boat is like driving an automatic car, you get in, put in forward, and go. No fiddling around.
Not only that, with a regular boat, if you don’t have it trimmed correctly, you’ll consume more gas or have less control.
If a boat is trimmed too high, you literally can’t see what’s in front of you. Trimmed too low, and the engine is overworking and consuming too much gas.
What if you could hop in a boat and not worry about how to trim it and where to keep the trim? That is a jet boat – you get in and just have fun!