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I recently purchased a 1985 17' Montauk. It is powered by a Suzuki 115 hp four stroke. The boat runs and rides great. However, when I am running with no load, just myself and fuel, the boat leans to the left. It is if I have a trim tab on the right side that is in the down position, but I have no trim tabs. What might be causing this?

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Sam, join the crowd, they all do that. Sit way over to starboard and be careful with your engine trim. Don't run it over 40 MPH or it will throw you out. I know it's really weird but you can pretty much control the problem with your weight and engine trim. With 115 hp, you must really have a problem. I have a 90 hp Honda and have that problem but not until over about 30 MPH. At 40 MPH, its pretty thrilling. My Montauk is a 1997.

Good luck. Henry Brigham:)

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Sam,

The list to port is caused by propeller torque. Boats with bigger motors are more susceptible to this because they use propellers with higher pitches. It is very common, as Henry says.

Adjusting weight is one way to help alleviate this problem but the other thing to check is the trim tab on your motor behind the propeller. Often (and especially so with NFB steering systems) this trim tab is not adjusted correctly. If it is centered or adjusted to port, the list will be aggravated.

The trim tab on the motor is there to correct steering torque, not list, but because it is propeller toque that causes both phenomena, correcting for one will help with the other. Ideally, the steering is neutral, i.e. it steers with equal resistance to both port and starboard.

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Sam,

There is one other thing I can think of also.
Do you have a Transducer for your fishfinder etc., located on the starboard side.
If so, this may be giving you some extra rise on the starboard side much like a trim tab and making it "list" to the port side while underway.

Just a thought...