OREANDA-NEWS. February 15, 2016. Mercury Marine officially launched Active Trim today at the Miami International Boat Show, providing a system designed to make boating easier and more enjoyable by automatically trimming outboard and sterndrive engines.

Mercury tested Active Trim with countless boaters, dealers and boat builders following its unofficial debut seven months ago, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Boaters likened Active Trim to moving from manual to automatic transmission on an automobile.

Designed to suit entry-level and expert boaters alike, Active Trim simplifies boat operation while improving engine performance and decreasing fuel costs. New boaters are immediately able to properly trim boat engines with no intimidating learning curve, and experienced boaters can get the benefit of perfect trimming without constantly monitoring and adjusting trim with changes to boat speed or when going into turns.

Active Trim is compatible with 40hp to 400hp Mercury FourStroke outboards, two-stroke outboards with SmartCraft, and all gas and diesel MerCruiser sterndrive engines with SmartCraft. The system is also available for retrofitting to engines already in the field. 

The key to Mercury’s Active Trim is its exclusive and patented GPS-based control system. Unlike systems that use only engine rpm to control trimming, Mercury’s Active Trim controls the trim in accordance with boat speed and engine rpm. This approach avoids potential problems such as engines trimming up (instead of down) if the propeller breaks loose in a hard turn. It also avoids issues with the engine trimming up too early or too late when the boat is getting on plane. Trim control on high-performance applications is also a benefit of the GPS-based system.

Another Active Trim exclusive are its five selectable trim profiles that accommodate nearly any boat application, from small runabouts, pontoons, bass boats and cruisers to high-performance applications. There’s no need to manually enter trim settings vs. rpm into a multi-functional display, as required by some systems. Simply run the boat and select the profile that is best suited for that application. These profiles allow operators to further personalize Active Trim to their driving style and/or compensate for changes in boat load, operator preference and weather conditions, while maintaining full auto operation.

For operators wanting to get the last mile per hour out of their boat, Active Trim can be overridden by using the regular manual trim buttons, though auto mode can be easily re-engaged.

Active Trim will be available in mid-March from Mercury dealers and boat companies.