Puma Ftd setup

First, since your plate is hydraulic, PTP is not very important because it can be almost anything that you choose. IE lower it, run WOT and set trim for optimal speed. Then raise jack plate 1/4″ and repeat as you continue running. You can find the right PTP (which is NOT a constant value, BTW. Load, water conditions, temp, all such things can make the optimal setting change a bit, which is why the hydraulic jack plate is such an advantage.)Second, and more importantly, whats your goal here? Better hole shot? Better top end? Better midrange cruising? Motor height is one of several compromises you have to make. Increase top end also increases prop slip and probably makes hole shot worse. Guy had asked me to help him learn to drive his Puma a few months back. Met him at the ramp, and I immediately noticed that as he drove he was working the stew out of both trim and JP height. I got him to pull up in shallow water, did an estimate on PTP and set it to about 3.5″ and unplugged the left blinker (JP height). He was dumfounded. I tried to explain, “you are having difficulty with chine walking, which is why you asked me to meet you down here. When I drove it to see how things worked, did you see me working both blinker stalks like an 80 year old deranged driver on a California freeway during rush hour?” I then explained that he needed to learn how to stop chine walking by itself. That he was not yet skilled/experienced enough to focus on too much at one time. Finally got him to trim down, punch it and let it max out in speed. The tap trim (only, JP was disconnected remember) and then drive until it stabilized. Focusing ONLY on the steering wheel, his balance perception, and the nose of the boat. I told him he was experiencing what is commonly known as “information overload” trying to stop the bow swings, fiddle with the trim constantly, fiddling with the jack plate constantly, fiddling with the throttle constantly, etc. WAY too much fiddling, WAY too little driving. Once we got past that hurdle, he picked it up quickly. So, where are you in the process? Most learn to deal with the trim pretty quickly. The JP height is just another step in the learning curve.Basically, every adjustment you do affects performance. Throttle. Trim. Jack plate. Load. Balance. Prop/pitch. Etc. Ive always tried to “keep it simple”. Ive driven high performance boats for years, and I STILL decided to drive my classic for 6 months before I touched the JP setting (it is a manual jack plate and cold water definitely played a role in that delay, but in any case…) My latest observations suggest that my boat might run the motor higher than I originally thought. I am currently at 2.5″, which I like. Jumps out of the hole and has peaked at 78.5 in cold air. At 2″ it is more finicky. Mid-RPM cruising is not as good, more prop slip, sucks more fuel, hole shot suffers a bit. So I have sort of stabilized on 2.5″ for my load (me + son + dog + tackle/fuel).First thing to ask yourself, then is “what do I want out of this thing?” Now you have a goal to reach for. Just make sure it is the right goal. If you go after top end and end up with a terrible hole shot, are you going to be happy? Add a partner and you might ride around looking at the sky all day. At least, for starters, 3.5″ wont be bad by any measure. Then you will probably tweak up from there, probably not down. And ALWAYS make the changes gradually as you are experimenting so you can repeat them to verify results. Once you get there, you wont have to do that again. When I launch, I punch the throttle and almost immediately get on the trim so that by the time I am leveled out, trim is correct and I wont have to touch it again except for maybe a tap or two to fine-tune.Sort of a long, rambling answer. But it is a pretty long topic. Good luck with this…Last edited by oldtimer57 on July 24th, 2017, 3:24 am, edited 1 time in total.2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200