First Quad-Outboard TrimSync Application In Action On Nor-Tech 390

Having made significant inroads into the twin outboard-engine-powered sport catamaran segment, it was only a matter of time until TrimSync from Marine Design Corporation found its way into the triple- and quad-outboard performance center console market. But with a quad Mercury Verado 400R outboard-equipped Nor-Tech 390 Sport center console in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as “guinea pig,” Mike Clesceri, the founder of the Illinois-based company that also produces the popular DriveGuardian actually had to rewrite software and add functionality to the system.

For optimal performance at speed, this Nor-Tech 390 Sport center console’s two center outboards need to be trimmed down slightly more than its two outer engines.

TrimSync ensures that outboard lower units trim to exactly the same level—that is the foundation and key benefit of the system. But as Clesceri discovered with the 39-footer, the task is a bit more complicated with four engines, especially when the center set needs to be trimmed down slightly more than the two outside engines when the boat is running at speed. So Clesceri had to rewrite TrimSync’s software to make it happen.

“I wanted to make everything plug and play, but I had never done a quad-engine application before,” he said. “So I had to create a programmable zone between neutral and slightly below neutral. To keep them all running the same RPM at speed, the outer two outboard engines stay even with each other and two inner engines trim down slightly at the same exact level. And it works great.”

If the engines are trimmed above the preset zone Clesceri created, they trim up and down as one. Though it required some tinkering, the four-outboard TrimSync system—and Clesceri rewrote the software so it actually can accommodate five engines—now integrates seamlessly with the boat’s Mercury Marine VesselView and Garmin GPS systems.

Clesceri had to rewrite TrimSync’s software for the four engine center console application.

“My computer has a physical limitation so I can’t do six outboards,” he said, then laughed. “But everything now with the four-outboard TrimSync system is completely plug and play, just as it is with sport cat applications. You don’t even have to cut a single wire to install it.”

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