Outboard Jet Tilt? Tucked or Straight?

My Evinrude 50/35 jet has three tilt bolt holes. I'm still in the process of dialing it in. The other day I ran 31.5 mph with it in the 3rd hole out and then 29.2 mph in the second bolt hole out. I didn't get a chance to run it tucked all the way in.

Is it best to run these motors tucked all the way in? Many of the outboard jets I see online are in the bottom bolt hole with the jet very close to the transom. I've moved mine back out to the last hole away from the transom for now.

I'm still in the process of raising the motor in search of cavitation, so as I raise it once I get cavitation I'll start tilting in and see what happens.

As far out as the inlet can still draw and keep the impeller loaded will give the most nose lift and speed.

It depends on how much splash you have coming over the transom. I have the wedges on mine and it's still tucked in all the way. But I have a tunnel and that means the motor is raised higher so the splash comes over the transom easier. I put power trim on over the winter so now I can fine tune it a little better but it's still pretty far in.

Let the boats performance tell you like you are planning. It will change with a load or without and each boat will be different. I had a old motor on two different boats one I had to have it tucked in and the other worked great with it 4 holes out.

i have the same motor and run mine in the middle hole. Fully tucked and I lost a few mph, but gain a little in hole shot, but it seems like im not fully planing out and im pushing a little water. never tried it fully trimmed out, but the more trimmed out you are, the deeper the rear of the boat will run.

I was able to do some more testing today. I've raised my motor up another 1/4" and 3rd hole out was 31.2 mph 2nd hole was 30.1. It didn't drop as much as before. I can tell it gets up on plane better but marginally different to me. I raised the motor another 1/4" after testing, maybe I can try it out again tomorrow if the weather holds.

Results are in. I ended up with cavitation so I had to drop it down a 1/4 inch. Its amazing how much a 1/4 inch can change things.

As a tip for others who are going through this same process. I used large C-clamps on the top of my motor and two bolts in the slots so I could adjust the motor up and down during testing. Also, I got a handful of paint stir sticks for home depot and used them as spacers on top of my transom extension to bump the motor height up and down. It really helped me a lot on dialing it in.

I ended up leaving it in the 3rd hole out from the boat.