As Jim said ^^^^^^^, move your weight forward. The trim tabs only need to be used to make small adjustments as people and weight moves laterally (port to starboard and vise versa) to keep a level running attitude. Other than small adjustments, I never use the trim tabs on my 23DVCC.
If your DVCC has the forward seating, then "yes" you can use them to hold fish. They are about 160 quarts each but they aren't terribly well insulated. If you are fishing north of, say Long Island where it doesn't get too hot and the water is relatively cool as compared to Florida, then you might be fine by throwing 100lb of ice into each seat/hold. For me, I had to insulate the seats/holds by drilling a 2" hole forward of the seat/hold and pour 2-part expanding foam into the empty space between the fiberglass mold of the hold and the floor of the boat. It took about 1 gallon of mixed foam to fill the void.
And as you have also seen, you can put a cooler forward of the console in front of the console seat.
As Jim said, don't use that fish box located in front of the motor for anything other than small gear (ropes, gaff, maybe some fishing tackle)
You shouldn't need to use your trim tabs at all. And install a Permatrim if you continue to have problems plan
As Jim said ^^^^^^^, move your weight forward. The trim tabs only need to be used to make small adjustments as people and weight moves laterally (port to starboard and vise versa) to keep a level running attitude. Other than small adjustments, I never use the trim tabs on my 23DVCC.
If your DVCC has the forward seating, then "yes" you can use them to hold fish. They are about 160 quarts each but they aren't terribly well insulated. If you are fishing north of, say Long Island where it doesn't get too hot and the water is relatively cool as compared to Florida, then you might be fine by throwing 100lb of ice into each seat/hold. For me, I had to insulate the seats/holds by drilling a 2" hole forward of the seat/hold and pour 2-part expanding foam into the empty space between the fiberglass mold of the hold and the floor of the boat. It took about 1 gallon of mixed foam to fill the void.
And as you have also seen, you can put a cooler forward of the console in front of the console seat.
As Jim said, don't use that fish box located in front of the motor for anything other than small gear (ropes, gaff, maybe some fishing tackle)
You shouldn't need to use your trim tabs at all. And install a Permatrim if you continue to have problems planing or maintaining a level running attitude. When I ran a F250 3.3l Yamaha on the 23DVCC, I felt the Permatrim made a noticeable difference ..... a real improvement. But now that I've installed a F300 4.2l, I don't feel that Permatrim made much of a noticeable difference.
There's also a huge storage area under the deck, in front of the console that you can put lots and lots of stuff into (weight)
I am on the same page as you with weight distribution in my 23DVCC. Cast nets in the starboard forward hatch, large cooler up front. Half tank of fuel. Transom box with light items only. Engine tucked in except running in shallow water. Rarely need to use the trim tabs.
ing or maintaining a level running attitude. When I ran a F250 3.3l Yamaha on the 23DVCC, I felt the Permatrim made a noticeable difference ..... a real improvement. But now that I've installed a F300 4.2l, I don't feel that Permatrim made much of a noticeable difference.
There's also a huge storage area under the deck, in front of the console that you can put lots and lots of stuff into (weight)
