Not too long ago I started a thread about how long it took my 86' Ciera Sunbridge 2450 to get up to plane on my local lake.
Well, I did some research and according to the Bennett trim tabs site the tabs I had on my boat were undersized. It said that I needed 18"x9" tabs and I had 12"x7" tabs. Using that information I made some tabs at work out of aluminum that I could attached to the tabs that were currently there. I did this because I didn't have an aluminum or stainless steel piano hinge. The tabs looked great and were very solid when attached. After some other needed repairs (replacing the entire tilt mechanism) I was able to take the boat out again this week out in Bellingham Bay. I put the trim tabs down all the way and gave her the gas. All she wanted to do was plow the water. My brother ended up climbing on the bow to get her to plane. Not the results I was hoping for. Since this was the sea trial for all the systems we kept running for awhile. After a half hour we stopped the boat. I don't know why but when we started going again my brother decided to have the trim tabs all the way up. Well, the results were much different. We jumped right up to plane without any problems. We tried this a few other times and it worked every time. I was amazed yet skeptical. When we got back to shore and had the boat on the trailer we tested to see how the trim tabs were working, our thinking being that perhaps the switches were wired backwards. Everything tested fine, up is up and down is down.
Now, I'm not complaining at all, but I'm just a bit confused. It only seems natural that when the trim tabs were down all the way that the boat would plane faster, but it didn't. Likewise, it would seem that it would be difficult to plane with the trims tabs all the way up but that wasn't the case. Has anyone else experienced this before? Everything else ran great. The motor was strong and ran well. I can't wait to get her out fishing for a weekend.
Well, I did some research and according to the Bennett trim tabs site the tabs I had on my boat were undersized. It said that I needed 18"x9" tabs and I had 12"x7" tabs. Using that information I made some tabs at work out of aluminum that I could attached to the tabs that were currently there. I did this because I didn't have an aluminum or stainless steel piano hinge. The tabs looked great and were very solid when attached. After some other needed repairs (replacing the entire tilt mechanism) I was able to take the boat out again this week out in Bellingham Bay. I put the trim tabs down all the way and gave her the gas. All she wanted to do was plow the water. My brother ended up climbing on the bow to get her to plane. Not the results I was hoping for. Since this was the sea trial for all the systems we kept running for awhile. After a half hour we stopped the boat. I don't know why but when we started going again my brother decided to have the trim tabs all the way up. Well, the results were much different. We jumped right up to plane without any problems. We tried this a few other times and it worked every time. I was amazed yet skeptical. When we got back to shore and had the boat on the trailer we tested to see how the trim tabs were working, our thinking being that perhaps the switches were wired backwards. Everything tested fine, up is up and down is down.
Now, I'm not complaining at all, but I'm just a bit confused. It only seems natural that when the trim tabs were down all the way that the boat would plane faster, but it didn't. Likewise, it would seem that it would be difficult to plane with the trims tabs all the way up but that wasn't the case. Has anyone else experienced this before? Everything else ran great. The motor was strong and ran well. I can't wait to get her out fishing for a weekend.
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