SmartTabs: Fitting advice needed

[johnbo]

Hi,

After hearing all of the good things that folks have said about SmartTabs, I'm about to take the plunge. My boat is pretty well balanced but the promise of a lower minimum planing speed is/was the trigger for me.

Anyway, I went out and looked at the back of the boat (stored outside in the barn for the winter). I then realized that I have a problem. As I understand from the installation instructions on the web and other articles here, the ideal situation is to place them at the outer edges of the V portion of the hull. Basically as close to the chines as possible. Well, that sounded great until I looked at the back of my boat and the trailer.

The tie down straps are crossing the prime real estate for the SmartTabs. I've read about folks relocating the tie down points on the trailer. But, I'm not really sure that this is an option for me, because of the way that the trailer is contructed. Here is a (bad) picture.

There just doesn't seem to be anything else that I can grab a hold of.

I'm also in the final stages of buying a new fish finder/GPS that has a bigger transducer, so I'm going to need more space than I'm currently using for the sensor area of the transom.

Anyone got any ideas. Boat details are in the signature block of this message.

Thanks in advance,

johnbo

 

[WillyBWright]

Re: SmartTabs: Fitting advice needed

Tie-down position is a secondary consideration. Put the tabs where they belong and then worry about the straps. You may need to get a full gunwale strap and put a pair of eye bolts on the outside of the trailer.

 

[Bondo]

Re: SmartTabs: Fitting advice needed

Ayuh,......

I'd mount the Smart Tabs where they Should go,+ Then Move the Tie-downs.......

After the installation,... You should still have Plenty of room, Inside the tabs for the transducers.....

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: SmartTabs: Fitting advice needed

SImple enough, that's a old pic the tab's have been moved out to the corner's, im just to lazy to repic them i guess........... You have a pm Opp's as to placement the farther out the better, i'd say within 1-2" of those outside chine's. The farther out they are the sooner they can correct any left to right imbalance.

 

[johnbo]

Re: SmartTabs: Fitting advice needed

I think that the problem that I have with this solution (the picture directly above) is that the cross bar on my trailer is about another foot or two forward of the back of the boat.

Still, I think that I'll go get the tabs and worry about the hold downs later.

Thanks,

johnbo

 

[QC]

Re: SmartTabs: Fitting advice needed

Still, I think that I'll go get the tabs and worry about the hold downs later.

Good plan.

Can you add another crossmember between the lights? It kinda looks like that could be doable without too much pain . . .

 

[johnbo]

Re: SmartTabs: Fitting advice needed

In answer to QC, I'll have to look at this. It would have to be low enough to allow the boat to clear it when launching or retrieving, but still give me enough ground clearance. The other thought is the extend the existing mounts far enough to get around the tabs. Either way, I've got a project to sort out and now I've got a set of the SmartTabs.

Thanks to a PM from Tail Gunner, I found a set of SmartTabs at a local dealer for $108 for a brandnew set. He had a bunch on the shelf that he wasn't moving, so he's having a bit of a sale on them.

Thanks to everyone,

johnbo