Re: Smoother Ride
Lingr<br />Sorry I do not know anything about your boat but will tell you about mine. I have a 21 foot 1980 aluminum Crestliner closed bow runabout. After having boat about 3 years added hydrolic Trim Tabs and it is still the best thing I have done to boat.<br /><br />California Delta has lot of shallow water bays with open water area. San Francisco bay has some deep area but also lots of shallows, San Pablo has large open area with lot of water 2 to 15 feet. Before installing trim tabs my boat was so rough and wet that I would not go any day the wind over 15 mph. My boat would plane at about 20 mph and in the 3 to 4 foot wind driver chop blowing against the current I could not find a speed above 5 mph to run. With cross winds my boat would lean into the wind and cause lots of spray up into the air and wind would blow right on board. I could not get the bow down to cut the waves until on plane at 20mph and that was too rough.<br /><br />I installed hydrolic trim tabs 18 inches wide by 12 deep chord per side. What a difference it made. I can now stay on plane to 10 mph so the sharp bow cuts thru the 3 to 4 foot chop very nice. Still if I run at 25 very rough. I can level the boat with cross winds so now instead of the spray coming off the side of the boat and up into the air then beign blown into the stern, it comes off the bottom and directed down toward the water. The fact that I can keep the bow down at any speed so waves hitting sharp bow rather than flater mid section make ride much better. Every day different but can usually find a speed where ride pretty good.<br /><br />Off shore in seas to 8 foot by 8 seconds which is our go / nogo point still makes ride much better going into seas or at 45 degrees to seas. Days with lower seas allows us to stay up on plane getting much better fuel mileage than when plowing before. Still much better ride. Offshore with large following sea need to raise tabs to be safe. Still we always ride the back side of the swell close enough to see over the top to see where going and if any boats ahead and with out ever going over the top. Unless have a confused sea this is a very nice ride.<br /><br />Like I said best thing I have done to my boat. Makes it much more fun on the not so nice days and saves fuel also. I will never have any open water type boat with out trim tabs. In the twenty years on the boat not a single problem except I decided I liked the double rocker switch better than the Joy stick control.<br /><br />It can also be fun when have a new chick onboard. Trim boat so her side is low, then ask her to try other side to balance boat, as she moves trim so other side is low, then ask her to switch places with fat guy on the other side and again trim her side low. Just make sure no gun or knifes in view when she finds out she has been had.
