Recommendations for trim tabs

1

10sport185

New Member
Jul 8, 2013
67
SC
Boat Info
2010 185 sport
Engines
4.3 TKS
I'm thinking about adding some trim tabs to my 185 Sport. Any recommendations on which ones to get?
 
I was wondering about smart tabs. Seemed too good to be true. Kinda plasticky looking.

I'm intrigued by the Bennett SLT tabs.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
jayelwin said:
I was wondering about smart tabs. Seemed too good to be true. Kinda plasticky looking.

I'm intrigued by the Bennett SLT tabs.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

The SLT and Smart Tabs are comparable. I didn't know Bennett made cheaper tabs like that. I would go with the SLT tabs. You will notice a huge improvement in how your boat runs.
 
Both the Bennett and Smart Tab systems are very well built. Smart Tabs has an optional SS version, but their "plastic" is much more than "plastic" and is VERY durable -- I would not pick one over the other based on materials. Bennett is a new(er) comer into this style of tab, but given Bennett's track record I would not hesitate to go with them. Bennett also offers advice and help on this forum.
 
Bennett
 
WDR. 22' and tabs needed? I believe there is more to this than the OP is telling us as to why tabs are needed.

@Jay. What exactly is the problem. That would allow us to make conscious recommendations. Lateral stability is a different animal than bow over issues. Your issues may be prop related as opposed to tab curable.
 
I'm just looking to get it on plane a little quicker. We do a lot of tubing, wake boarding etc.
 
Put the stainless smart tabs on a 215 EC with a 5.0 alpha a few years back because it was tough to plane with 4 or 5 on the boat. Best investment ever made for that boat. Thing jumped on plane faster than any boat before or since. The customer service at Nauticus is top rate, even had the president of the company answering all my questions. Since it was a heavy boat I opted for the 80lb actuators but it turned out they were too strong. Contacted the company and they sent out a set of 60s free of charge. Friend has the plastic ones on his 24 Baja and he swears by them too.
 
SteveRuss said:
Put the stainless smart tabs on a 215 EC with a 5.0 alpha a few years back because it was tough to plane with 4 or 5 on the boat. Best investment ever made for that boat. Thing jumped on plane faster than any boat before or since. The customer service at Nauticus is top rate, even had the president of the company answering all my questions. Since it was a heavy boat I opted for the 80lb actuators but it turned out they were too strong. Contacted the company and they sent out a set of 60s free of charge. Friend has the plastic ones on his 24 Baja and he swears by them too.
Click to expand...

I put them on my old 175 it made the boat jump out of the water and on plane very fast. I had a similar situation. They sent out lower actuators for free also. Even with the smaller actuators I had to run the trim pretty high up to compensate for the tabs.
 
dpmulvey said:
WDR. 22' and tabs needed? I believe there is more to this than the OP is telling us as to why tabs are needed.

@Jay. What exactly is the problem. That would allow us to make conscious recommendations. Lateral stability is a different animal than bow over issues. Your issues may be prop related as opposed to tab curable.
Click to expand...

Tabs are a good thing on a boat that small, especially if you want to get optimum performance and use out of it.
Balancing offset port/starboard weight for a good ride. Help planing with a large load of people and gear. Keeping the nose down for slower speed in rough water conditions. Stop chine walking at very high speeds (something my 22 Pachanga (19.5 foot hull) with a 496 did without them). Keep the boat level at very high speeds in rough water.

Personally if you are spending the money put controllable tabs in, then you have the option of how much they are working as needed.
 
dpmulvey said:
But will the smart tabs keep him on plane if he was tubing? I don't know exactly how they work.
Click to expand...

Smart Tabs, and the Bennett version of them, physically look like regular tabs. But there are no electronics, hyrdraulic lines or pump to install, and no wiring up the dash. In fact, nothing penetrates the transom, except for the screw to attach the pieces. For a small boat like this, installing "normal" tabs that you and I would typically think of, is very much overkill... along with being MUCH more expensive. The way they work is that you have an externally mounted gas shock where the hydraulic piston would be with normal tabs. Think of it as a much more robust version of what holds your transom locker hatch open. The shock is always pushing the tab down - as speed increases, the force on the tab increases, which raises the tab. This is why it's important to get the right shock (rated in pounds of force), and then fine tune it once installed. So, at slow speeds (tubing), he'll have pretty much fully "deployed" (again, using terms from normal tab function) tabs. As the speed rises, the tabs will level out and provide more bow control so it's not bouncing around so much.

The short answer... yes. The boat will get onto plane quicker and stay on plane at slower speeds. Simple concept - works great.
 
Thanks Dennis.

Interesting concept. I just found their site. I wonder if they will go after larger craft or is facing down bennett a no win for them?
 
dpmulvey said:
Thanks Dennis.

Interesting concept. I just found their site. I wonder if they will go after larger craft or is facing down bennett a no win for them?
Click to expand...

I think once you get to larger boats, there needs to be more user-control to affect the attitude of the boat. For example, small runabouts aren't generally running in heavier seas where you'd be adjusting the tabs up (retracted) if you're in a following sea. With the Smart Tab (or Bennett's version of it) setup, that wouldn't be ideal since you'd run a great chance of stuffing the bow. You'd to manually disconnect the tabs. Besides, between Bennett and Lenco, you already have two big players in the 'traditional' trim tab field.
 
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