trim tabs

W

Weeg

New Member
Aug 15, 2009
7
westchester county ny
Boat Info
270 sun dancer
Engines
7.4 Mercruiser
need a little help...have a 95 270 sundancer...new to the boat..cant seem to figure out how to get the boat level when planed out...going at about 3750 rpm always seems to e leaning left...tried to adjust the tabs, cant figure it out? any help?
 
Small taps. Give it a few seconds to see what happens.

Have you confirmed, by looking, that the tabs do indeed move?

With a little searching on this site, you'll probably find more info about tabs than you know what to do with.

I think Bennett's website has a tab tutorial/game.
 
Have you tried raising the port tab and lowering the starboard? Are you adjusting both tabs at the same time or one at a time?
 
Lazy Daze said:
Small taps. Give it a few seconds to see what happens.

Have you confirmed, by looking, that the tabs do indeed move?

With a little searching on this site, you'll probably find more info about tabs than you know what to do with.

I think Bennett's website has a tab tutorial/game.
Click to expand...


I tried this on my boat to correct a slight list to port once and the boat started pulling really hard to the left. Wonder if that was too much? I'm gonna try a search like you suggested and see maybe I'm doing it improperly...
 
Start with them all the way up. Then bring them down as need be. If you hold it down until you start to feel the boat move, you've held it down too far.

Remember, don't think about what each tab is actually doing. Just think about what you want the bow to do. Port side switch controls port bow. Unless someone re-wired it....
 
Here is how I learned/am learning. First, as mentioned earlier, verify the tabs are working properly and the fluid level is correct. Otherwise you are wasting time.

Next leave the slip with the tabs fully retracted. Get the boat on plane without using the tabs. Tap one tab & wait 6 or 8 seconds. Tap the same tab in the same direction and wait. Now you cat truly tell what one "tap" of a tab will do.

Im sure every boat is different & there is no substitute for experience. The fun is in the learning!
 
Here's the deal with the hard pulling: Do as suggested - start with tabs up (bow up), unless you are really heavy and need tabs down (bow down) to get on plane. Start with stern drive down. Push power up to get on plane. Trim stern up a few clicks until the bow comes up and the boat accelerates a little, but the bow doesn't porpoise (bounce) and the engine doesn't strain. If you get those, trim stern back down a little.

Once up and stern is trimmed, fully raise the trim tabs (bow up). Re-trim the stern if required. Next, if the boat is leaning, begin small clicks on "Bow Down" side of the trim tabs to level the bow. If you do this without turning the wheel, the boat may stay leaned over but begin to turn. Trim the tabs, straighten the boat out, then trim more if required.

I've found that moving the tabs without moving the wheel turns the boat without leaning it. It's like they only cause it to turn. Moving the stern drive or rudders left/right causes the leaning you want.
 
What engine/drive do you have? On mine - I end up with almost the same lean and have better luck being able to trim up the port drive just a touch more than the strbd. This seems to work better than using the tabs at all. Now - if you have singles you have to use the tabs to level it out.
 
I have been experimenting with mine over the last couple of months. As any owner of an 05 or newer 260 will tell you, too much tab will get you in real trouble real fast. If you do not set the drive trim to where the boat is riding as level as possible first, you will have a very hard time leveling it with the tabs. Play with the drive trim first to see how level you can get the boat before reaching for the trim tabs. Weeg - 3750 RPM to get on plane or is that just where you like to run her? If you need that many RPMs to get on plane, I think you need to work the drive trim a little more. That just sounds high to me.

Always make small adjustments and wait fo the boat to react before making any more adjustments. If the boat starts pulling to one side noticably harder than the other, immediately start raising the tab on that side. On my boat, the bottoms of the switches raise the tabs and the tops lower them. Keep in mind that the port switch controls the starboard tab and vice versa. I have seen other people's boats that have the switches reversed either side to side or "flipped over" (tops raise, bottoms lower). Make sure that nobody has modified yours, so that the instructions you read in the SR manual and what we tell you here works the way it should.

It helps to operate the tabs with the engine off and someone helping. I found that it takes a little over a second of switch before the tabs on my boat move from the full up position to where the back edges of the tab are just slightly below the hull. This is the point at which each little tap of the button will affect how the boat rides. That 1st second of switch just doesn't do much. Yours may be different, so have someone watch the tabs while you operate them, and then switch positions and have them operate the tabs while you watch them. When I use mine, I hit the switch for about a second, and then adjust from there after seeing what affect it had on the ride. It would probably take me 20 "light taps" to get through that little "dead zone" where the tabs have no effect.

Whatever you do, take it easy on the tabs until you get a feel for them and the boat. keep both tabs deployed as equally as possible. You will only need a little bit of difference between them to level the boat. Get one really far down compared to the other and it is like sticking an oar down at the back of a canoe - the front is going to try to swing around on you. One other thing, if you use a little of both tabs to lower the bow, then you may need to tap the drive trim a little to get back to "normal" (as John said, no pospoising or engine straining).

Good luck,
Michael
 
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skibum said:
I have been experimenting with mine over the last couple of months. As any owner of an 05 or newer 260 will tell you, too much tab will get you in real trouble real fast. If you do not set the drive trim to where the boat is riding as level as possible first, you will have a very hard time leveling it with the tabs. Play with the drive trim first to see how level you can get the boat before reaching for the trim tabs. Weeg - 3750 RPM to get on plane or is that just where you like to run her? If you need that many RPMs to get on plane, I think you need to work the drive trim a little more. That just sounds high to me.

Always make small adjustments and wait fo the boat to react before making any more adjustments. If the boat starts pulling to one side noticably harder than the other, immediately start raising the tab on that side. On my boat, the bottoms of the switches raise the tabs and the tops lower them. Keep in mind that the port switch controls the starboard tab and vice versa. I have seen other people's boats that have the switches reversed either side to side or "flipped over" (tops raise, bottoms lower). Make sure that nobody has modified yours, so that the instructions you read in the SR manual and what we tell you here works the way it should.

It helps to operate the tabs with the engine off and someone helping. I found that it takes a little over a second of switch before the tabs on my boat move from the full up position to where the back edges of the tab are just slightly below the hull. This is the point at which each little tap of the button will affect how the boat rides. That 1st second of switch just doesn't do much. Yours may be different, so have someone watch the tabs while you operate them, and then switch positions and have them operate the tabs while you watch them. When I use mine, I hit the switch for about a second, and then adjust from there after seeing what affect it had on the ride. It would probably take me 20 "light taps" to get through that little "dead zone" where the tabs have no effect.

Whatever you do, take it easy on the tabs until you get a feel for them and the boat. keep both tabs deployed as equally as possible. You will only need a little bit of difference between them to level the boat. Get one really far down compared to the other and it is like sticking an oar down at the back of a canoe - the front is going to try to swing around on you. One other thing, if you use a little of both tabs to lower the bow, then you may need to tap the drive trim a little to get back to "normal" (as John said, no pospoising or engine straining).

Good luck,
Michael
Click to expand...



This is great info. I'm learning mine right now and that is VERY scary when you over-do one and the boat pulls hard to that side. Kind of like on a car when you have a front-tire blowout. Not fun. Thanks for this info Michael.

Brian.
 
mwph said:
John - Does this statement apply to your previous boat as well?
Click to expand...

Yes - That's where I learned about how to trim it up.

Edit: It's second nature for some, taught behavior for others. If you are driving your boat in a straight line and actuate a tab to correct a lean, and your boat turns, then it's second nature to use the wheel to correct back to course. When you turn the wheel, the boat leans into the turn as usual. Except in this case, it is leaning to come out of the turn that the tab created. That's what corrects the lean in my experience. The tabs tend to want to turn the boat. The steering changes the leaning.
 
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I really appreciate all the info and help..Im still experimenting and learning..I plan on reading the manual and trying the tabs...Thank You all
 
Besides all of the trim tab adjustments- Once you get up on a plane trim up the drive a bit to get the butt settled in some. You get a little more of the boat in the water and then it is a little less tippy from side to side. You will need a lot less trim tab this way and the boat does not feel as high strung.

Every boat is different but this works on my narrow 8'6" beam, single engine boat.
 
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