bob johnson
Rear Admiral
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2009
- Messages
- 4,304
I am wondering how much force these units have in either direction. I want to "adapt" a set I have on a junk boat I acquired for parts. the boat appears to have a clean mercruiser gimbal set still installed with the twin hydraulic ramps for TNT action, with the pump. I am thinking of using these rams as a heavy duty form of TRIM TAB. Only the trim tabs are not just a sheet of SS... they are 24" long 18" wide flotation pods that are usually welded (sometimes bolted) the transoms of shallow water boats to help lift the stern. I had these pods welded onto my LOWE 2070 and I loved them, except they killed the top end because they were welded on flat and level with the bottom of the hull.... so when I was trying to get on plane....I actually did it in an instant, but they dragged and prevented clean top end speed.. the way they were attached gave me 100 % excellent use when not in motion or going very slow in shallow water.... the more of the pod I had under water, the more buoyancy they provided.....so my rig could actually motor in about 6" of water...because I had a jackplate . this is a 1200 lb 22.5 ft (with the pods) long boat!!! sporting a 325 lb outboard!.....so I love the pods for sitting still or going slow in the shallows, BUT I don't want them when I am on plane at speed....
so my idea is to have them on a heavy duty hinge on the bottom and attached to the hydraulic rams on top... and deploy them down when shallow of static, and pull them out of the way( maybe 10 degrees upward) when under half or more power!
so the question is....are these rams good for dual acting pressure?
I had thought about this last year using real trim tabs.... but the tabs only had power one way...downward.... since I climb into the boat often via the pods...they have to support 200-300 lbs when climbing in and out over the pod..... the trim tabs where just on a spring, and they would just stretch out if you forced them downward...
bob
so my idea is to have them on a heavy duty hinge on the bottom and attached to the hydraulic rams on top... and deploy them down when shallow of static, and pull them out of the way( maybe 10 degrees upward) when under half or more power!
so the question is....are these rams good for dual acting pressure?
I had thought about this last year using real trim tabs.... but the tabs only had power one way...downward.... since I climb into the boat often via the pods...they have to support 200-300 lbs when climbing in and out over the pod..... the trim tabs where just on a spring, and they would just stretch out if you forced them downward...
bob