Re: Starcraft Holiday Reno and Hull Repair
Hi Guys, I'm still progressing, but slowly. I got the FREE stainless trim tabs installed. They're 12" x 12" with a 1" deep fin on one side. I think they're Bennet's, but I bought the Smart Tabs 60 lb actuator conversion kit. Bennet says to install tabs as large as possible for your boat to get maximum benefit, whereas Nauticus seems to provide a smaller tab when you buy their complete package. Anyway, I had to choose either 60 or 80 lb actuators. Being a relatively light boat with modest horsepower and speed, I figured I'd err on the light side. I figure that the large surface area tab could be well suited to the 80 lb actuator on a heavier boat. I resolved that the actuator had to match the boat, not the tab. The extra surface area should just make for higher efficiency. I don't want to lose top end performance by adding drag that might happen with excess pressure on the tabs.
It was a fairly straight forward installation process. I was concerned about dissimilar metals, this being an aluminum boat. Anyway, I felt better after reading Tabman's 2 or 3 year old post on another website that it's common for Bennet to supply ss tabs to aluminum boat manufacturers. He recommended isolating the tabs from the hull, so I chose to mount them using 1/4"-20 wellnuts that are of neoprene construction, isolating the ss bolts and threaded brass inserts from touching aluminum. I also mounted the tab hinge plate on a heavy rubber pad for isolation and to accommodate the uneven transom surface as they bridged several rivets. The tabs came with zinc anodes attached that had corroded somewhat, so I spun them on the 100 year old lathe that I have and they cleaned up like new. I'm not sure they serve much purpose, mounted directly on the tabs, but maybe keep the stainless entertained rather than creating a circuit somehow with the hull.
A couple of things that Smart Tabs might note:
- I had to replace a couple of the supplied 1/4"-20 assembly bolts that were too short to engage the nylon in the Nylock nuts. This might account for the occasional lost tab.
- There seemed to be a shortage of washers to ensure free movement on both sides of both ends of the actuators.
- There are 5 bolt holes for adjusting the tab mounting angle, but the hole closest to the tab can't be used since the actuator end mount is larger than the available space on the bracket.
- The instructions don't provide a preferred mounting location dimension for the brackets that mount to the trim tabs. This would not be necessary if you are using a pre-drilled Smart Tabs tab kit, but this is supposed to be a "conversion" kit for all makes. I just approximated their pictures.
The jury's still out on what performance improvements there might be. I've only had her out once with the tabs on and I had a somewhat heavier passenger load on relatively rough water. My top end dropped from a "normal" max 4200 to about 3800 RPM. I'm sure that we planed sooner without much bow rise and I think planed at lower RPM. I'll need another trip on calmer water with a lighter load before I'll even consider making the available adjustments to the tab position.
I had a flat and tread separation on a trailer tire on the last trip out and had to drop close to $500 on 4 new tires. My daughter heard that I wanted an air horn for the boat, so she bought me one. Well I guess it is an air horn. Whadya think? Should I mount it inside where I can reach it or mount it jauntily on the bow somewhere and reach over the windshield to use it?
Do you suppose it's a regulation sounding device? - Grandad
