Upgrade advice?!?!?

[mansfield]

So I've had my '07 Q8 for a year now. Spent last summer enjoying it, and thinking about all the things I want to do to it. It's now (slowly) getting to the time of year where I get to enjoy it again, and I want to do one of the upgrades I have been considering...

I have narrowed it down to 2, and now I am simply looking for advice on which upgrade you would suggest going after first...

1. Add-a-battery. I want a second battery to power the auxiliary loads while rafting with other boats (and to give me wife peace of mind that I am not draining the battery just to hear some tunes). Actually considering this setup, Blue Sea Systems Add A Battery - iboats, which includes a voltage sensitive relay to prevent the inevitable time where I end up with two dead batteries because I never remembered to change the battery switch...

2. Smart tabs. I have read everything on here on the advantages of this addition, and truly can not wait to get rid of the low speed wonder. Additionally, with a five year old girl just taking up tubing, lowering the speed to plane is also a major plus.

The only other addition I will have for this season, is for Father's Day I get a new boat grill. I'm thinking the magma with a post mount so I can use it either stern or aft in one of the existing post locations for the table...

(can you tell I am frothing at the mouth to get back out on the water)

 

[whitey224]

Re: Upgrade advice?!?!?

Smart tabs! That is all I have to say.

 

[tazrig]

Re: Upgrade advice?!?!?

If it has to be just one. Then I vote for the smart tabs. You can always disconnect one battery to prevent both from going dead when you raft.

 

[mansfield]

Re: Upgrade advice?!?!?

Looks like that is the consensus. I will move forward with the smart tabs. For my own sanity (which inversely correlates with my wifes anxiety level) I think I will also buy the battery for next years dual battery setup, and just carry it for backup purposes for the time being.

Thanks

 

[saintv90]

Re: Upgrade advice?!?!?

Without a doubt Smart Tabs. It's ridiculous how much of a difference it made in the wandering and planing out. I absolutely love mine. Now I just need a new prop. Dual batteries sounds like a good idea as well. Perhaps something else for me to look into for the coming boating season.

 

[PrinceValium]

Re: Upgrade advice?!?!?

I also agree...smart tabs!! It will handle like a different boat! I also added the PR500 brackets for mine to have the ability to lift them up for wake boarding. It also definitely shows how great they work moving them from the up position to the down position. You can talk to the guys at Nauticus...they will most likely recommend the 60 lb. tabs.

 

[mansfield]

Re: Upgrade advice?!?!?

The mounting brackets have been one of the considerations...I don't need them now (no one in my family or friends currently wake boards), but there is always that chance that one of my daughters decides to give it a try. Does anyone know if it would be possible to install without the brackets, and come in later and add them into the setup?

As for the new prop, I am probably going to look into that later this season. Between those two, I think it will literally be like driving a brand new boat... I don't even want to consider until I can get out and get some accurate baseline information (both with and without the smart tabs)..

 

[PrinceValium]

Re: Upgrade advice?!?!?

The mounting brackets have been one of the considerations...I don't need them now (no one in my family or friends currently wake boards), but there is always that chance that one of my daughters decides to give it a try. Does anyone know if it would be possible to install without the brackets, and come in later and add them into the setup?

As for the new prop, I am probably going to look into that later this season. Between those two, I think it will literally be like driving a brand new boat... I don't even want to consider until I can get out and get some accurate baseline information (both with and without the smart tabs)..

The other thing they are good for is if you are beaching your boat you can retract them....not to mention for putting the boat on some trailers. (Mine was the stock trailer with the boat so I don't have any issues with mine)

 

[magiaone]

Re: Upgrade advice?!?!?

I have a 2010 q8i and did the dual battery thing. It was easy to do, I bought a splitter from Bass Pro for about $45 and it hooks straight to the batteries. Then you just split off what you want on one battery that gets charged while running, then you just have the other for cranking only.

Let me know how you get on with the smart tab install, to my knowledge, we are the only 2 with Q8s and no one has added S/T to them yet.

 

[mansfield]

Re: Upgrade advice?!?!?

Will do... I will try to take pictures this of the install and process. I don't consider myself an expert, but perfectly capable of being the guinea pig...

 

[spdracr39]

Re: Upgrade advice?!?!?

Smart tabs. And yes you can add the flip up brackets later but it requires more holes so I would just put them on from the beginning.

 

[PrinceValium]

Re: Upgrade advice?!?!?

Smart tabs. And yes you can add the flip up brackets later but it requires more holes so I would just put them on from the beginning.

Yep he is correct the regular mounts have two holes on either side of the bracket and the PR500 has the holes on the top and the bottom.

I was thinking of installing something like this for when we anchor and listen to music so I don't have to worry about the battery charge state.

http://www.batterymart.com/p-bfg12v...m_medium=CPC&gclid=COr9x6aJk7YCFc5_Qgod7X0AlQ

 

[mansfield]

Re: Upgrade advice?!?!?

Just an update...

Got the smart tabs installed two weeks ago, but didn't get to get the boat into the water until this last weekend. The benefits are truly amazing. Low-speed wander did disappear, and time to plane went down to basically nothing. Didn't have time to check how much I can back off of the power and still plane out, but I'm sure once the season actually takes off I will get to try.

Additionally, I did find a way to get the second battery as well. Had to pass on both the optima deep cycle battery and the switch mentioned in the kit earlier, but all said and done I am happy. I now have a group 24 starting battery along with a group 24 deep cycle powering all the accessories. A voltage sensitive relay installed to let the alternator charge the deep cycle once the starting battery is fully charged. Outside of that, the two systems are completely isolated. I ended up going with this voltage sensitive in Boat Parts & Accessories For Your Boat - iboats. Only I found it on EBay for $25.00...