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Old 04-22-2020, 05:37 PM
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thorne thorne is offline
 
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Default Nauticus Smart Tabs

Just wondering if anyone has them and what your opinions are...
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Old 05-28-2020, 01:00 PM
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Ok, since their were no replies to my question, I thought I would give em a review as I went ahead and purchased and installed them.

First of all, Having been boating for over 20 years I can hands down say I have never seen any performance gadget make such a drastic improvement for the low cost or ease of installation that this product does!

I by no means have ANY affiliation with the product, just wanted something to help reduce on plane time and porpoising. I have a 21' SeaRay Sun Deck which has a nice big open bow, but the cockpit is set back qith a 5.0l and a Bravo-3 outdrive...so its a damn stern heavy boat. It preforms well as is, but just need a helping hand in the mentioned areas when 4 or more people were sitting in the cockpit area. I first was going to just throw on a set of Hydrofoils on the out drive but stumbled across these things. All reviews and documentation look suited to what I was looking for, so why not? At around $200.00 it was worth a try.

Took about 30 mins to install...that was really taking my time...and first time out this year, at Cold Lake, 4 people all in the back and a nice Chop on the water...and OMG it was a new hoat!! Was on plane, heading into a 30km/hr wind, in 3 sec where it would be closer to 5 sec with minimum bow rise. Biggest improvement was in the outdrive trim levels. Usually under those circumstances I would NOT even come close to "Level" trim as I would have to compensate for wave porpoising and rear weight by staying fairly trimmed down. Not anymore! Once on plane I could trim out "Level" on the outdrive and just Skip across the top of the chop with ease.

So to to sum up...huge performance upgrade, low cost, easy install. Highly recommend to anyone with simular issues which I had, or just to help with hole shot and stability in general..Great Product!!

https://www.nauticusinc.com/smart-ta...4aAtNQEALw_wcB
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Old 05-28-2020, 02:14 PM
wildwoods wildwoods is offline
 
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I bought some but sold them before installing as I was able to figure out my weight transfer issues. They look like a pretty good product and have strong reviews. I’m not a big fan of how they look but sometimes it doesn’t matter
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Old 05-28-2020, 02:20 PM
Walleyedude Walleyedude is offline
 
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I've had power trim tabs on my last couple boats (Lenco and now PowrTran), and I wouldn't be without them again. They are an amazing tool for boat control and performance.

There used to be a stigma around trim tabs, and maybe there still is, that the only reason to have them must be that there's something wrong with your boat or it's really under-powered. Nothing could be further from the truth. Besides the obvious benefit of lower planing speeds, individually operatable tabs allow you to control side to side lift to even out a list due to weight balance, and to lift the windward side of the boat in windy shallow angle crossing situations, keeping you a lot drier.

If your hull is designed for it, what they can do for your ride in rough water is amazing. Keeping the bow down and slicing through waves rather than bouncing over them is a game changer.

They're worth the price of admission without a doubt.
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Old 05-28-2020, 02:34 PM
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thorne thorne is offline
 
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I was looking at Powered Tabs, and I agree, you can't substitute the ability to fine tune the ride with those babies! They are worth the money and time to install. But like I said, just thought I would give these guys a try for the low cost and ease of install...and as I was saying, well worth it. Now of course seeing how this simple set up makes a Huge Difference, now I am kinda considering the full power set up like you mentioned maybe for next year!
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Old 05-28-2020, 02:38 PM
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58thecat 58thecat is offline
 
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hmmm might have to look into these as I have farted around with my little 14' crestliner to get the best trim as she runs great with two but if I don't put weight up front she will porpoise with just me in it....these little gems might be the answer.
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Old 05-28-2020, 02:48 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 58thecat View Post
hmmm might have to look into these as I have farted around with my little 14' crestliner to get the best trim as she runs great with two but if I don't put weight up front she will porpoise with just me in it....these little gems might be the answer.
Ya they would.probably work wonders for you! Just go to the site, input the info for boat type, size, weight, and motor and it will show you what ones ya need! That easy....if you do go for it, let me know how it works for ya....kinda curious
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  #8  
Old 05-28-2020, 02:51 PM
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Coiloil37 Coiloil37 is offline
 
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I’ve got lenco trim tabs and wouldn’t want to own another boat without them. I use mine the most keeping the boat level, especially when I’ve got a third guy with me and he keeps moving around while we are running to the grounds. Due to the shape of my hull and size of my outboard I don’t find them that useful getting me on plane or keeping the bow down, usually in a 2+ meter sea with much more then a meter wind chop I keep the bow up a bit if I’m running hard. If I drive it down with engine trim or tabs I have to run slower and have a greater chance of taking a wave over the bow. Obviously there are a lot of factors there with swell interval, side/head/following seas, direction of travel to primary and secondary swells etc but regardless I have a softer, drier ride when I’m not trimmed all the way down. My boat planes at about 13 knots and hops on plane easily so the tabs aren’t required to get the stern up. Tabs also reduce your top end, on mine they cost me about 3 knots if they’re trimmed down. They’re a good accessory though and for that price it’s certainly worth it. Thinking back to how poorly my Lund used to ride they would of been brilliant.
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Old 05-28-2020, 07:22 PM
Positrac Positrac is offline
 
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I’ve ran 3 different boats with the Smart Tabs installed. In each boat they made a world of difference.

You can also buy upper mounting brackets that allow with the flick of the mount handle the tabs to point almost straight down so that they slow the boat down when trolling with the main motor.

I used those upper mounts on one boat to do just that but on my last Explorer 166 jet I mounted them so that when in the down mode they acted like a regular self-adjusting trim tab but when you moved the handle up they brought the tab far enough up so that they were above the bottom of the boat. It worked great when backing up or drifting backwards in the river and I never had an issue catching the tabs on the bottom. When in the down mode I could go at least 5mph slower and still keep the boat on step.
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Old 05-28-2020, 07:32 PM
Positrac Positrac is offline
 
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Here you can see the upper mounts.



With a 450lb quad on the back I could still get it out of the water and do about 28-30mph top speed loaded with camping gear.

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  #11  
Old 05-29-2020, 06:00 AM
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58thecat 58thecat is offline
 
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Dam man you got some nice stuff....fishing and then quading all in the same day etc....
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