TOPIC: Trim Tabs...which one would you use?

I got two types of trim tabs and I would like to install a pair on my new old glassic.

Some of you are familiar with the Step N Trim old school model but the second one I've only seen a couple of times. It came off of a 16' mid 60s heavy looking boat, a Reinell. The first time I saw one of these was on a 19' Bell Boy runabout. The cast aluminum on the second one is fixed; however, it has another stainless steel plate that you can adjust by setting the bolt up or down. My question is which is better or if any member here had experience with either one, please share your thoughts.

Secondly, where is the best place to fasten these tabs. See picture of the transom profile of my old glassic. Thanks guys for you help.

Eduardo

Eather one of the trim tabs can be used. These types are not really effective due to the fact that they are a non adjustable setting. You really have to spend alot of time in the water adjusting them to get them to a setting that makes your boat perform better. you must mount these as close to the outside of the hull as you can get. Right below your pilot tube is the best area for them. You will have to move the tube over closer to the engine then. Do not mount them close to the motor. They will have no effect then. The ones with the screws on the top plate were easyer to adjust than the other type.They need to be mounted flush with the bottom of the hull or be no more than 1/4" up from the bottom of the hull at any given point alone the length of the trim tab. Shine them up and they look real cool if nothing else. Good luck, Skip.

FWIW I like the top pair better Eduardo. Looks like they might be more effective due to their "adjustability", plus they would polish up nicely. Second plus is it would be nice to have the step(s) to get back in the boat while in the water!?

Hi Eduardo,

Mark is right, the "Step-N-Trim" tabs are way cooler. I'd polish those babies up and treat them with Penetrol... they would shine!

Dean

Thanks Skip, Mark, and Dean for your thoughts. I'm going to save the Step n Trim for my Dorsett Catalina. And yes, if it can be polished, I'll probably do that. I'll use the other one for my new/old glassic. I'll get these installed either tonight or by tomorrow before I go salmon fishing this weekend. Thanks again guys; I'll let you know how it turns out.

Eduardo

So I installed the trim tabs over the weekend on Saturday. Used the Fast Cure 5200, 24 hrs, so waited till the next day on Sunday afternoon. I’ve wanted to try these out and this glassic was a good reason to do so.

A local glassic member acquired a restored G3 a few years ago; this was his first boat. She has a very nice Chrysler motor hanging on the transom and he had asked me to go out with him on his first boating experience. We had set the adjusting trim at the two spot. Porpoise like crazy. Set the rod at the one spot and improved enough. It would still porpoise so we decided to remove the rod altogether. That was it. Porpoise stopped and we enjoyed the rest of the day with 6 other glassic owners. The next time I saw Dave, he had the smaller size Step N Trim tabs installed and what an improvement he said. He now is able to use the adjusting trim rod.

So since I had a couple sets of trim tabs available, I wanted to try it. My recent glassic is a big ’59 17’ length, 16’ LOA, with an 81” beam and 75” transom width. It’s a tall boat and with a hardtop it’s heavy, weighing in at about 800 lbs. dry. Pushing her is a Mercury 4 stroke that weighs 260 lbs. My cousin and I were out fishing for salmon on the Sacramento the other weekend. I had my Minnkota 50 lbs. thrust electric trolling motor hanging on the transom and a group 31 marine deep cycle battery located aft along with my starting battery, one 6 gallon tank and one gallon spare, and crate of misc boat stuff with anchor. Heading out, we were okay. With the power tilt and trim feature we were able to cruise at speed without porpoising. My cousin and I were fortunate that evening that we were able to catch a salmon each. We weighed them both and they totaled around 35 lbs. We placed the salmons in the splashwell, and headed back to the launch. As we picked up speed, no matter how much I trimmed the motor in, we experienced not a lot but some porpoising. I looked at my cousin and said, must be the extra weight of the fish. So, I removed the trolling motor from the transom and the battery behind the front bench. That took care of the porpoising issue. I was a bit surprised.

So that’s when I thought of trying the trim tabs. Not sure going in how she would perform, but these tabs worked great. I know you can adjust these but I didn’t need to. I might play with it a little, but right now, I'm happy as she is. The tabs helped getting on plane smoother and I can trim out a lot further than before even with the trolling motor hanging on the transom and battery aft. I could adjust the power tilt and trim at speed and without adjusting the throttle, you can see the tach increase as you adjust the trim out a little by little. It was awesome. I’m very happy with the performance of these old school trim tabs. Just thought I'd share.

Thanks again for all your advice.


Dave's G3 @ Lake Berryessa
Trim tabs installed. Pretty solid using 6 #8 1 1/4" SS screws.