Fitting Trim Tabs

[Chris]

Originally Posted by gtflash

how much did that cost. I actually gained speed wih my trim tabs fitted(probably due to wrong prop fitted) as i can get the boat to behave... only about 2 knots but better than a kick in the teeth

Not sure yet on the cost side not more than £50 I would have thought.

[Robbie Diesel]

Originally Posted by Dan Worth

Hi Paul....my two penneth worth....

I have a 6.5 with Bennet Hydraulic Trim tabs fitted (admittedly before i bought the RIB and when it had a smaller OB). As someone else said, they are bloody slow to adjust, but the greatest benefit I find is being able to 'level out' the boat better when unevenly laden with divers /gear......

Dan

Hi Dan, I too have the bennett trim tabs and found them a little slow to respond aswell, but i managed to remedy the problem. I drained all the oil out of the resevoir. Bennett recomends ATF oil (automatic transmission fluid) which is the red oil for cars but this is a VERY thick oil. So i replaced the oil with sea-star steering fluid which is a very thin golden oil. The result is trim tabs that deploy and retract TWICE as fast as before and i've been using this for 3 years now with no ill effects to the tabs or pump.

The reason I discovered this, i had been reding lots articles online on how to bleed my sea-star steering and found that a lot of people who had put ATF oil in their sea-star steering had ran into difficulty with very stiff steering. So when i received the genuine sea-star oil to bleed my steering i noticed how nice and thin the oil was which got me thinking about trying it in the trim tabs.... Hey Presto!

[Hightower]

Originally Posted by Robbie Diesel

Hi Dan, I too have the bennett trim tabs and found them a little slow to respond aswell, but i managed to remedy the problem. I drained all the oil out of the resevoir. Bennett recomends ATF oil (automatic transmission fluid) which is the red oil for cars but this is a VERY thick oil. So i replaced the oil with sea-star steering fluid which is a very thin golden oil. The result is trim tabs that deploy and retract TWICE as fast as before and i've been using this for 3 years now with no ill effects to the tabs or pump.

The reason I discovered this, i had been reding lots articles online on how to bleed my sea-star steering and found that a lot of people who had put ATF oil in their sea-star steering had ran into difficulty with very stiff steering. So when i received the genuine sea-star oil to bleed my steering i noticed how nice and thin the oil was which got me thinking about trying it in the trim tabs.... Hey Presto!

SeaStar hydraulic is actually a higher spec than that of ATF and I'm sure I read somewhere that it's licenced for aviation use.

[Searider]

Hi Chris,

Just looked at a 9m Solent which has had Lenco tabs on with no damage or distortion. (150hrs, 300hp)

They were pretty small ones with no reinforcing.

So, maybe they're tough enough.

The ram did connect at the rear of the tab though, not forward of it like yours.

The Owner reports that even though they are small they really help to bring the nose down in a head sea.

[Razorbill RIBs]

[QUOTE=Robbie Diesel;342199] Hi Dan, I too have the bennett trim tabs and found them a little slow to respond aswell....so i replaced the oil with sea-star steering fluid...result is trim tabs that deploy and retract TWICE as fast as before and i've been using this for 3 years now with no ill effects to the tabs or pump.

Robbie....top tip, thanks....

I bet the seastar fluid is something else by a different name too! Have a bottle kicking around here somewhere, will see if i can find what it is and do some digging (assume it will be fairly expensive as a 'Seastar' product?)

Dan

[Chris]

Took the boat out on Friday in the Solent to try out the tabs in some lumpier conditions which I certainly got and was really impressed with the difference.

As we headed up to the Needles we had it on the nose all the way and with the tabs up TB was happy at about 20 knots although I did get a few jarring thumps but if I pushed harder then the banging started as the bow flew off the waves and the ride got quite painful. With the tabs down the bow was pinned down and TB pushed through the waves rather than over them and I was able to make 30 knots comfortably.

[Robbie Diesel]

Just saw this Lenco versus Bennett speed comparisson test on you-tube. Interesting, I thought Lenco was meant to be WAY faster than hydraulic???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii08R...eature=related

[Searider]

Have never seen a Bennet move that quickly.