Boat Trim Tabs

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Trim Tabs & Planing Accessories How-To's

Trim Tabs

Trim Tabs and Accessories

Placement of Your Trim Tabs Before purchasing trim tabs, make sure there is room to place the tabs. Check the design of the transom and measure for clearance around swim platforms or ... read more ladders. You'll need at least 12 inches along the bottom of the boat and 12 inches vertically from the point in the center of the tab.

Measuring big

Installation of Your Trim Tabs While your local dealer can install trim tabs for you, just about anyone who is handy with a drill and screwdriver can install trim tabs. Bennett Marine designs trim tabs so that the average do-it-yourself boater can handle the installation in an afternoon. Depending upon the size and construction of the boat, it should take about 4 or 5 hours for installation.

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Determining Size Installing undersized trim tabs is one of the more common mistakes. A tab that is too small will have to be deflected more in order to create sufficient lift. Just remember, the larger the trim tab, the more lift it will produce with the least amount of drag. Use our Sizing Guidelines and then search trim tab options based on your kind of boat.
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how to trim your boat

How to Trim Your Boat (Video)

An instructional video on how to trim your boat. Presented by Honda Marine. ... read more



Video Transcript

Hi! Welcome to the Fishing Boat website. It’s Gestie here. Today I want to talk about trim. Trim is the biggest factor that really affects the dynamics of your boat.

I’ve got the editor of Fishing World, Jim Harnwell, out there and you can see that's probably a prime example of too much trim up and bare is too high. I know the guys are only moving slow but that really shows you the difference between too much trim up and having your trim correctly positioned.

The important thing with trim is that it can be a quite dangerous situation if you're punching in windy conditions and you have too much bail up. Two things can happen. You can get the boat into a position where it can almost become vertical especially if you're crossing a bar.

The whole idea of trim is to keep a nice even flat form for the boat so it rides correctly. Trim up is something that we need to do when we are in a following sea and we have slick conditions behind us and then bare down or trim down to put right back forward on the bare when we're punching into the sea or into windy conditions.

When you're boat is trimmed up in too high position once you get the speed, you'll hear the engine will start to cavitate. It's because the cavitation flight is too close to the surface and you'll get that purposing effect that you can see there. The boat is hopping and purposing along.

You don't have right contact with the propeller and the water. If you've got to turn, you'll get a lot of cavitation, which can do damage to the engine through over revving and even possibly spin the propeller off. It’s certainly not the way to go.

If you have to much trim then it's going to affect your fuel economy and put too much wide on the bare. I've already spoken about that. There's a prime example of a boat that's riding levelled and sitting on the water nice. It will be responsive to when you want to turn in any direction. Your fuel economy will be good, handling is improved and no purposing. That's the right way to trim your engine.

All motor boats have the trim control either at the engine itself, which obviously you can't do as you're driving along. But the trim control at your actual total control if the one you can use and you can adjust it as you go along.

Once again different conditions require slightly different amounts of trim. But as long as your boat is not purposing, as long as that engine is not limbering and that nose is not driven too hard in the water, you're probably in the window.

This is Gestie. We'll catch you next time. Thanks for looking at the website.
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