Nauticus Smart Tabs

Installation was relatively easy on my 1998 Sea Ray 185BR (even with having to mount the top bracket on the curved part of the transom. Took about 2 hours to assemble and install. Squirted a drop of clear silicon sealant (not supplied) into the holes before putting on the supplied sealing tape and screwing. The tabs work great, gets on plane much faster without bow rise, and stays on plane at lower speed, as advertised. Best benefit is that it doesn't porpoise any more. Money well spent.

I never write reviews but I was so pleased with my trim tabs that I felt I needed to. I have an 18ft Marada with a 4.3L Mercruiser skiboat. Before the trim tabs with my family of six sitting in the back (small kids) I had to accelerate quickly to plane out. My wife hates to go fast ans going slow felt like the boat was going to capsize with the bow raise. The trim tabs made it so the boat can go any speed without excessive bow rise, it cut down on porposing, it leveled the boat and decreased the sway from side to side. Love them. ai also put them on myself with no prior experience and just followed the directions.

good

If you are having issues with bow rise and stability, than look no further. I have a Searay 185 that had a significant amount of bow rise when trying to get on plane. There was also an issue of the boat leaning way to far down when turning. The Smart Tabs have solved these issues and more. I can't believe the difference in the way my boat handles now. It is like a completely different boat. I'm not sure why boats don't ship from the factory with these installed. The only reason I am giving these a 4 star is because they didn't supply the correct hardware and I had to go to the local hardware store to buy 15 1/4-20 nylon lock nuts. Other than that these things are great.

If you are loosing speed at the top end then the boat attitude is too bow down at cruising speeds. Why? If you have moved down to 40Lb Actuators then the cause is other than the trim tabs. Are you trimming the motor out when on plane? Are you using a hydrofoil in addition to the trim tabs? Have you called us (800-233 0194)for further advice? 1/2 to 3/4 MPH could be as little as how much gas is in the tank during testing.

The tabs did a great job to cure some of my boat issues. The boat is a 2010 18 ft bowrider 4.3 liter i/o alpha one drive. The good, this boat had bad bow wander at an idle, the tabs fixed this. The boat was lazy coming up on plane(yes it's propped right), the tabs also helped this. The bad part is I've lost about 1/2 to 3/4 of a MPH top speed. I have adjusted the pressure to the lightest setting and ordered a set of lighter struts (40 lb) still speed loss. I just can't see how dragging these tabs in the water could ever increase speed? My next try, just ordered a set of stainless turnbuckles to replace the struts. Going to set the tabs adjusted barely out of the water at 25 mph and above. Tabs should still cure the bow wander and add extra lift as the hull starts to drop below 25 mph.

Tabs went on without any problems. First impression is that they do what I hoped for at slow, no wake, speed. Bow wander was negligible. Have not been out beyond the marina area yet, no wake areas have been my biggest problem. More later.

Hi Rob First I want to express our disappointment that you did not have a positive experience with our Smart Tabs, and we understand your frustration. I am assuming that you did not call our customer service 800 number (800-233-0194) when you were having the performance problems. If we had talked to you I feel confident that we would have been able to provide you with a satisfactory solution. As a matter of information, WE DO NOT USE AN AUTOMATED ANSWERING SYSTEM for consumer calls. We simply answer the phone the old fashion way. Based on the information you provided the diagnosis sounds fairly straight forward. Regardless of the adjustments you made the boat lost speed. It most likely and listed to port in addition to handling poorly. When the stern is lifted too much, the bow rotates too far down. This causes the boat to ride on the front part of the keel (“V”) and the result is that the boat plows, and rocks side to side (like a teeter totter). Trim Tabs do not reduce speed or create a loss in HP, they will in fact make the ride smoother and allow for a more effective trim angle. All of this will permit the boat to increase top end speed. In many cases increasing the prop pitch is possible (from a 19” to 21” for example) which will provide even more speed. (Why? Because the trim Tabs will eliminate the difficulty in getting the boat to plane.) In your case you may have had a trim tab set that was more than needed for your boat, or you may have been using a Hydrofoil in addition, or you may have not trimmed the motor out enough when cruising, or some other combination which created too much lift on the stern. Given your experience you may not agree with this analysis, but without additional information it would be difficult to make any other assessments, this issue is not uncommon. All of our Smart Tabs use the same principle of operation and I would suggest that the other reviews (typically 4.5 stars out of 5.0) be considered. Anyone is welcome to call us for personal service. Again, we are disappointed that you were not pleased with the product, and I wish that we had the opportunity to help you. John DeAgro Nauticus, Inc.

These things do exactly what they say they do. Just don't get them and expect to have them on in an hour. I bought the SX tabs first just to find out you couldn't install them with the top bracket attached to a swim deck (iboats should add that in the description because it cost me $20 in shipping and a drive to the lake to find out it wouldn't work) but trying to get all the angles right with a swim deck involved in a big ordeal. But once installed these things are awesome. I personally think it cut out 90% of my bow rise and 70% of the time it takes to get on plane. Well worth the time and money. One other thing. It says in the description they are polished stainless. That is false, these are matte. No reflection whatsoever.

tabs steal horse power .and do not fix boat load issue due to loading.I expected for the tabs to work together even adjusted, they do not handle the water the same on both sides leaving the boat with obviuos list.I strongly advise against these....