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I want to put trim tabs on my 85' 13'. Any advice or thoughts? Thanks

Les

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Just put a planing fin on your outboard.

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If you're having purposing problems, you may want to move your interior forward about 6 inches, that usually solves the problems. Also, I heard that "Smart tabs" are pretty darn good too. Smart tabs are self adjusting trim tabs that I have heard nothing but good things about. http://www.nauticusinc.com/smart_tabs...t_tabs.htm

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We have a fin on our 66 13 w/40 and it pops up on plane.
Never tried without it.
I'm thinking of putting some kind of tabs on my 1984 Outrage 20. Seems a lot of people are happy with those Smart tabs.

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If you want an active trim system, I've read a lot of good things about the Volvo QL trim system. I have no personal experience with them. A lot more expensive than the smart tabs though.

http://vppneuapps.volvo.com/ww/QL/ql.asp

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Les,
what problem are you trying to solve with the tabs?

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Seems like trim tabs on a 13 is somewhat overkill.............If you are having problems like porposing then you may want to look into something like porpoise pads. They are a stationary Bracket that is about 8 inches wide that mounts on either side of the transome just at the water line. I had a 14 ft boat once and that took care of the problem I was having

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That's overkill to me as well. I put a Stingray JR on my 40 HP/13 Sport and all the issues seemed to go away. Speed dropped though, and I think the Stingray might even be more than is required. I've thought about using my aeronautical engineering knowledge and designing a custom surface for my motor/hull combination to improve the ride without so much added drag. It would be nice to make it out of a composite material or stainless steel. The common dilemma is stable ride = more drag. Therefore, you trade ride quality (lack of porpoising, speed to plane, etc.) for more drag. The Whalers already have a lot of drag for a variety of reasons. It would be nice to minimize added drag and obtain the required stability. That kind of begs for a custom solution for each boat. I think that can be done on the outboard rather than adding tabs to the boat istelf.

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Thanks for all the great responses. I have torn down the boat to bare bones, just got it back from the painter. I plan to put in a new interior also (all wood). I really wanted to do all the retro fitting at one time to make the wireing as clean as I can. So with that said, I have not run the boat with the new 40 hp Yamaha so I'm not sure how it will run. I will be using the boat in the FL Keys and like the use of tabs to jump on plain as quick as possible. I have never used the smart tabs, but saw them on a web site. They are half the price of electric. Thanks again.

Les

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Les,
when you put your bot back together, move the interior forward about 6 inches. If you still need more pop to get on plane, add a fin to that yamaha.

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My 13 has a 1994 25hp Merc with a Stringray Fin, and when I built my wood interior I moved everything forward as Kamie mentioned. With three on board she moves to a plane with very little effort. Even this smaller outboard she skims the water wonderfully.
WIthout the suggestions on this site I would not have ventured to move the interior forward, it's great advice.

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Hi Lbaron, do or did you have the motor set at a proper height on the transom? To high and that will affect the hull coming out of the hole onto plane. To low and you create to much drag with the lower unit. Typically the under side of the cavitation plate (lower unit) should be as even to your keel as possible. That would be a good starting point when you re-rig your boat. Hope this helps abit.

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I like the idea of moving the interor forward the 6 inches you suggest. Makes more room for the fuel tank and a cooler on the other side. I plan to pu the battery in the center between the fuel tank and a small cooler. That still works with moving the interior forward? Thanks again for all the ideas.

Les