OK. I put this in the category of failed experiments. I am sure trim tabs are great, but not on this dinghy. I think the problem is that they are too close to the tubes and outboard. Not enough room on the little transom.
Tag Archives: Bennett SLT6
Closing the Loop on a Few Recent Posts
Now that we are all caught up with what has been going on, I want to close the loop on a few recent posts …
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
We installed trim tabs on our dinghy earlier this year. Since then, we’ve used it for short trips and a few longer cruises. Do I think it is an improvement? I don’t know. It is a nice stable ride and it planes easily. But, the trim tabs sort of turn a sporty car into a station wagon. And it is slower. We lose about 4 knots of speed. And I like speed in a dinghy.
Installing trim tabs on our dinghy
Trim tabs promise to (this is from the box) …
- Plane at lower speeds
- Improve fuel efficiency
- Reduce pounding
- Improve your hole shot
- Eliminate porpoising
- Reduce engine laboring
- Eliminate chine walking
All I am hoping is that I’ll get the stern up a bit at slower speeds. Much of the engine is in the water at slower speeds with just one in the boat, unless I sit as forward as I can. Getting up on plane easier would be helpful. With just one in the dinghy, the bow points up quite a bit. It takes some effort to get up on plane. Faster is always good too. ‘Cause that’s fun.
What I ended up with is Bennett SLT6 self leveling trim tabs. These are designed for boats 10′-14’. Ours is right in the middle at 12 feet. There may be other makers, but these are the only ones I could find that would fit our dinghy. These trim tabs came from Defender.com. I’d been holding off on this for a while due to cost. Defender lowered the price $50 recently (or at least since the last time I checked). It was close enough to what I thought was a reasonable price. I was also feeling kind hearted toward our little boat after the last blog post.
