Trim Tabs?!?
 

I'm looking at doing some "Wake Shaping" for surfing on my Sanger V237 and was thinking of adding a set of trim tabs. Suggestions? Good or stupid idea? What setup do I go with?

Are you looking at putting port-strbd tabs on or just one on the center line?

I'm at least going to add port and strbd sides. I was considering also adding a center line and run 3 tabs.

To be honest I'm not sure why these boats don't have port and strbd tabs, I can't add them because of my ballast tanks but I can't imagine a down side to them. The boats that trip me out the most are the ones with only a center tab, to me that's like saying yea we know it's a good idea but we don't want to admit it and be against the tide of all the other core wake boats...

btw if you add the sides I don't know that the center would really get you much else and could become trickier to tune.

Sanger offers these trim tabs as a part of their "Surf Series". They had played around with all three but I believe they landed on having adjustable trim tabs on sides. Andrew on here has a Surf Series 237 and can probably get you the size and placement that Sanger uses.

The rule of thumb is one inch of tab per foot of boat length.

Look into auto-up trim tabs as an additional feature. As well as tab position indicators. The auto-up will raise the tabs everytime you turn off your ignition.

What kind of boat are ya putting them on?

Oh yea! One more thing.... you may want to get the biggest tabs that will fit. Trim tabs are more effective at higher speeds. Not the 10-11mph for surfing. Its like when you put your hand out the window of your car at slow speed, there's not as much force. When your bookin' down the E-way and put your hand out the tab creates more lift.

Really???

You must not have them on your boat then. If you did, you would know they work at surfing speeds quite effectively.

It is very worthwhile putting on trim tabs. Adding side tabs is useful but you can make those adjustments easily by moving people or weight side to side in the boat. The reason you don't want them is that they can negatively affect the shape of the wake from side to side. The reason you do want side trim tabs is for surfing to add list, and so that you don't have to move people around in the boat. If you get dual tabs on the sides make sure they operate independently so you could put both up or both down.
My opinion is that the center tab is the most important. it has the best ability to adjust the attitude of the hull to handle varied conditions. A sterndrive or outboard does this easily so they add side tabs. An inboard has no way to adjust this. You need to change the attitude of the hull (bow up, bow down) to make starts easier and more efficient, to optimize cruise speed and fuel use, and to set the boat for driving in large waves or a storm. (Bow down into the waves, bow up following the waves). The safety factor in a storm is the reason I will not own a boat without an adjustable trim setting.

Talk about going against the tide as you say, I can only think of one "core wake boat" manufacturer that doesn't run a tab. All the others realized their benefit and incorporated them into their hulls. Even the one that for years claimed it was needed to compensate for a poor hull design runs them :rolleyes:

I'm thinking of calling Sanger and just ordering the tabs they put on there surf series. Some great input on tabs!

Beside using the tabs for surfing, I want to be able to balance out the boat when heading down the lake. Before the V237 I had direct drives where it didn't matter where people sat and the boat was going to be flat.

All good info here. I agree with a tab on each side with no center for the main purpose of wake adjustibility. They help a ton and it's true speed or lack thereof does affect performance, but there is still a benefit even at lower speeds. Art, I'm thinking you got it backwards regarding driving in chop/waves. My experience is bow up against and bow down following. Have I been doing it wrong? lol

Yes you have.

You want the bow to cut through the waves going against and while following raise the bow to help the hull recover as it encounters the back of one wave after descending the previous one.

Huh. Well its bow up for me when I'm going against swells/big rollers otherwise I'm getting swamped and pounded. Going the same direction, I can drive right through them without slowing down and getting the bow up...