trim tabs effect on wake

I have a Cobalt 190 with VolvoPenta outdrive that has trouble keeping its plane under 25mph. The dealer said that by adding trim tabs it will allow the boat to plane at 15 mph. Will they wash out the wake or will I still have a nice wake to ride? I could really use some good advice! Thanks!

I assume you are geting the same ones I used, the set and forget type. They will wash out your wake some even when you trim it up. The best option I found was to get a different prop most likely a pitch lower or look into a 4 blade or other option. better whole shot, holding speed and slower planing. The dol-fin wind type outdrive fins work well also.

Thanks for the comment. If I install trim tabs I will use the Bennett Hydraulic trim tabs which will be adjustable. But how much of a difference will it make?

those will definately be better but you may have a two fold problem...the trim tab will get your planing much faster but make your wake smaller. the second problem is holding speed.

I installed Bennett Marine hydraulic tabs on an 18.5' Boston Whaler. It was easily the best accessory I added to the boat. With tabs, the boat would maintain plane +/-4 to 5 mph lower than without tabs. In addition, it would get on plane much faster and it was noticeably more comfortable in rough water (because we could lower speed and trim the bow down w/o losing plane).

We didn't wakeboard much behind that boat, but we did waterski some. The tabs were useful (and noticeable) for reducing the size of the wake at skiing speeds (for us, typically 28 to 36 mph) and for balancing the wake side-to-side to compensate for unequal weight distribution in the boat. I don't know how tabs would impact the wake at wakeboarding speeds.

In any event, reducing planing speed by 9-10 mph is likely wishful thinking. It seems odd that a 19' boat is having trouble maintaining plane at 24 mph. You might want to check your speedo calibration. Also (at the risk of stating the obvious), your outdrive should be trimmed all the way down if you wish to minimize time-to-plane and planing-speed.

If you do get tabs, I would highly recommend tabs that are adjustable while moving. When I installed tabs (10 years ago), Bennett was clearly the industry leader in terms of quality and engineering. Based on my experience with Bennett's customer service and the quality of the product, that's what I would use if I were doing it again. I would also recommend the helm-mounted tab indicators. I installed them after I used the tabs a bit because I found that I wanted to know if the tabs were up/down/equal at any given moment w/o having to play with them to try and guess their position. One last note: make sure you mount the hydraulic pump in a dry location. It is easily damaged by water.

Don't get the tabs. You will need them up to get the biggest wake. If they are always up, then why have them, right? My Launch has one big trim tab on the back. I am probably going to take it off.