Trim Tabs

[FishMagnet]

One other thing-what size do you have? Im thinking of going with the 24 x 9 for my 23-any thoughts?

[Finster]

I have the Volvo Penta QL tabs and think their the greatest thing since sliced white bread. I've had plenty of boats with Bennett's, and yes their good, but those QL tabs are awesome and super responsive.

[cdavisdb]

I have been happiest with wide tabs, 24 would be great if you can figure out how to deal with the VDH hull.

[joshmon71]

dont think you want tabs wider than the VDH panel. If you ahave a bracket you may have mounting issues with tab actuators like I did, forcing me to the volvo solution for easiest path. I love the volvo tabs now, long past the fight to mount them that is. they fit under the bracket easy peasy, which otherwise at the time i would have need to drop the bracket and drill out holes to mount the tab actuators. And the volvo tabs provide a worry free zone when fighting a big fish albeit with a bracket and OB you should be out of that area anyways in the end game. and when swimming off the bracket no big tab metal hitting in the side.

the hassle with the volvo tabs is the absolutely flat mounting surface needed. the instructions say no more than 2mm out of true the horizontal and vertical surface of the tab mounting area-they mean it! or they will bind. my first mount job i used a starboard shim, sanded in spots. painful process. i also opted to thru bolt(overdrill,epoxy/cabosil, then drill). dont use 5200 either. i hit a tree about a month ago and ripped half my tab off, literally, i feel the thru bolting was better than the screw, and as well allowed me better torque consistency. and 5200 sucks to get off. you may need to repalce them at some point. again another reason for teh thru bolting IMO-i have 2 nuts on the back and can use 2 wrenches and always free the bolts up. not so much with screws, you can risk stripping them imo.

here is the advice and steps i got from elsewhere on how to mount the volvo tabs much easier process:

mount outboard farthest panel for best results, get the smaller trim tab size for a 23, mask it off with blue tape. Over the blue tape, mask with a larger piece of plain paper or larger blue tape tape overlapped.. Mask the whole tab tightly with two layers plastic like saran or other. Mix up thickened epoxy to the consistency of peanut butter. Gob onto the back of the tab enough of the epoxy to more than fill the space. Press the tab against the hull, tape it onto the hull as necessary, and clean up the excess squeeze out. Let it cure out in place. once cured, remove from the hull, separate from the tab, and sand down as necessary the profile of the epoxy wedge. Install the wedge to hull using screws or thru bolts as I did, and Less than 5200 sealant. The tab will now have a flat spot to be installed on. you kgiht want to take the time to mount and install minus the sealant first and confirm works without binding. trust me on that step .

The double masking is necessary since the epoxy will tend to stick to the immediate surface masking that it's contacting. Don't use waxed paper on the hull masking 'cause you can't tape to it.

if you thru bolt make sure you get some good quality 316 SS bolts as the end is sitting in the water. and you mgiht want to pay attention to even torque as well . any over torquing can bind them as well if there is even a few mm off true.

[bly]

Originally Posted by joshmon71

dont think you want tabs wider than the VDH panel. If you ahave a bracket you may have mounting issues with tab actuators like I did, forcing me to the volvo solution for easiest path. I love the volvo tabs now, long past the fight to mount them that is. they fit under the bracket easy peasy, which otherwise at the time i would have need to drop the bracket and drill out holes to mount the tab actuators. And the volvo tabs provide a worry free zone when fighting a big fish albeit with a bracket and OB you should be out of that area anyways in the end game. and when swimming off the bracket no big tab metal hitting in the side.

the hassle with the volvo tabs is the absolutely flat mounting surface needed. the instructions say no more than 2mm out of true the horizontal and vertical surface of the tab mounting area-they mean it! or they will bind. my first mount job i used a starboard shim, sanded in spots. painful process. i also opted to thru bolt(overdrill,epoxy/cabosil, then drill). dont use 5200 either. i hit a tree about a month ago and ripped half my tab off, literally, i feel the thru bolting was better than the screw, and as well allowed me better torque consistency. and 5200 sucks to get off. you may need to repalce them at some point. again another reason for teh thru bolting IMO-i have 2 nuts on the back and can use 2 wrenches and always free the bolts up. not so much with screws, you can risk stripping them imo.


here is the advice and steps i got from elsewhere on how to mount the volvo tabs much easier process:

mount outboard farthest panel for best results, get the smaller trim tab size for a 23, mask it off with blue tape. Over the blue tape, mask with a larger piece of plain paper or larger blue tape tape overlapped.. Mask the whole tab tightly with two layers plastic like saran or other. Mix up thickened epoxy to the consistency of peanut butter. Gob onto the back of the tab enough of the epoxy to more than fill the space. Press the tab against the hull, tape it onto the hull as necessary, and clean up the excess squeeze out. Let it cure out in place. once cured, remove from the hull, separate from the tab, and sand down as necessary the profile of the epoxy wedge. Install the wedge to hull using screws or thru bolts as I did, and Less than 5200 sealant. The tab will now have a flat spot to be installed on. you kgiht want to take the time to mount and install minus the sealant first and confirm works without binding. trust me on that step .

The double masking is necessary since the epoxy will tend to stick to the immediate surface masking that it's contacting. Don't use waxed paper on the hull masking 'cause you can't tape to it.

if you thru bolt make sure you get some good quality 316 SS bolts as the end is sitting in the water. and you mgiht want to pay attention to even torque as well . any over torquing can bind them as well if there is even a few mm off true.

I am not attacking your volvo choice. I am trying to justify them to my self. Because they do solve a lot of problems under an OB bracket and not snagging fishing lines. Question for you. Most tabs make a planing boat get better MPG because of more bottom surface. Are the volvo QLs not more like a break sticking straight down almost from the smooth plain of the bottom? Does this hurt or help the MPG and the less strain of the engine planing a boat that is bow high. I know it pushes the bow down, but it does not look very efficient MPG or engine wise?
I would like to add that I never knew but now can understand that if the surface where the QL tabs mount is not perfectly flat it can cause a binding problem internally. I remember hearing about a few problems and I guess this was a main reason. Again has anyone ever tried to figure the planing surface needs to the QL type tab? Maybe this is all a sea craft needs?

[Handful in NC]

Larger tabs are unquestionably better, if possible. I would use conventional tabs if I could, but it's nice to have the option of QL tabs.

On my recently converted 23' Tsunami (I/O to OB on a Hermco bracket) there was insufficient room for conventional tabs without modifying the bracket, so QL tabs were installed out of necessity. How they function defies logic, but my skepticism was unwarranted, and they perform fine. Speed increases as the boat flattens out to ideal trim, and I cannot tell any difference from regular tabs at full extension. (Drag can come from the buried bow as much as the tabs.)

I completely finished the installation of the QL tabs and then discovered that one side, on what I thought was a flat surface, would not fully cycle due to binding, so off it came - what a mess. Lots of grinding and sanding later, it tested okay. After the boat was launched, the OTHER tab binds a bit and will not fully retract. Joshmon71 gives excellent advice on dealing with the flat mounting surface issue, and I intend to try his method next time the boat is on the trailer. I wish I had read his suggestions before I installed mine. Bottom line -TEST the the QL tabs thoroughly before the final sealing and fastening.