2100sc Tabs - Maxum Boat Owners Club

Franco_2100SC · 08-24-2006, 01:27 PM

Well I finally did it. Went and ordered Lenco trim tabs in an effort to smooth the ride in light chop conditions with my Maxum 2100sc and thought it might be helpful to others that are contemplating such a move, and following in my moccasin tracks.

Did a good bit of checking various tabs. There's the electric route with Lenco, and Lectro, but I found that a majority of boaters would have recommended going with Bennett tabs which are hydraulic. But, the 2100sc presents a problem in that you do not have access to the transom on the inside, out near the gunwale. Something about the integrated swim platform. Unfortunately, after ordering the Lenco's I found that Bennett does make an adapter that allows re-routing of the hydraulic line such that it doesn't need to enter from the center of the top attachment point.

The Lenco's I ordered were only 339 bucks making them the least expensive, but on opening the box I found out what that translates to. The bolts that they use for the rear attachment point pass thru the tab itself, and the bolt head protrudes like a blister on the otherwise clean underside of the tab. I suppose I could slightly counter sink the holes and substitute pan head Stainless screws. This can be done at any time in the future so for now I'm just going with what they provided. The tabs themselves are heavy duty stainless steel, but they are hinged using the Piano hinge method which allows water to squeeze through when under pressure. I think the more expensive tabs use a tongue in groove hinge.

I elected to go with 9 inch wide and 12 inch long, again mostly to accomodate the transom area I have to work with. The rams call for 11 inches from hinge line to top attachment point, but I don't like the looks of the tab in relation to the hull bottom. I rigged up a test stand and wired up everything at home in the garage to test it all out and this measurement bothers me. Additionally, the amount of movement of the actuator is very small. From fully retracted to fully deployed there is about 2 inches of travel. This sure doesn't seem like much.

I should have them installed in the next day or two and will report back with their effect on the boat and some pictures of the installation.

KKKKFL

racer2c · 08-24-2006, 05:00 PM

Very interesting Franco. thanks for posting this info. I'm looking forward to reading about your results. I've been thinking about getting some myself and have read that they work well on small runabouts. This last Saturday we hopped up to Occoquan to have lunch out on Madigan's patio and walk around the shops. The water was ROUGH! Although there were small runabouts that were going at least 10mph faster than I was able to do. It seems as if their bows were out of the water more. When I tried to trim up just a little it would porpose. So I guess they probably either have trim tabs or were just litting it rip!

Franco_2100SC · 08-26-2006, 07:09 PM

The first results are in... Talk about a total transformation of the 2100SC. Although this is a little like saying all indians walk in a straight line, at least the one I saw did.... the test drive yesterday was absolutely stunning. I have always felt that the 2100SC is a little tail heavy. Huge differences were discovered just by changing from a 5lb anchor in the locker to a 12lb one. Additionally, filling the tank actually made the bow come down quicker and it would get up on plane faster.

Given that my wife likes to sit in the very back it was always necessary to move the kids forward to get over the initial bow wave, and then there is that little porposing act that the boat likes to do.

OK so here's the findings from the initial test. Boat used to stay on plane at 20 mph now stays on plane at 16mph.. Found some chop, (not hard to do in Belmont Bay) and with a one second burst of bow down ( tabs just barely down ) the boat went across them with no porpoise. Even with the tabs fully up the boat seems to ride smoother. On the run back into the Occaquan about a quarter mile before the no wake boards, the water is very smooth. This is usually my high speed test run area that lasts about 3 minutes in all but is at WOT. The boat touched 50mph just like always, so no loss of top end speed noted. But here's the kicker. Out in the river, I pulled the tabs all the way back up and inched the throttle forward from 2500 rpm to 3200 rpm I usually cruise at 3000 - 3200 rpm and this usually yeilds about 30mph yesterday, at 3200rpm I was doing 40mph! Now that is a significant savings.

The boat seems to handle a little different in turns... Out in the Occaquan where the red and green markers are real close together I did a clockwise circle round the red and then counter clockwise around the green. The first turn seemed to groove a little better than usual, but the counter clockwise I had to back off the throttle when the engine rpm came up as the screw lost the bite in the water. It might have been a little tighter turn, but the tracks on the gps looked pretty close. I'll need to do more testing here.

All in all I am very satisfied with the results. The one negative that I came across was in the actual installation of the tabs. I'll post picutes later, or if someone has an e-mail I can send them copies of the jpg's but I mounted the tabs out near the chines, just prior to where the hull does the reflex bend down. To my amazement there is no wood backing in the transom. It is just fiberglass and it is about an inch and three quarters thick. Up where I mounted the clamshell and the ingress for the wire, just over the "U" hold downs, the transom has almost a foot of wood backing. Incidentally, those "U" s are not evenly spaced out from the center line of the boat, another discovery during installation. Anyway I drilled the holes small and then taped them and put the screws in using a heavy dose of 3M caulking, so it feels very solid and I do not anticipate them coming loose or leaking.

KKKKFL

Franco_2100SC · 08-27-2006, 03:32 PM

Here's three shots to show the installation... more to come.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...KKFL[/img]

MaxumNewbie · 08-28-2006, 07:46 AM

Thats great, I need to install those. How long did instalation take?

Franco_2100SC · 08-28-2006, 12:49 PM

In all it took about 8 hours. Before you start, there are a couple items you will need to get. The clam shells, the 3m white caulk, and most important two special purpose drill bits, (I think they were called portner, or britner and you need a quarter inch and a three eights - later is for the electrical wires) These bits have a real sharp vee point, then a barrel like shaving/cutting surface. The purpose is to keep the fiberglass from cracking. Finally, I would recommend some automotive solderless connectors, ( although meant to just be smashed over the wire, I actually take the wire into my shop and using electrical solder, tin and solder the leads.) It might also help if you have a course tap for the stainless screws that are provided for the hinge. I made a tap out of one of the screws. When I drilled into the transom and found there was no wood backing, I was quite distrubed. Fortunately, the first hole was smaller than need be. I used the special purpose quarter inch drill bit to start the hole, drilling in about an eighth inch then using a smaller regular bit drilled the hole thinking I would hit wood. Never did, it went in about a half inch then slammed through. After finding this, I took one of the screws into the shop and cut angled grooves with a Dremel cutting wheel. I then used this screw to tap the fiberglass like one would with a tap. This made the whole installation take a long time since there are three holes at the top of each ram and 7 holes along the hinge. Once tapped, I filled the hole with the 3M and snugged each screw in. It took from 4PM til 8PM to get this done(22 holes in all with 20 being tapped). I finished the evening drilling the "Thru transom holes" for the electrical wires. As you can see I located this above and to the outside of each U hold down. I highly recommend that you have someone watching on the inside for that moment when you pop through so you don't hit any other lines. One final note... those U's are not equally spaced out from the centerline of the boat, at least they were not on my boat. Also, it will make the project much much easier if you measure, measure, measure, and mark off with a grease pencil where everything is supposed to fall. In the pic's you can see where the marks I made are still there and need to be cleaned off for a professional finish.

KKKKFL

Franco_2100SC · 08-28-2006, 02:00 PM

Found the plastic package in the back of the car they are called Forstner drill bits.

KKKKFL

MaxumNewbie · 02-27-2007, 11:39 PM

Hey Franco

I was just curious if you can email me any pics you have from your trim tab installation, I would like to add them this coming week.

Are you happy with the tabs you went with? Would you know the up and down side to both electric and hydraulic?

You can email me any pics at goyankees@gmail.com

Franco_2100SC · 02-28-2007, 01:58 PM

About 2 up there's some photo's here's an additional one.

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l172/ ... bottom.jpg

Now it doesn't look like I have very much down, and certainly only a degree or 2 of up, but actually, I believe I have too much down and not enough up. Even with them straight back and fully retracted you're gonna see a difference. The biggest difference is that electrics do not have the amount of travel that the hydraulics have. I think that they could have moved the attach point on the plate itself closer to the hinge and this would give more travel, but at the expense of force.

In my installation I never found that I could use maximum down. With even the slightest of deflections the planing speed was dropped from 19-20mph to 14-15mph. The turn radius is impacted with mine fully up, so I would have liked for them to be just a quarter inch more in the up direction.

The real problem we have is that the integrated swim platform starts to curve and that limits how far out to the sides you can get. If you look closely, you'll see that I have about an inch of curve where the hull starts to reflex down. It took some playing and jockeying to get them to the outer edges.

Overall I was very pleased with the performance enhancement especially in choppy water. It makes a 21 foot boat feel like a 24 foot boat, and my comparison comes from riding through the same chop on my boat and a friends 24SC on the same day.

I think no boat should leave the dealer without these, but the placement is very critical. If tab guys could come up with an extra inch on the electric tabs they would have a winner. I used 9"wide and 12" long but a better dimension would be 10 wide and 13 long.

Hope all this helps.. One last tip, keep the hole size you drill for the mounting screws very tight. I used the special drill bit that doesn't crack fiberglass or porceline tile(Fosner I think?) I can't recall the name it might be above. The hole was so tight it was impossible to screw in so I took a spare screw and cut it along the shaft with a dremel cutting tool. This made a sort of drill tap screw. Cut deep grooves around the shaft, at least two, and use this to tighten and untighten so that you cut into the glass. Finally back out your tap, fill the screw hole with goop adhesive and use the uncut screws provided. Tighten them down but don't twist the head off in this process just till they are nice and snug. This part of the installation took the longest time since each screw took about 8 minutes just to carve/tap the hole.

Let me know how you make out.

KKKKFL

MaxumNewbie · 03-01-2007, 12:49 AM

Thanks for all the help. Im going to start the intstall this coming week. Gonna get all the parts you mention and take my time and install them as best as i can all your input will def. come in handy.

I will post the results.

Thanks again.

Franco_2100SC · 03-01-2007, 02:32 AM

may the forced be with you.. I'm In the Virgin Islands listening to the pounding surf...

KKKKFL

seapuppy · 03-01-2007, 04:22 PM

"I'm In the Virgin Islands listening to the pounding surf... "

and you suck!!.....jk :?
we just dumped on here in the pacnorwest with about 7-10 inches of snow!!...

MaxumNewbie · 03-02-2007, 08:13 PM

almost 60 degrees in brooklyn today.. I can smell it already. Went to the marina aid up for winter and summer, got a new slip that was just built. Lined up my slip this morning with rubber. Got the GPS and the fishfinder today. Went with the Garmin gpsmap 492c for the gps and the garmin 340c for the fishfinder. Ordering the lenco tabs right after i press submit to this post.. still looking for a windlass.

Oh boy, its almost time. WOOOHOOOO