Can i make these trim tabs bigger?

that runs 100% contrary to the engineer from Bennett's advice. The drop fins are specifically recommended over additional chord or width unless you change the mounting, hinge, and actuators. Best of luck to you on your modification. I'm sticking with the professional's advice on this one.
No Bennet (the professionals) is the one that told me not to run drop fins not parallel to the center line of the boat/ or when the transom is curved.

As far as chore or width. They also told me it will help and my boat should have had larger tabs from the start....

Do they recommend making your own? No they want to sell me some 24inch ones.. and yes with 24 inch hinges.

But it’s been proven a lot that it’s a huge help on this hull and no issues to report.

Guess we will see. Mounted painted and underwater lights on them now.

Dipping tomorrow
 

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No Bennet (the professionals) is the one that told me not to run drop fins not parallel to the center line of the boat/ or when the transom is curved.

As far as chore or width. They also told me it will help and my boat should have had larger tabs from the start....

Do they recommend making your own? No they want to sell me some 24inch ones.. and yes with 24 inch hinges.

But it’s been proven a lot that it’s a huge help on this hull and no issues to report.

Guess we will see. Mounted painted and underwater lights on them now.

Dipping tomorrow
we received completely conflicting info.. happy boating
 
SO what exactly did they tell you? just curious.
 
Well I don't disagree on drop fins, I built my tabs to have them for the benefits of them. BUT if they are not pointing forward with the water flow, its a bad thing Scientifically, and according to the maker of the tabs them selves.
 
Well I don't disagree on drop fins, I built my tabs to have them for the benefits of them. BUT if they are not pointing forward with the water flow, its a bad thing Scientifically, and according to the maker of the tabs them selves.
holy CRAP,,,, we could do this forever couldn't we? Good grief, THE MAKER OF THE TABS TOLD ME TO GET THE DROP FINS!!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DUDE,, WE CLEARLY DISAGREE!!!! MOVING ON NOW
 
Very possible that you each got different guidance from Bennett because you have different boats.
Sometimes what works great for one is a disaster for another.
Bennett cautioned me about using dropfins on my boat too because the transom is not 90 degrees in line to the sides.
They didn’t tell me not to use them, but they cautioned me that all boats are different and because my transom is not square to my sides I should check with someone with the same hull to see if they had any problems with the dropfins before I install them.
My factory tabs are not standard off the shelf tabs from Bennett. According to Bennett they were made special order for Sea Ray to specs by their engineers. They aren’t perfectly rectangular, they are slightly tilted. They also have a very short drop fin on the outboard side but the inboard side has an equal amount of material turned up instead of down.
I bought a set of fins but didn’t install them before the boat went in the water last month.
 
Who the hell you yelling at? Haha calm down buddy.
 
People asking relevant questions and others willing to share their experiences and insight are what make this forum such a great resource.
Knowing that what’s right for one can be wrong for another I’ve come to appreciate the different points of view when making decisions.
My experience has always been that regardless of someone’s opinion, it’s usually based on personal experience and shared with good intention.
✌️
Peace out!
 
People asking relevant questions and others willing to share their experiences and insight are what make this forum such a great resource.
Knowing that what’s right for one can be wrong for another I’ve come to appreciate the different points of view when making decisions.
My experience has always been that regardless of someone’s opinion, it’s usually based on personal experience and shared with good intention.
✌️
Peace out!

For sure, I love forums and the amount of shared knowledge. I have grown up with them growth of them in cars and boating and other hobby's. its such a positive thing to the scene.
 
Just curious if you have the knowledge to fabricate your own tab extensions and weld them one, why would you not take the proper measurements and do the geometry to bend the drop fins on a slight angle to be parallel to the water flow? It would not be that hard to figure out if you feel that you would not be able to do it with the math involved ( I don’t mean that in a bad way ) just use card board and make some templates then transfer the templates to the steel and your good to go.
 
The truth of that is a mix of things. One being time. Boat was going back in water Thursday, I did not cut fins off till Wednesday night.
secondly, the drop fins would still cause a problems with trailers, and I plan to have one. and also and probably the main one.

Re bending 304 stainless 1/8th thick is not easy.. Hydrolic press and stuff kinda deal... so the chance I can strainten it out, and then bend back to the exact angle that I would feel good about is low. I could buy more stainless ($300 in raw material) and remake the whole new tab... BUT then I would have to somehow remove the old tab from the other new tab... allthat heat warps the tabs/hinges too.

So I did not think I could successfully remove the original tabs from the new one.
I did not think I could successfully in bend and rebend new fins.
and I had about 24 hours to fire it all out... SO making the new tabs flat, and have less worries was the choice.

 
yeah,,,, sorry about the tone. Looking forward to trying my modified tabs. I'll let you all know. Best of luck with yours as well
will do. Good luck on yours. will report back with some numbers after a long weekend on the water.
 
The truth of that is a mix of things. One being time. Boat was going back in water Thursday, I did not cut fins off till Wednesday night.
secondly, the drop fins would still cause a problems with trailers, and I plan to have one. and also and probably the main one.

Re bending 304 stainless 1/8th thick is not easy.. Hydrolic press and stuff kinda deal... so the chance I can strainten it out, and then bend back to the exact angle that I would feel good about is low. I could buy more stainless ($300 in raw material) and remake the whole new tab... BUT then I would have to somehow remove the old tab from the other new tab... allthat heat warps the tabs/hinges too.

So I did not think I could successfully remove the original tabs from the new one.
I did not think I could successfully in bend and rebend new fins.
and I had about 24 hours to fire it all out... SO making the new tabs flat, and have less worries was the choice.
Those are all valid points for the position you are in and the trailer aspect was one I never thought of.
 
So new tabs...After a long weekend.

Before if fully loaded 0.64mpg and 0.74 when light. 24-26mph

Now .92-1.01 mpg and 28-30mph....

Hughe improvement. Using 1/2 tabs mostly the tabs down can bury the nose if needed and way more reactive.
 

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