Bennett Auto Trim Tab Install

mdaniels said:
I had the Bennett ATC installed a couple of weeks ago. After setting them on what I thought was a good balanced plane the boat still pulls to Starboard regularly. Its hit and miss really, even when I try and balance the boat. I thought that this system would make an allowance for this..is it normal, should I get someone else to have a look at the system?
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Mdaniels,

A couple quick questions to start please, when you adjust the Trim Tabs manually are you able to keep the boat balanced?

Then when you engage the Auto Tab Control does the boat always lean to starboard, and if you kept the ATC engaged would it end up leaning the boat way over to starboard?

Tom McGow
Bennett Marine
 
billnpat said:
Our water should only be as clean as fort laude..:smt038...
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What a coincidence.... I had a dream last night that I switched my location from my lake in CT to the L.I. Sound (where I did most of my boating years ago). The water was blue like Florida..... but it was just a dream :smt089
 
Danny Troy said:
What a coincidence.... I had a dream last night that I switched my location from my lake in CT to the L.I. Sound (where I did most of my boating years ago). The water was blue like Florida..... but it was just a dream :smt089
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just a dream, a big dream :thumbsup::thumbsup: and a little deeper would be nice .......:smt009:smt009
 
Tom, I have only taken the boat out a few times along the intercoastal since it was installed , however I turned on the ATC (before I was on plane) and then slowed down as I felt it was listing excessively to Starboard. I checked the trim tabs when it was out of the water and they appear to be working...I havent tried it again manually. The work was done in Dania. Hope this helps, what is the best way to resolve this...have the tech look at it again, is there anything in particular I should advise them?
 
Before we do anything I would really recommend trying not turning on the ATC until you are on plane, as it is possible that there was a slight list while you were going slowly and the ATC tried to correct it. Since the boat was moving slowly the ATC could have put one Trim Tab down "a lot" in its efforts to fix the list. Then, when you sped up the boat listed due to that Trim Tab being down.

Also, did you set the "Zero Point" while the boat was on plane, running at its best attitude fore to aft and level side to side? The Zero Point must be set with the boat running on plane. If set with the boat at rest or at idling speed it may run the bow too far down and result in poor handling.

Let me know what you think and I will be happy to advise on where to go from there.

Tom McGow
Bennett Marine
 
Tom...the zero point was set on a level pane, however let me try it a few more times, with ATC off and then turned on when I reach plane etc and then if the issue still exists I will get in touch with you. Apprecaite you taking the time to get involved. Thx/Matt
 
I seem to be missing a trim tab. The hydraulic arm is there and i believe the backer plate is still there. There are some rivots or screw stubs positive to the plate... but no tab.

I have a 1999 340 sundancer. This may be a silly question, but do I have to pull the boat out of the water to replace the tab?
 
what a great and useful thread ! i also ordered the ATC and i,m ready to go for the installation on my 2006 240 sundancer.

some questions :

i saw on the pictures the control unit was installed in the storage box area under the throttle - it seems a sweet place for easy wiring to the helm sitches and back to the relay unit, but this place is far from being the centerline of the boat and its also much above the keel in terms of elevation.

so the unit really just has just to be parallel to the centerline , no need to be installed on the real centerline position of the boat ?

another question for people who did it on a 240/260 DA :

is there a good trick how to route the wirings from this place under the throttle back to the engine bay for the relay unit ?

best regards !
 
ok-installed the system and it works like designed. but my expectations were higher , is tabman still here so i can write down what i tried and what results i have so far ?

best regards
 
aerobat77 said:
what a great and useful thread ! i also ordered the ATC and i,m ready to go for the installation on my 2006 240 sundancer.

some questions :

i saw on the pictures the control unit was installed in the storage box area under the throttle - it seems a sweet place for easy wiring to the helm sitches and back to the relay unit, but this place is far from being the centerline of the boat and its also much above the keel in terms of elevation.

so the unit really just has just to be parallel to the centerline , no need to be installed on the real centerline position of the boat ?

another question for people who did it on a 240/260 DA :

is there a good trick how to route the wirings from this place under the throttle back to the engine bay for the relay unit ?

best regards !
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Yes, just parallel to the centerline.

Bryan
 
thanks bryan !

i finally installed the system and it works as desiged. but for now i get only not very good results. it either overreacts or "accepts" a list , i can do it manually way better operating the tabs and trim. i emailed bennett a week ago but still wait for a reply....
 
Aerobat77,

I am surprised the factory has not responded, and have forwarded you last post to them. We normally reply within 24 hours during the week, it can be longer if a message comes in late Friday or on the weekend.

I would like to help right here.

Did take the boat out and get it running on plane and level when you set the zero point?

Also when you push the right hand manual Trim Tab switch which Trim Tab moves?

Let me know and we can go from there.

Tom
Bennett Marine
 
Hello tom and thanks much for your help offer ! So i will copy the mail also here , maybe we can sort out some useful hints for current and future users of the atc 3000. Best regards
Hello and greetings from germany !

i have recently installed the ATC3000 system on my 2006 sea ray 240 sundancer according to your installation manual.
the system seems to work as designed and i verified the manual control also works as it should ( right knob controls left tab and vice versa )

my problem is that the ATC currently seems to stabilize the boat relativly poorly and in a unpredictible way , i,m able to do it manually way better.

after setting the zero point with the boat on plane at crusing speed the ATC seems to "accept" a slight list for a while without corrections and then suddenly overreacts -not only correcting the list but putting the boat in a list to the other side - up to a point where i have to correct it manually which shuts down the ATC as designed.

i resetted the zero point to a lower speed, with a bow higher attitude . that seems to damp down the corrections, but now the system generally seems to "underreact". so it accepts a list either to port or starbord and even accepts a hard listing when e.g coming down from planing speeds to hull speeds .

the 240 sundancer, being a relativly high center of gravity deep vee cruiser, needs constant attention in balancing , especially at transits between hull and planing speeds, but reacts very well to tab inputs .

i installed the ATC to let watch the system for this constant attention -but exactly here it currently seems to fail. even when it tries to put the tabs in the correct direction it either over or underreacts so i nevertheless have to keep a close eye on boat handling and be ready to engage manually all the time.

can you please give an opinion if you think something is at a fault with my ATC or whatelse can i try to make it work more sufficient ?

best regards

marius
 
Marius,

I have copied your post again to the factory so we may all look at what is happening.

The ATC is not designed for rapid changes in attitude such as between displacement speed and planing. Like cruise control for a car it is intended to keep a good attitude when the boat is up and running on plane. It should be switched on when the boat is up and running and is not intended to be on when you are accelerating from a stop. Also I would suggest switching it off when you are coming off of plane.

The sudden leaning to one side sounds like "bow steering" and your setting it with a slightly higher bow up attitude is just what I would have suggested. If it were me I would try resetting it again with a little more bow down and see if that is a happy medium.

Let me know your thoughts.

Tom
Bennett Marine
 
Our client services department searched and found that we did reply to your e-mail the day we received it. Here is what is says and I will add M.J. Thomas's recommendations to mine.

From: MJ Thomas
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2014 8:11 AM
To: 'Marius Stefaniak'
Subject: RE: ATC 3000 handling questions Searay 240 sundancer

Good morning Marius,

Thank you for contacting us with your email.

Please take a look at a couple of things for us, so we will have a better idea of your situation;

1. Are the hydraulic lines equal length? They should be equal length to ensure same speed deployment, if one side is shorter than the long side then the short side will react quicker (less friction).
2. What size are the trim tabs installed on your vessel? Better yet, what is the Sea Ray Trim Tab Set Part Number that was installed on the vessel from the factory?

We look forward to your reply.


Regards,

M.J. Thomas
Client Services

Bennett Marine, Inc.

550 Jim Moran Boulevard

Deerfield Beach, FL 33442



Phone: +1.954.427.1400

Fax: +1.954.480.2897

Email: MJThomas@BennettTrimTabs.com



This message contains information which may be confidential and privileged. Unless you are the intended addressee (or authorized to receive for the intended addressee), you may not use, copy or disclose to anyone the message or any information contained in the message. If you have received the message in error, please advise the company by reply at info@bennetttrimtabs.com and delete the message.
 
ok, in this case the reply must have gone into the spamfolder and you indeed replied quickly but waited for further informations since i never read it...

i will go now out to the boat to provide you the informaion .

the boat is in the water so i cannot access fully the tabs but only the pump and the hydraulic lines. can you say where i find the partnumber ? on the pump ?

i,m sure its the "default" system sea ray installs on the 240 sundacer .

tom, i also sent you a pm...

thanks very much !
 
We don't know which Trim Tabs SeaRay uses on a particular model boat, they order them by part number not by boat model. SeaRay could tell you the model number and we could look it up in our files.

Also can you tell me if the Trim Tab switch on the dashboard is a Bennett or one supplied by SeaRay (a picture would be good). And does the wiring harness for the Trim Tabs from the manual switch run through an electronics box?

I answered your PM!

Tom
Bennett Marine
 
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i can only say the pump is model V351 , did not found any serials on the pump. the best i can do is to post a pic of the boat when it was out of the water , no idea what size these tabs are :smt009 . but the boat reacts pretty good and quick to the tabs ( manually )

i do not think the hydraulic tubing has the same lenght since the pump is installed on the port side of the vessel. but i one hour ago made a test : sitting at the pier i from fully retracted pushed both buttons manually and other looked visually at the tabs : both tabs reached the full deflection at virtually the same time.

then ( both tabs fully down ) i activated ATC sitting at the pier - it in bursts rectracted both tabs until it timed out, showing the red light and the stbd tab up arrow. walking in the boat at the pier resulted in switching the port or stbd tab up arrow .

there is no electronic box from the manual knobs along the wiring .

best regards
 
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